How I Interviewed Myself

The idea for this blog post came about after I completed these questions from a woman who asked to interview me on her blog.  But…….I lost her contact information and forgot the name of her blog! I’m not an organized person at all. I take notes and create lists, but those lists disappear. So instead of deleting my work here, I decided it would be good to post it to my own blog. Why not? 

Today we’re interviewing Kay Castaneda, author of Emmie of Indianapolis: The Story of an American Girl

 

1. When did you start writing and how did that come about?    I started writing in junior high school when my one of my assignments was to write a short story. I wrote about toy soldiers coming to life. I think I had them talking to each other although I don’t remember any of the dialogue. My English teacher made some comments on the paper about the premise of my story, that it was unbelievable. Toys would never come to life! I wonder what she thought of  the movie Toy Story? I always had good grammar and spelling, so she couldn’t fault me with that. I continued writing but stuck to poetry until I went to college. My major was English so I was required to write a lot. I discovered I wanted to concentrate in creative writing. I still keep in touch with some of my English professors.

 

2. Tell us about yourself. What do you want readers to know? I am retired from teaching English now. I taught Composition to first-year college students. I’ve been married for 46 years and have one son. I grew up in Indiana and lived there until my husband and I retired five years ago. We moved to Mexico where we now live. I’m in the process of making my writing office. It’s a walk-in closet. My husband made shelves for my books and had a friend build me a desk. I bought a sewing machine and table. Everything fits perfectly. The small town where we live is different from the suburbs back in the Midwest. People walk around more here to shop, work and visit friends and family.  I see plenty of potential characters for future books and stories!

3. Do you have suggestions for new authors? Tell us how you started and what struggles you overcame.  I had some stories and poems published before I wrote my book. I always wanted to write a novel since I was young. My husband and I used to own a gift shop.  I had plenty of time when no customers were in the store. One day, I was bored so I began writing some notes for a book. I planned to write a collection of short stories based on a theme of people who lived in my area. It was going to involve history, famous landmarks and events of the past. Since it would be fiction, I started to make up names of the protagonists for each story. I planned to have twelve stories, so I made a list of twelve names. One of the names stood out more than the others. Emmie O’Brien. That’s how I got the inspiration to write my first novel, Emmie of Indianapolis. Because the novel has some sensitive topics, I didn’t want an editor to interfere and tell me to take out parts that were important to keep. I wanted control. Self-publishing offered me total control as the author, editor, and publisher. I didn’t have experience with the format and that really was a problem. I went through my bookshelf to research how other authors structured their novels. It only took me two months to write my book, but I spent a year after that revising and formatting the novel for publication. Publishing my ebook was especially difficult for me because I had to learn about pdf, .mobi, .epub and other things. It was like learning a foreign language. I couldn’t pay anyone to do this so I was on my own. 

 

There are no laws for the novel. There never have been, nor can there ever be.”
—Doris Lessing

 

4. How do you structure your works and what is your current work in progress?  My first novel is structured around one year in Emmie’s life. I used holidays and important events in her life for each chapter.  My work in progress is a mystery with Emmie as the teen protagonist. She finds herself in the role of amateur sleuth. This takes place in the 1960s in Indianapolis, the same city as the first book. Emmie is now 15, in high school and works part-time at the library. Some of the characters from the first novel make their appearance in the second one such as Emmie’s friends and family. It’s a light mystery that I hope to continue as a series. The working title is Where Are You Iris Rose: An Emmie O’Brien Mystery. Emmie searches for an elderly woman who she’s familiar with from the library. Emmie is frustrated because the police are dragging their feet in the investigation. No one seems to be interested in finding an elderly woman who lives alone and doesn’t have many friends. The first draft is done. I always hand write my stories in a notebook first. I’m in the process of typing the second draft. I don’t edit or revise anything until I make the third draft. I do as many drafts as needed until I’m satisfied. I plan to complete the book and publish it the fall. 

