rww

My Day in GIFs

September 12, 2017 by Kathryn Renard 1 Comment

It’s Tuesday, so that means it’s time for the RWW Blog Hop! Welcome to everyone who’s come over from Brenda Margriet’s blog.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with my work, I write New Adult romances. My latest book is “The Comeback”. It’s been called an “Up all night kind of read” and has a five star rating on Amazon. Check it out!

I am loving this week’s theme from my friend Jenna Da Sie: “Make a post about your day, but in GIF form!” I love GIFs, but I don’t really use them for my blog…I hope I do it right and it’s fun for you, the reader.

So, here we go, my day in GIFs! Of course, the first thing I do every morning is wake up, ready to enjoy my day!

Haha, who am I kidding? I’m the mom of twins. One of my girls usually gently brings me to consciousness, kind of like this:

So, we’re up. I make breakfast and get the kids off to school. Right here and now I’m going to answer the question “what do you do all day?”

This is what my kid’s think I do…

And while I do miss them, it’s not quite that bad. This may or may not be me in my living room after drop-off.

By the way, if you ask my husband what I do, this would be his reaction…

He’s a very smart man…in fact so smart he’s never even asked the question let alone tried to answer it.

The truth is since I’m a writer I spend a lot of time daydreaming and thinking things through

Because I have to figure out a way for my characters to get together. It can’t be as simple as this…

Because that would make for a very short book!

Not only do I have to think about plot and character, I also have to do research.

A lot of research

Can you blame me?

I do it all for you guys, my readers. I want you to enjoy my books and come back for more.

I will admit, I do sometimes procrastinate by checking out what folks are up to on social media.

Often, out of the blue, inspiration will hit!

Before I know it, the kids are home, and my writing day is over. But you know, somehow I don’t mind at all.

And at the end of the day, I get to spend time with my husband…he’s better than any of the heroes from my book. He’s my Mr. Incredible.

That’s it, my day is done…so it’s time to hop on over to Jenna DaSie’s blog to find out about her day. I’m really excited to see what she’s come up. Thanks for visiting!

Time to Blog Hop!

June 13, 2017 by Kathryn Renard 1 Comment

It’s Tuesday, so that means it’s time for the Romance Writers Weekly blog hop. I’ve sat the last few out, busy on my work in progress.

Welcome to everyone who’s hopping over from S.C. Mitchell’s blog. His new book “Captive of the Kratzen” is coming out soon. Check out his just revealed cover, it definitely piques my interest. He also came up with today’s topic, and it’s a fun one. He writes, “Let’s take a trip. Pretend your publisher has offered you a two-week vacation anywhere in the world to inspire a new novel. Where do you go and why?”

Ooh, so many options! I love to travel, especially internationally, and haven’t really had the chance lately. It’s tempting to pick London. I lived there for a bit and would love to go back. It’s a beautiful,

cosmopolitan city with so much to do. To paraphrase the great English writer Samuel Johnson, “When you are tired of London, you are tired of life.”

I would love to spend two weeks there reliving old times. I lived near the Houses of Parliament. The building is beautiful, especially at night. It really is a romantic city. Sigh. But, alas, I’m not sure my publisher wants to fund my trip down memory lane. Hmm…maybe I should think about setting a book in London! Then my publisher might fall for it…er, be willing to fund my trip because it’s work related. Goodness knows a lot of women love a sexy British accent (I sure do!). I’m sure I could come up with a dashing hero.

But, until I do, I have to live in reality, I think my publisher would only pay if my trip is book-related. All three novels in my Montgomery University series including my most recent book “The Comeback, are set on the East Coast. I live on the East Coast, so I don’t really need a two-week trip.

The Navy SEAL hero of “The Comeback” was introduced in a novella set in Hawaii. That would be a fabulous place to take a free trip, or a paid trip for that matter. That’s not my chosen destination though.

