If you read my first About area, you know I have a hard time figuring out what to say about myself. A really hard time. So I'm going to write about the people in my writing life instead.
Cue maniacal, evil-genius laugh here.
Seriously though, there are three people without whom there would be no world-famous-author-Kate-Perry. Yeah, the talent is mine, but they help me hone my pen, so to speak.
First up, of course, there's Nate, my beloved.
You want a story about him, don't you? Okay—I was in the throes of The First Great Agent Hunt, when one day I got three rejections in the mail, plus one request to read my manuscript.
Parisa and Nate—without a doubt, the two people I love most in the world. Don't they look guilty? They're always up to something.
Drama queen that I am, I focused on the rejections. The fit I threw was epic. I told Nate I was done—that I sucked, that it was pointless, and that I couldn't send the requested manuscript because I ran out of printer paper. So he took my hand, drove me to Staples, bought me a case of paper, and told me I couldn't give up until the paper was all gone. I had an agent and a book deal before even two of the reams were used up.
So Nate's the reason I ever got published. Yeah, feel free to blame him. Or join his fan club. But, please remember, ladies— he's taken.
Next: my sister, Parisa.
She doesn't know it, but she's my secret weapon. Whenever I get a vague idea for a character, I call her and let her figure out the details of the plot. She's amazing when it comes to plot and nailing a character's goals and motivation, and for world building she's absolutely invaluable. She always asks the right questions that lead to a rich story.
Oops—maybe I spilled the beans.
And then there's my critique partner, Veronica Wolff.
She reads all the crap I write. And I'm not joking—my first drafts are fairly painful. But somehow Veronica wades through the morass and helps me make sense of it all.
Veronica is a saucy wench. Kate needs a visit to the stylist.
Veronica and I met in Dallas, of all places, at the annual Romance Writers of America conference. I'd moved back to San Francisco nine months before and hadn't established my writer community yet, so I was looking for new local friends. When I found out Veronica lived five minutes away from me, I stalked her until she gave me her phone number.
I called her two seconds after I got home and arranged to meet her for lunch. Half an hour into our lunch date, I knew I wanted to try being her critique partner—I just wasn't sure how to broach the subject. It's like asking someone to go to second base, you know? But Veronica, brazen hussy that she is, beat me to the punch. The rest is history.
Still curious?
I know—I didn't divulge a lot of personal information. But, I'm telling you, I'm not all that interesting. However, if you have specific questions, feel free to email me. I swear I'll answer them. Even if they're about Nate.
