Getting To Know Us with Kathye Quick

Yes, we all have bios on this website, but there is so much MORE to know about our Classic and Cozy bloggers. So, the second Friday of each month is dedicated to getting to know us better. This month I'd like to introduce you to Kathye Quick.

Okay, inquiring minds want to know…why a writer? Certainly not for the fame and fortune…or maybe it is?

Although fame and fortune are two of my favorite things, I don’t expect either from my writing. I write to get all those people inside my head on paper so they stop bugging me. That, of course, is a double-edged sword because once I finish a book, it only makes room for other people to start talking to me. Sometimes I swear I hear more voices than Sybil.

Seriously, I write because I enjoy telling stories and hope other people may like hearing them.

When did you first put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) to create your classic and cozy characters?

I began writing in high school for the school newspaper. That steered me to trying my hand at short stories which then lead to bigger plots. I published my first book in 1999 and it’s been quite an up and down ride ever since.

Do you have a set writing schedule?

I wish I did. I fit in writing when I can in between a job that pays the bills, public service on a few municipal boards, doing bookkeeping for my husband’s business, and, of late, helping plan my third son’s wedding.

When I do find a second to write, it is usually in the evening. I try, and emphasize try, to do at least 3-5 pages a day. Sometimes I can; sometimes not so much. I’m sure I miss a lot of opportunities because I just didn’t get the book done. I am trying to correct that.

Is there a certain routine, food/drink, or location that summons forth the muses for you?

No really. Usually, a face, an event, or a passing thought creeps up on me and I have to go with it. For example, Daryl Hall and John Oates caught my attention with their song Melody for a Memory. That song has stuck in my mind for a few decades and I just turned it into the second book in my Bachelors Three series for the Wild Rose Press entitled Solid Gold Bachelor.

A writer really never knows when a muse is going to rap him or her on the side of the head with an idea. A writer only has to be prepared when it happens, and have the journal handy to write it down.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

I love, love, love gardening. Just tore out a whole side yard last fall and turned it into a woodland retreat. This year I have plans to plant some shade-loving flowers to give the place some color, and to get the Uwharrie Chair of my dreams (it looks like a throne) to put in one of the seating areas. Heaven!

I imagine you’ve been reading all of your life (all great writers have.)  What was your favorite book as a child?

It wasn’t as a child, but as a young adult. I still have the first copy I ever bought of the Mists of Avalon. I love the legend of Camelot, and am pretty sure I was a serving wench in a past life. And seriously, why in the world would anyone take Lancelot over King Arthur?  Just saying.

Do you re-read books?  If so, which one have you re-read the most?

I do. Especially when I have the dreaded writer’s block. Re-reading a part of one of my favorites helps with that.

I love The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Kadine  (For some reason I can’t think of the author right now), and (moving up on the favorite list very quickly) any of the Game of Thrones books by George R. R. Martin. I have a particular weakness for Jon Snow.

But there’s more to life than reading, writing (and arithmetic)…what is your most memorable adventure in your life?

I have to say, I have had quite a few adventures. Dated a professional football player, a fighter pilot, and a police officer, served in Municipal Office in my town, and had the governor of New Jersey carry some ruined furniture out of my flooded house when he came by the neighborhood to see the devastation in the town.

But the most exciting thing for me just happened. I FINALLY saw the Northern Lights during my third trip to Iceland. Magnificent. I have to say, God is an amazing decorator.

If you were on American Idol, what song would you sing to WOW! the judges?

 I can’t sing. No matter what song I would choose, the judges would say “who let the cat in and who stepped on it?”

Almost done, but first…movie rights…who’ll play your current main characters when Hollywood comes knocking on your door?

Actually, FIREBRAND, my urban fantasy co-written with my writing partner soul mate, Patt Mihailoff,  has been optioned by an Independent Producer (no illusion of it ever getting made though).

In a perfect world, this would be the cast:

Amber Drake – Hayden Panettier
David Mack – Chris Hemsworth
Marcus Drake (Amber’s father) – Robert Downey Jr.
Eric Sincalir/Gorash (troll) – Collin Farrell
Serina (fairy) – Halle Berry
Brian McKenna (Amber’s birth father) – Channing Tatum
Amber’s Fair Birth Mother – Nicole Kidman 

Last question: What book(s) to you have coming out or what are you working on?

I have contracted with the Wild Rose Press for a three book series called Bachelors Three.