So, care to take a guess where I’d like to take my trip. Here’s a musical hint:

If the amazing Tony Bennett didn’t tip you off, here’s another hint. My next series will be set in California, my home state. I would love an all-expenses paid trip to my beautiful Golden State. (Speaking of Golden State, Go Warriors!) It’s set at a fictional university in California’s wine country. You’re might be thinking it would make more sense to take my imaginary trip to Napa or Sonoma. But I would opt for San Francisco and just take day trips up to wine country. I love San Francisco and I haven’t had a chance to spend more than a few days at a time there in many years. I went to school across the bay at U.C. Berkeley and lived in the East Bay for a few years afterward. I have friends who still live all over the area, I’d love to see them, catch up, eat great food, and see how much things have changed. “The City” as my Bay Area friends call it, is one of my favorite places, even though I grew up in SoCal and lived there recently. I’m one of those rare Californians who loves the Bay Area and Southern California equally. No rivalry here.

I’ve put myself in a good mood! Thinking about good times and good places (and free trips!) I hope my thoughts have sparked some wanderlust in you! And speaking of lust (ha!) go visit Marc Stevens’s blog, he’s next on the hop. I wonder what adults-only spot he wants to visit?

Books, books, books, I love books!

February 21, 2017 by Kathryn Renard 1 Comment

And I always have! So this week’s blog hop topic is perfect!

Before I dive right into the matter at hand, a quick hello to all of you who’ve stopped by from my friend S.C. Mitchell’s blog! His latest fantasy romance is Daughter of Darkness.

This week’s topic: We all love to read so much, what were your favorite books as a child/young adult?

Oh, I love this topic! I was a voracious reader when I was a child. I still love to read but I no longer have the time to spend hours lost in other worlds.

One of the first things I really remember “binge reading” was Aesop’s Fables. The copy I had contained gorgeous illustrations. But it wasn’t just the pictures that attracted me. I loved the stories, each of them seemed to be a perfect little package of wisdom. I can’t find the version I had when I was a child, but this is one I bought for my twins.

One of my favorite fables was “The Fox and the Stork.” Here’s a condensed version: a fox invites a stork over for dinner, and serves soup in a bowl, making it impossible for the stork to eat. The stork didn’t complain, and asked the fox to her place for dinner the next night. She served food in a jar with a long skinny neck, which the fox could only lick at and he was very angry. The moral, as I remember it, was do not play tricks unless you like to be tricked. The funny thing is, my husband I love playing little tricks on each other. Nothing mean, just teasing little tricks. Maybe the moral of our story is Jokes played with love and good humor make for a happy marriage.

My children discovered The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. on their own at our public library and I was thrilled. It was a book I hadn’t thought of in years, but when they chose it at the library a few years ago it brought back a flood of good memories.

Growing up in Southern California, my brother and I always wished for snow. I was jealous of the character, Peter’s, experiences crunching through the snow and even having snow splat on his head when he hit a tree. There’s also an animated story read by the author that is really charming. http://www.ezra-jack-keats.org/read-aloud/the-snowy-day/

Finally, I’m going to mention a Young Adult author that I discovered recently. I’m not a huge fan of Young Adult fiction (I write New Adult romances, which is different. Mostly because of all the sex!) But I really enjoy books by Sarah Dessen.
I think if she had been active when I was the target audience for YA I would have really enjoyed her books. The characters act in a way that is completely believable to me. They make mistakes, but are generally good kids. My favorite of her books that I’ve read is Saint Anything.
A girl who’s lived in the shadow of her older brother has to deal with the aftermath of his drunk driving accident. Along the way, she falls in with a family who, while not exactly misfits, are definitely not your typical suburbanites. It’s a great story and has stuck with me. I’m not the only one who was impressed, it was a TIME Magazine Top 10 Children’s Book of 2015.

As always, I’d love it if you checked out my book. My latest one is “The Comeback.” It’s part of my Montgomery University Series. All the books are standalone, so dive right in anywhere!

Now hop on over to visit my friend Jenna Da Sie to see what kids’ books she recommends (I plan to take notes!)