kristinamcbride

Join me for one (or all!) of the upcoming events celebrating
the launch of my latest novel,
a contemporary YA set to hit stores in June.

Launch Party & Signing
7:00 PM
June 29, 2012

The Greene Shopping Center
4453 Walnut Street
Dayton, OH 45440
Starting at 7:00 PM, there will be a Q&A, reading, and signing. 
Books will be available for purchase.

Writers' Workshop for Teens
July 25, 2012
12:00-2:00 PM

Register Here For This Event.

YA Bash!
August 4, 2012
1:00-3:00 PM

Joseph-Beth Booksellers
2692 Madison Road
Cincinnati, Ohio 45208

Join Kristina McBride, Rae Carson, Christina Johnson, Julie Kagawa,
Julia Karr, Katrina Kittle, and Saundra Mitchell as they discuss
YA literature and answer audience questions.
Books will be available for signing and purchase.

Books by the Banks Festival
October 20, 2012
10:00 AM to 4:00 PM

Duke Energy Convention Center
525 Elm Street
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

     She's super cool; the mother of twin girls; and she fears heights, planes, and zombies. But that's not why I'm introducing her today.
I'm here to share book love, because in addition to all of the above, Cat is also a very talented author.
First, there's her debut, FORGOTTEN, a mind-bending tale about sixteen-year-old London Lane,
who forgets the past, but remembers the future. 

Lucky for us, Cat's second book, REVIVED, is due to hit shelves on May 1 (but I hear that pre-orders are already shipping out!).



Doesn't that gorgeous cover make you want to know more? Here's the scoop:

A secret government agency has developed a drug called Revive that can bring people back from the dead, and Daisy Appleby, a test subject, has been Revived five times in fifteen years. Daisy takes extraordinary risks, knowing that she can beat death, but each new death also means a new name, a new city, and a new life. When she meets Matt McKean, Daisy begins to question the moral implications of Revive, and as she discovers the agency's true goals,
she realizes she's at the center of something much larger -- and more sinister -- than she ever imagined.

Kristina: We all know writers love to read. List a few books you love so much you wish you'd written them.

Cat: I would love to have written The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater: It’s dreamlike and quietly romantic but also incredibly well paced and action packed. Others I’d gladly take credit for include: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Divergent by Veronica Roth and World War Z by Max Brooks.

Kristina: When you start a new project, how do you know you have a solid enough idea to begin writing?

Cat: When an idea strikes, I never write it down. If I’m still thinking about it a few days later, I start writing. If I make it past page seventy five without getting bored, I’ll usually finish the book.

Kristina: How do you celebrate a finished project, a new deal, or other fun authorly news?

Cat: My husband is an amazing cook, and I love champagne. So whenever I finish or sell a book, we have a fancy dinner with bubbly. I’m also fan of buying myself new shoes for big wins.

Kristina: List 3 reasons people should read REVIVED. 

Cat: First, Revived is a standalone (not a sequel), so I hope that readers will find it a satisfying read, with the beginning, middle and end all packaged into one nice, neat hardcover. Second, the friendships in the book are some of my favorite relationships that I’ve written yet. And third, it has a striking cover, and the inside bit’s not bad either.

Kristina: What's next for Cat Patrick, the author?

Cat: I’ve just finished editing my third novel, The Originals, which is about three clones living as one person to protect themselves from their past, and which comes out Spring 2013. I’m writing my fifth book and will have news on the fourth in the next few months.

“So. Where do you get your ideas?”

I’m asked this all the time, as if I might have some magic formula. It’s funny, because at any given moment I might be tossing around ten different ideas for my next book. The problem for most authors isn’t finding inspiration, it’s figuring out which inspiration to grab hold of and take to the next level. Which means there’s a question behind that where-do-you-get-your-ideas question. When people ask where an author gets an idea for a novel, what they really mean is this:

“How do you know you have an idea that’s strong enough to take from that first glimmer of inspiration and see it through to a finished manuscript?”

Now that is the real question. And if you had the chance to ask every author out in the world, you might hear a different answer from each one. But here are the things that cue me in.

I know I have an idea strong enough to take from that first glimmer of inspiration and see it through to a finished manuscript when:

1. I can’t sleep because the characters won’t stop talking to me and scenes from the book are continuously looping through my mind.
2. I pitch the idea to my agent, and she's silent and contemplative for only a few moments before telling me to work it.
3. I look forward to vacuuming, folding laundry, dusting, cleaning the bathrooms, etc, because mundane chores make for the best brainstorming sessions.
4. My husband looks at me during a meal and says, “Stop writing,” when really all I’m doing is staring out the sliding glass door and into the backyard. (He knows me too well, because in those moments, I’m usually far away from my family, watching my characters unfold some new secret twist to the book forming in my head.)
5. I get that fluttery feeling of excitement when I know I have some quiet time alone with my computer.
6. The ideas flow, from one to another, without frustration setting in.
7. I forget to eat, avoid answering the phone, put off cleaning the house, and overall drop out of life because I’m so taken by the story that I have to keep writing.
8. I wish I had a super computer in my brain that would type as fast as I think because it would allow me to finish a first draft in 33.7 minutes.
9. I start talking to my characters . . . which looks an awful lot like me talking to myself, and probably makes others wonder about my sanity.
10. I lose time. Life keeps going on around me, but I’m oblivious because I’m off in story land making my way through another string of events that feel real, but aren’t. Unless maybe, in some parallel unverse, they are . . .

Bottom line, I know I have an idea worth writing if the story and characters simply take over my life. It’s not a lightning bolt effect, more like a slow seeping into my brain, a take-over that I’m so taken by, I don’t quite notice. When that happens, it’s not a question of if, or even when, I’ll write. The process has already begun. And like so many things in my life, with this, I must surrender my control. 

(For the record, the inspiration for THE TENSION OF OPPOSITES came to me as I watched an interview Oprah had with a young man named Shawn Hornbeck, who had recently been returned to his family after a four-year abduction. Soon I’ll write the details about the true inspiration behind ONE MOMENT, which hits stores in June!)