Writerly Wednesday Welcomes Katriena Knights

Welcome Katriena to Writerly Wednesday.  She returned her interview at exactly the moment I was preparing to work on the post.  So, she is an author with awesome timing!

Bio: Katriena Knights wrote her first poem when she was three years old and had to dictate it to her mother under the bathroom door (her timing has never been very good). Now she’s the author of several paranormal and contemporary romances. She grew up in a miniscule town in Illinios,  and now lives in a miniscule town in Colorado with her two children. Visit her at her website at katrienaknights.kabeka.com,  or at her blog at katrienaknights.blogspot.com.

From Sally – my first writing experience that I can remember was when I wrote the letters of my first name, in crayon, on my bedroom wall below the light switch.  The wall was bumpy and my penmanship did not improve.  The truly awesome thing was that the ‘mother of me’ knew exactly who the writing belonged to.  

I was also born in a small town in southern Illinois and Colleged in Lebanon, Illinois.  

Back to our Guest!

Blurb: It’s tough to win the game of love if you don’t understand the rules.

 

Though Tony Mullin agreed to put on a medieval costume,  complete with pointy hat,  for her best friend’s marriage vow renewal,  another round of wedding bells will never be in her own future. Been there,  done that,  still sifting through the ashes of broken dreams.

 

Yet she can’t take her eyes off the Armani-clad mystery man among the guests—and no one’s more surprised to learn it’s David Peterson,  the erstwhile nerd who mooned over her in high school. He not only grew up to be a hunk,  but a rich one as well. Pity she’s sworn off men.

 

Last David knew,  sweet,  artistic Tony married the high school quarterback. He made his fortune developing video games,  but the torch he carried for her still smolders. His surprise that she’s ditched the jock quickly turns to determination to win her heart at last…though she seems just as determined to play keep-away.

 

David didn’t become successful by giving up easily. A freak snowstorm plays into his strategy,  but debugging a few gigabytes of computer code seems easier than figuring out how to win this wary woman’s love.

 

Excerpt: Not for the first time,  Tony Mullin wondered why in the world she had agreed to stand up in Jim and Julia Richie’s second wedding. Looking at herself in the mirror in the dark blue velvet medieval monstrosity of a dress,  she couldn’t really come up with an answer.

 

Except that Julia was her best friend,  had been since forever,  and renewing her vows on her tenth anniversary meant the world to her. Plus—and Tony was hesitant to admit the additional motivation even to herself—a good portion of her high school graduating class was going to be there,  as well as Julia’s other friends and family. None of Tony’s fellow classmates had seen her since not long after graduation. Truth to tell,  Tony had something to prove.

 

With a sigh,  Tony adjusted the tall,  pointy hat over her sleekly upswept hair and pinned it in place,  adjusting the gauzy blue veils around her face. A collection of dark blonde strands refused to stay in place,  falling in less than artful disarray around her face. She looked ridiculous.

 

The fabric was wonderful,  though. Tony slid her hand down the sensuous softness of the velvet and imagined once again the suit it would become once the ceremony was over—Tony’s own version of a designer suit she’d seen in a fashion magazine. It was one of the reasons she’d finally agreed to participate,  especially when Julia had offered to foot the bill.

 

The dippy hat seemed to sit a bit too low on her forehead. Tony loosened a few pins and readjusted it. It hadn’t seemed right,  letting Julia buy the dress. But Julia had insisted.

 

“It’s not a wedding wedding,  after all, ” she’d argued. “We’re just renewing our vows.”

 

Tony had just shaken her head,  knowing she was about to agree to whatever Julia asked,  as much to get her hands on that rich,  blue velvet as anything else. “I still can’t believe you convinced Jim to wear tights.”

 

Julia and Jim’s first wedding had been a simple affair,  with a Justice of the Peace presiding and Tony and her then-husband Rudy James serving as witnesses. But Julia had always wanted a big to-do with the wedding party in medieval garb,  and that was what she was about to get. The participants were the same—Julia as bride,  Jim as groom and Tony as the lone bridesmaid—but the setting looked like something out of a bad Robin Hood movie.

 

“More like Monty Python and the Holy Grail, ” Tony muttered. She stepped out to meet the crowd.

 

 

 

Not for the first time,  David Peterson wondered why he’d been invited to Julia and Jim Richie’s second wedding.

 

Apparently,  he wasn’t the only guest with the same question. Except the curious gazes that followed him as he walked up the aisle asked not,  “What is he doing here?” but “Who is he?”

