Continuing the What, Where, When? feature of writers and their writing processes, I am very pleased to welcome Katrina MountFort, author of Future Perfect and soon to be published Forbidden Alliance, to the blog to talk about her writing life.
What do you write – what are you currently writing and what made you start writing in the first place?
I find it hard to define what I write because I don’t like defining genres. All my books have women as the main protagonist and all are about relationships of some sort. The books that have been published so far (books 1 and 2 of the Blueprint trilogy) have been categorized as dystopia or speculative fiction because they’re set in the future, but most of my novels have a contemporary setting. I’m currently working on a story about a girl who was born to a native American community – her destiny was to become a shamanic healer, but she was adopted by an English couple and her upbringing leads her to a very different life to the one that was intended for her.
I started writing at primary school – I was a shy child but discovered that I could lose myself in fictional worlds. But at secondary school a dry, uninspiring English teacher thought that good handwriting was more important than creativity, and that was the end of my writing for pleasure. At the same time, a chemistry teacher with a penchant for explosive chemicals (who also happened to be a nun) made me fall in love with science, and although I always secretly nurtured the dream to write, I didn’t try again until I was forty. A close friend had just died and it made me realize that you can’t put off your dreams forever.
When do you write – authors tend to have a set routine, morning, lunchtime, night – when do you write and why then?
I have to confess that I don’t have a set routine because I’m a freelance medical writer and my workload can be feast or famine. When I have little work I can write up to 8,000 words in a day; on other days it might be only a hundred. Afternoons tend to be my best writing time – I take my two Labradors for a walk at lunchtime and that’s when I get my best ideas.
Where do you write – some people do it at a desk but some people do it at the kitchen table. Where do you do it?
I’m lucky to have a dedicated study with a desk and computer but it’s not often the pristine writing space it’s meant to be! The walls are plastered with inspirational quotes I find online; the desk is littered with notes. I also have a Periodic Table poster – I’m still a bit of a science geek! There’s often a dog under the desk too.
What do you write on – Apple or Windows? Laptop or desktop? Word or Scrivener? or anything else…
Apple, desktop, word. I love my Mac! But there are also notebooks/scraps of paper all over the house for when I’ve had an inspiration and had to scribble it down there and then.
How much contact do you have with other writers – are you a solitary writer or do you have a writing group?
I’m a solitary writer but have plenty of online support. When I was first writing I submitted work on the Word Cloud online forum: http://writing-community.writersworkshop.co.uk/. I learned most of my writing skills from the critique I received there, and have made some good friends through it. I’ve also met authors through blogs and Twitter and have found a wonderful, supportive community that celebrates my successes and comfort me through the rejections. Best of all, I have a fabulous US friend who is also a writer. We’re in contact most days and beta-read everything the other writes.
Finally – writing in coffee shops – yes or no ?!
I find it interesting that people do that – I never have but I like to carry notebooks around with me everywhere – sometimes I overhear interesting snippets of conversation that I have to use later. Train journeys are also good for that.
You can find out more about Katrina here:
Website http://www.katrinamountfort.com/
Publisher’s website http://elsewhen.alnpetepress.co.uk/index.php/catalogue/author/katrina-mountfort/
Twitter and Facebook https://twitter.com/curlykats
https://www.facebook.com/KatrinaMountfortAuthor
My blog https://herstoryblogspot.wordpress.com/