 

5. How do you relax? Is there anything you like to do in your downtime?   Relaxing to me involves reading. I like memoirs and novels with a strong female heroine. Fantasy, science fiction or paranormal stories are not my favorite although I do read them at times. Historical fiction is also a favorite. I have been reading about the history of Mexico, plus I discovered some Mexican fiction that I like.  I also love to read about science, other cultures, and faith. I love traveling. My husband and I took a trip to Europe for our twenty-fifth anniversary. We flew from the US to Ireland first, took the ferry to Wales, England, Belgium, France, then took the train to Italy. I was fortunate to attend writing seminars in Lithuania and Scotland. I have outlines for novels based on my travel experiences. My husband and I also travel to many places in Mexico. 

 

6. This is a famous interview question. Do you like chocolate or vanilla? Coffee or tea? What is your favorite food?  I love chocolate and vanilla ice cream and deserts. I also love coffee and tea. When we moved to Mexico, I began drinking Cafe de Olla which is coffee with brown sugar and cinnamon sticks boiled in a ceramic pot. It is served everywhere, especially for breakfast in restaurants. Even small cafes and booths at the Mercado (the market) make it. It has to cook quite awhile to make the flavors mix together.  My favorite foods are soups, salads, pasta, fruit, cheese and any type of bread. I love Italian food. That’s not available much in Mexico unless you go to a big city. I miss Ravioli and Lasagna. My favorite Mexican food is bolillos with pinto beans and white cheese. Bolillos are small French bread loaves. When France ruled Mexico, their bread beacame very famous! The rolls are split in half, then the beans and cheese are spread on top before toasting on a comal or griddle. You can add salsa, avocado or chilis after the bread is toasted. 

 

7. Have you thought of writing a play or other type of book?  I used to think about this writing a play. It would involve a different type of writing. I’d have to take classes or self-study. I would rather use my time to write fiction, poetry and memoirs. I started a book about female poets. That won’t be finished for a few years. 

 

8. Name an actress you think would make the perfect protagonist in your book and why?  They would have to be a female who is either a teenager or who could look and act like a teen girl from the Midwest. They would have to understand about dialect, slang, idioms and speech for that area of the country since those are important to the story. For my book, I chose a cover that features a young girl similar to how Emmie looks in my mind. I sketched a portrait of her and want to paint her in the future.

9. If you could travel in time, such as going back in time or to the future, which would you choose and why?  The future is scary to me! I wouldn’t want to go back too far in time. The era of 1920s-30s when Americans lived in France intrigues me. I would like to see how it was hanging around all those expatriates in Paris such as Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Joyce and the other writers-the Lost Generation as they’re known. The fashions of that era are my favorite styles. Maybe I will write about that era.

 

10. Is there anything else you want to tell us about your book or something you may simply want to share?   That old saying of Try, Try Again was something my father always told me, especially after something didn’t turn out right or one of my failures. Rewrite, revise, edit, and proofread your work. Don’t be intimidated by another writer’s success because you don’t know what they had to go through to get there. Think of doing your best work. Enjoy the writing process. Writing is an art to me. Other people may not think the same way. Imagine! No one before you put those same words in the same order as you did! Keep learning about marketing, publishing and new things in the writing world. Read the classics. You are the first reader of your work, so write something that you would like to read! Network with other writers. Join writing groups on social media. Don’t be offended if your family and friends aren’t interested in your work or the fact that you choose to write. That is very common, I’ve discovered. Read other’s books and offer to write a review. Promote reading and writing wherever you go. And consider a career as a teacher. They are often the ones who inspire people to write in the first place. Never stop writing even if it’s only a sentence or few words now and then. Just like riding a bike, you never forget how to write. Your talent may be simply resting for a while because we have so many things to do in life. Writing is not the most important thing, but it’s very near the top. 

 

Here is my contact information if you’re interested in reading more about me or my work. Thank you!

Blog  https://bookplaces.blog

Twitter    https://twitter.com/kcastanedauthor

Facebook author page  https://www.facebook.com/kaycastaneda90

Instagram.   https://www.instagram.com/kaycastaneda90

Amazon author page  https://amazon.com/author/kaycastaneda

Substack.     kaywriterwarrior.substack.com

Goodreads    https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13851635.Kay_Castaneda

 

https://www.amazon.com/Emmie-Indianapolis-Kay-Castaneda-ebook/dp/B07G2S9MTP/