 

David muffled a smile as he sat down. He had most of a pew to himself. The guest list appeared to consist of his and Julia’s entire graduating class,  but that had only been about fifty people. Maybe thirty-five of them were here now,  sprinkled among faces he didn’t recognize who were probably Julia’s family. Many of their classmates had moved out of state after graduation. David had planned never to see them again. He wanted to see them now,  though. Wanted them to see his success. Petty,  he knew,  but somewhere inside,  he was still the nerdy teenager who’d taken the brunt of far too much harassment. He wasn’t proud of it,  but there it was.

 

He smoothed his Star Wars tie,  straightened his Armani suit jacket and picked up his program. As he glanced over the order of the ceremony,  his heart did a strange little flip,  and suddenly,  he understood why the universe had conspired to put him in the same room with the people who’d ruined his teenage years.

 

Julia’s single bridesmaid was Antonytte Mullin.

 

Mullin. Not James. Mullin.

 

And David knew he had fallen into the hands of Fate. The question was,  what would he do now he was there?

 

Dealing With David

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Interview

1.        In three days,  all power will go off,  everywhere for a very long time.  What will you include in your author survival kit?

 

A bag of composition tablets and as many Sharpie pens as I can get my hands on (fine point,  the kind that don’t bleed through the paper,  in black). That’s what I write with,  anyway—I do all my first drafts longhand. Then I’d want all the books in my house and probably my Kindle since it’ll last a while on the current battery. Maybe an oil lamp for writing after dark. If the power’s out long enough,  I’ll probably come out on the other side with a finished novel.

 

2.       Where did the idea for the work you are promoting arise?

 

To be honest,  I don’t actually remember. I wrote this book a very long time ago. It was originally published by Hard Shell Word Factory,  and was I think the second book I ever contracted with a publisher. This version,  available at Samhain,  has been fairly significantly rewritten.

 

I do remember I saw the name Antonytte in the newspaper and thought it looked neat. That was the genesis of Tony. Then I think I might have landed on the idea of her being stuck somewhere wearing a medieval pointy hat and built the rest of the story around that.

 

3.       What do you like to read?

 

I’ll read just about anything. I particularly like urban fantasy—vampires are a special favorite but I deeply dislike the Twilight universe for a variety of reasons. I read a lot of nonfiction,  too,  some as research for current WIPs and some just for fun. I like sweeping historical sagas and epic fantasy,  classics,  thrillers… just about anything. My favorite book I’ve read recently was The Hunger Games,  and yet somehow I haven’t managed to squeeze in reading time for the next two books. I like the first one so much I’m almost afraid to read the others. I also read a lot of fanfic,  but we won’t go into that. *whistles innocently*

 

4.       Tell us about the most exciting place you have ever visited?

 

I visited Scotland when I was in college. It was the first time I ever traveled anywhere on my own. I figured why start with an in-state road trip when you can fly internationally instead? Scotland was fantastic—I felt like I’d been there before when I got off the plane. I was staying with my best friend from high school,  so I got to visit places off the main tourist tracks. I also went to Edinburgh on my own and saw Holyrood House and Edinburgh Castle. It was a great experience and I’d love to go back. I revisited it in a way when I wrote Where There’s a Will. I came up with that idea largely because I wanted to write about where I’d been in Scotland and show some of the love I felt for the place while I was there.

 

5.       What is the most mundane,  day to day,  thing you can share about yourself?

 

I am allergic to housecleaning. My house is always a mess—not necessarily dirty,  but cluttered,  with piles of books and folders and papers all over the place. It’s kind of embarrassing. Also,  sometimes when I have writer’s block it goes away if I scrub the toilets. So I’ve trained myself not to have writer’s block. I think there’s a vicious circle going on here…

 

6.       What scares you the most?

 

Thinking about what might be growing behind my stove.

 

7.       Tell us anything but keep it G rated.

 

Writing really is an obsession for me. If I don’t write anything for a few days,  I get cranky,  moody,  and difficult to be around. I’ve been writing since before I could read,  and I can’t remember ever not having a WIP somewhere around. Of course,  I didn’t call them that until I got considerably older,  but there were always stories in some phase of completion in notebooks or on loose leaf in folders or binders stuck in my school backpack or in piles next to the bed. Starchild came from a story I wrote when I was in Jr. High. I’ve thought about resurrecting some of my other really old works,  but I don’t think there’s much of a market for a short novel about a blind filly who wins the Kentucky Derby. A shame,  that.

Katriena Knights has been a great guest.  Thank you for letting me do this to you and everyone should come back next week to see who the next guest will be.

Don’t touch anything sharp and http://writerlywednesday.com will bring you to all of the Writerly Wednesday Guests in reversed order of appearance.

Keywords: Katriena Knights,  Dealing With David,  Contemporary Romance,  Samhain Publishing