The first book, Bachelor.com is a geek to chic story, about the owner of a computer video game company whose life is changed when, after an automobile accident, has his face reconstructed and suddenly becomes a hunk.

In Solid Gold Bachelor, book two, a mega rock star goes back to his hometown to find the only woman he ever loved but whose heart his also broke. Unfortunately for them, murder follows and he is accused of killing a fan who professes he is the father of her child. 

The Bachelor's Agenda, the last book,  follows the political career of a state senator who is considered the heir apparent to federal office. When an upwardly-mobile journalist decides that that senator is hiding something, what she digs up is a little more damning than some political dirt.

Plus, with writing partner Patt Mihailoff, writing as P. K. Eden, there is an urban fantasy in the works sorts like the retelling of a few of Grimm's fairy tales. Ever wonder what Donald Trump might do with the spinning wheel that spins straw into gold?  Patt and I know - LOL

Catch more of Kathye Quick the first Monday of every month here on the Classic and Cozy Blog.

For a complete list of Kathye’s books click on over to her website www.Kathrynquick.com

And be sure and check out her blog if she ever gets one together!!

Like her page on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kathryn-Quick/256416404492072

Having a Family is like running a small Country

My baby boy, son #3, the youngest, has gotten engaged.  I am thrilled that he is marrying his perfect match and also a bit nostalgic.  The event made me think back through the years, and I came to realize that having a family is like running a small country. If not an entire country, then at least a small province inside one. If you think about it, all the required elements are in place.

As the President, I need to balance the budget and occasionally use the concept of deficit spending to cover items acquired by members of the province who did not bother to find out if funds were available before committing. I know how to buy, sell, trade, diversify, borrow, lend, merge, acquire, divest, mediate, arbitrate and intercede.

Pease negotiations? Weekly back in the day.  Someone made off with the new video game; someone can't sit on the recliner because someone else already called dibs, and maybe the most important issue - spy vs. spy "He's looking at me again."  Peace didn't always come easy, but somehow, as President, I managed to achieve intervals of calm through tense dialogue and debate with all affected parties which resulted in a cease fire.

I became a master at negotiating with terrorists (I had three of them) who routinely destroyed possessions in the neighboring provinces (bedrooms). With that, I also had to become a whiz at border disputes (also the bedrooms). I remember being in strategic talks almost weekly concerning and who was allowed inside each bedroom on any given day. I was pretty good at handling that because, coming from smaller and more economically depended states, the envoys from these three sub-provinces brought less to the bargaining table than I did.

Regular press conferences were held to keep the citizens of the sub-provinces informed on what was expected of them.  Questions to which I had no answers were either referred to the Vice President (their father), or received a "no comment" until new data was compiled.

The Red phone, it was actually white back then, was connected to an intricate staff, most of whom has extensive experience in the area of either economy or defense.  For example, the National Guard (mom-mom and pop-pop) were on permanent stand-by status, and were used in cases of extreme emergency. They also turned out to be  the sub-provinces' primary lenders, and seemed to be heavily involved in foreign aid when I cut off all sources of homeland funding.

Other staff members were the Secretary of the Interior - the sales staff at Macy's, Secretary of Agriculture - the cashier at Wegmans, Secretary of Health - family doctor, Secretary of Education - the school principal and Commerce Secretary - me (I shop  a lot).

I also had one of those "Buttons" the are rumored to be in the White House.  It was connected to a black box and covered with a sign that said "Do Not Push Unless All Forms of Peaceful Negotiations Have Failed."  There wasn't anything in it, of course, but I told the Vice President that inside was a one-way ticket to Hawaii and $100,000 in unmarked, non-consecutive bills. I swear there were days when I saw his forefinger hover over that button!!

Somehow we got through all the cold wars, the recessions, the breaks in treaties, periods of tense negotiations on matters of state, and everything else that affects world peace at a scaled down family level, and made it to where we are today. Happy, healthy, and grateful for each other.

So now my last "province" has ceded from the Union and is about to colonize a country of his own.  All I can say is Good Luck and God Bless.  And oh, don't forget, the Motherland would certainly like to see a few new little citizens when the time is right!!!

That's Jarrett and his Bride to Be, Tara,  Not a bad looking couple of Ambassadors from the about to be new Nation of Happily Ever After!!




Kathye Quick, who is preparing to be a MIL for the third time, is in the middle of her nineteenth book.  She writes contemporary romance, historical romance and urban fantasy, and has been known to dabble in humor and non-fiction.