Tag: family (Page 1 of 2)

Summer Writing Update: Elixirs, Witches, and Pirates!

June 21, 2018 / Katie L. Carroll

The kids have been out of school for a week and summer break is in full swing here! We’ve made out lists of activities we’d like to do and places we’d like to go this summer. Some we’ve already done or have planned (like going to the zoo and strawberry picking), while others are probably not going to happen this year (like visit NASCAR’s Hall of Fame).

As for my writing, I’ve got a couple of things going on. I’m working on getting my YA fantasy Elixir Bound with the new cover back up for sale. Right now you can get the ebook of Elixir Bound from Amazon and that’s it. I’ll post when I get it up in paperback and on ebook for the other vendors. Plus, I finally created a book trailer for it, which was a lot of fun. It was nice to work a different set of creative muscles for it. (The map it features is part of the map of the Great Peninsula, which can be seen in full in the new version of Elixir Bound.)

I’ve been on something of a roll with drafting the companion novel Elixir Saved. I’ve been drafting this novel for years…yes, I said years! So long, in fact, that I’ve been calling it my perpetual WIP (work-in-progress). But I think I’m finally crested the murky middle section and can see the far side of the hill. I’m hoping to keep that momentum going over the summer and get it ready for beta readers before the end of the year. I’d like to publish this one some time next year (fingers crossed!).

Research for my next middle grade book has been going well. I’ve been doing a bunch of reading about the witch trials that took place in Connecticut (mostly before the more famous Salem Witch Trials) and what colonial Connecticut was like. I checked out a local history book from the library and mentioned it to my dad because he’s a history nerd. He was like, “Is that the book where I helped write and edit the updated history in the 1980s?” Turns out it was! And my grandfather, who was there when I mentioned it to my dad, was like, “My father, your great-grandfather, helped with the version that was written in the 1930s.” So that was an interesting serendipitous moment.

The witchy middle grade book–which in my mind is pitched as Mean Girls meets The Crucible–doesn’t take place in history, but it will be a contemporary middle grade that delves into history and ties it to the present, much like Pirate Island does with Captain Kidd’s history being woven into Billy’s story in the present day. I hope to start drafting this story soon, but I need to focus on Elixir for now.

Speaking of Pirate Island, the ebook is on sale for $1.99 for a limited time, so scoop that up if you haven’t already (links for Pirate Island on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo). I’ve also got an exciting announcement coming up for Pirate Island once my local library makes it public…just to give you a little teaser there. 😉

And I always have stuff I’m waiting to hear back about, so there’s always the potential for good news (or devastating rejections!). Thus is the nature of the publishing biz.

Anyway, I’m excited for the summer weather and hanging out with the boys and family day trips. And a certain writer/mama’s birthday is coming a few days before a certain gentleman’s first birthday. Oh, and I’ll be going to the big SCBWI conference in L.A. this summer. I’m so excited (I won the trip, so the airfare, hotel, and conference fee were paid for!), but super nervous about leaving the baby. I keep telling myself it’ll be fine. Busy times, busy times.

What are your summer plans?

Fall 2017 and Looking Toward 2018

December 20, 2017 / Katie L. Carroll

The hustle and bustle of the season is in full swing here at chateau Carroll. The boys have been making out their Christmas lists for Santa, we’ve been baking, and I’ve been fitting in a few words here and there on Elixir Saved.

I’ve been thinking about what I’ll be blogging about next year. I’d like take some time to feature some books and authors I’ve been enjoying, but in a way I haven’t done before on the Observation Desk. I also haven’t officially introduced The Gentleman here on the blog, though he’s now 5 months old (sorry third kiddo!). So I might try and get a feature on his birth story up here, ya know, before his first birthday. 😉 I have some fun news in the works that I’ll be sharing soon. And I think I’d like to talk more about creativity in 2018, particularly as it fits into my life as a writer/mom.

November #InkRipples: Shaped but not Defined by our Heritage

November 7, 2016 / Katie L. Carroll

Our heritage is where we come from, what we’ve inherited from our ancestors and family. It can come in the form of physical traits, property or monetary assets, titles, traditions, and many other forms. Heritage often has a big role in determining who we are when we are born and how we grow up.

A person is born a prince, another in poverty. A person is born to be classically beautiful, another with an inherited physical deformity. A person inherits a great wealth, another a debt left behind by a loved one who passes away. These are the hands we are dealt, but they don’t have to be the sole thing that defines us.

One of the most interesting things about human nature is that there is no one things that makes us who we are (kind of like those masks we talked about in last month’s #InkRipples). Sure, there are some things about our selves that we can’t change, but we don’t have to let that one thing be the only thing about us. I’m short…I’ve inherited that trait, but that never kept me from playing basketball, and I ended up being quite good at it.

To put my writer mask on for a moment, that’s one of the most fun things about writing characters. No character is one thing. “Good” characters have faults and “bad” characters have redeeming qualities…at least they should in order to be well-rounded. I love a hero who has deep-seeded flaws, and an antihero can be so interesting to read. And villains who have nice sides to them or who have somewhat justifiable reasons for their actions are so much better than purely evil characters.

How has your heritage shaped who you are and what aspects of yourself have nothing to do with your heritage?

#InkRipples is a monthly meme created by Katie L. Carroll, Mary Waibel, and Kai Strand. We pick a topic (November is all about heritage), drop a ripple in the inkwell (i.e. write about it on our blogs), and see where the conversation goes. We’d love to have you join in the conversation on your own blogs or on your social media page. Full details and each month’s topic can be found on my #InkRipples page.

The Importance and Unpredictability of Introspective

October 5, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

Remember how I mentioned last week that I’ve been very introspective in my thinking (it’s totally okay if you don’t remember…I just thought this was a good way to start the post)? Part of that is because I’ve been so busy in my life that I haven’t had the time or energy to be extrospective.

(Okay, totally made up that word…but it totally should be a word…nonintrospective isn’t really right because it implies a lack of thought…I’m more talking about keeping thoughts inside vs. expressing them, hence extrospective…digression over!)

The other part that’s kept me introspective is where I’m at in my creative process, which is revision. I’ve been going through all the great feedback I have from my in-person critique group, my beta readers, and the professional feedback I’ve gotten for my WIP YA thriller (right now titled BLACK BUTTERFLY).

So I’ve been thinking a lot about what the story still needs and what feedback is working and what isn’t resonating with me. It’s a lot of decision-making, and it’s tough on the ego to be working through the criticism, even though it’s all done in a professional, constructive manner. After all, the revision process is all about facing what you wanted to do with a story and haven’t yet accomplished or realizing that what you wanted to do with the story in the first place maybe isn’t the best thing for it…not easy!

Often when I’m working out some tricky thinking in my own head, I turn outward to help sort through the thoughts. But, surprisingly, I’ve turned inward in this case. It’s like I have to hold all those thoughts and feelings close in order to really experience and figure out how to move forward. Expressing them would ruin them before they can turn into whatever it is they need to be, so I continue to hold them close until they’re ready (the whole pregnant and birthing analogy would be apt here, and like pregnancy and child-birthing, it’s exhausting).

All that physical and mental busyness leaves less room for other things, mainly blogging, Twitter, Facebook, exercise (though I do a lot of walking with the boys), and even reading. The number of books I’ve read this year is way down from last year and also below my adjusted yearly goal.

I didn’t expect or plan to step back from those things (and haven’t entirely ignored them), but it’s what happened. And I’m allowing myself to be okay with that. Because I’m allowing the other things I’m doing and thinking about that are more important (no offense to my Internet peeps!) to take priority. The unpredictability of life and the creative process are what makes my life and work exciting, and it also fuels my stories.

What exciting or unexpected things have you been doing lately?

A Quiet Moment of Playing Together

May 22, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

Almost a year since The Prince was born, there is still a lot of lingering resentment from The Boy. I get it; his whole world changed and now he has to share Mommy and Daddy, and his toys.

Growing up, my relationships with my four siblings was one of the best things in my young life. Sure we fought, sometimes a lot, but we were always there for each other. And as I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned how to be better friends with each of my siblings. So I’ve always wanted that for my boys, and was beginning to doubt it was going to happen.

The Prince, of course, loves his older brother, idolizes him. But The Boy has mostly shown annoyance and barely tolerates The Prince. There’s been the rare hug or kiss or concern when The Prince is crying, but not as much as I was hoping for.

Then, the other day the hubby witnessed them playing together with cars The Boy had willingly, with no prompting shared. It lasted about five minutes before a fight, but it was a start. And then yesterday, The Prince reached into The Boy’s car case (where all the fun rescue vehicles are kept) and The Boy didn’t yell. In fact, he said to his little brother, “You can play with that,” and proceeded to give me a selection (of his non-favorite) rescues to play with.

I was one happy mama! There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and I think we may be reaching the end. I’m not expecting peace all the time (or even most of the time), but at least now I know it is a possibility.