WADIFTS-
It is with great anticipation that we welcome
seasoned author, Carol Ann Kauffman to this project of “Collaboration in Motion-Women Doing It for Themselves!”
The former
educator of 35 years was the reading teacher to second and third graders during
the last three years of her career; retiring only to care for her convalescing
mother. Since then she has penned numerous titles, created a blog to host,
promote, and support authors and artists, of diverse experiences. We greet her
with open arms as a contributor to our upcoming release- “Through The Darkness-Stories of Hope.”
"If you are reading this, I can only assume Stephen
and I are dead."
Mrs. Kauffman believes with strong conviction
that, “There is NO difference between someone who can’t read and someone who
won’t. Reading is the single most important thing you can do for yourself. And
if you have children, they need to see you read many different types of reading
material. They need to see you read for enjoyment and stress control as well as
general knowledge.”
I usually
read about 20 books a month. On this month’s list are:
* The Angler and the Owl by Viv Drewa,
*In a Heartbeat by Josie Cara,
*The Bounder Redeemed by Alison Jean Ash,
*Not Young, Still Restless by Jeanne Cooper,
*A Corpse in the Chapel by J.B. Hawker, and
*Powerful Proofreading by Debra Smith to name a
few.
With such
strong convictions, we asked Carol just what was it that inspired her to become
a writer?
Carol
Ann Kauffman-
“I do not know!” she responds emphatically. “I have always written. I
don’t ever remember making a conscious choice… I also had my students write to
me in a journal. From experience I know that sometimes it’s easier for them to
write about something that scares them than to say it.”
WADIFTS-
It’s one thing to write recreationally, but quite
another to share your gifts with an audience. What made you want to become a
writer?
Carol
Ann Kauffman- I used to write little stories using the week’s
spellings words for my first grade class. Following would be a list of
comprehension questions. This activity whet my skills to pen a few children's
stories about a talking elephant named Captain Packy. But I didn't know what to
do with them when they were done, so the manuscripts sat in a white bankers box
in my office. A relative who needed a home moved in with me and used my office
as a bedroom, so the box of Captain Packy stories went to the basement. The
basement flooded. The box was soaked. Back then, there were no digital
back-ups. The visual image of that box of floating manuscripts in the basement
stuck with me. (Don’t feel bad, they weren’t that great.) I vowed the next time
I would DO something with them. Many years later, after retirement, after my
mother passed away, I started to write down a few scenes for a book for
grown-ups. After I had a few substantial scenes, I began to weave them into a
story. Soon I had a full-length novel written.
WADIFTS-
quid pro quo: Are you a pantser or outliner?
Carol
Ann Kauffman- Both! I
outline the big picture, sometimes only five sentences before I begin to write,
and they I just fly with it.
WADIFTS-
I bet you took the industry by storm!
Carol
Ann Kauffman- Not exactly.
I began the query letter process to the big publishers and was surprised how
long it took to get an "I loved it but..." letter back in the mail.
Six to eight weeks for comments like too long, too clean, or too convoluted. I
thought “I’m too old for this!” So in 2011 I decided to do it myself through
Kindle Direct Publishing. I have never regretted the decision.
WADIFTS-
With just under twenty titles to your credit what
genres do you write, and is there one that you've been wanting to experiment
with?
Carol
Ann Kauffman- I write
romantic contemporary women’s fiction (I don’t dare say “romance” because of
what that’s come to stand for lately) and I write mysteries. I have a few that
are classified as sci-fi. …As far as experimenting with genres, I
have pretty much been experimenting all over the place! For instance, one
bizarre storyline entitled, Lord
of Blakeley, developed into a time travel novel about a
simple farm boy who marries a woman who turns out to be an alien princess, and
a jealous man with a mobile transport device who separates them to many
different places: a rock planet, a slave ship, 1960’s Chicago, etc. Then our
hero gets arrested for the murder of his wife when she disappears into thin air
and nobody believes his story about mobile transport devices. And Shakespeare’s
in the story, too. Bizarre enough? It’s out now on Amazon in kindle and
paperback.
WADIFTS-
I can see that you’ve found a confident voice in
this industry, one that behooves you to branch out-take chances. But, if you
could choose an author to be your mentor, who would it be?
Carol
Ann Kauffman- I would
choose M.C. Beaton, the wonderfully talented and prolific British writer of the
Agatha Raisin series and the Hamish MacBeth series. I love her writing style.
She is a joy to read.
WADIFTS- From your list of reviews we
know that you have a large and loyal fan base, but have you ever had a particularly harsh critique? How did you
handle it?
Carol
Ann Kauffman- Yes! I have a horrible review on Amazon for
MacKalvey House. It is a brutal, nasty collection of barbs. Of course, I felt
bad. But I do know my writing won’t appeal to everyone. And no matter how great
something is, someone somewhere isn’t going to like it, and that’s okay with
me. When this happens, you examine the critique, take what’s constructive and
learn from it, and gently step over the hot, steamy mess that’s left and keep
on going.
WADIFTS-
What is the best compliment you've ever received
as an author? The one that makes it all worth going through?
Carol
Ann Kauffman “You made me laugh.” “You made me cry.” “I want
to be best friends with your main character.”
WADIFTS-
quid pro quo: If you were stranded on a deserted
island, and you could only have five books with you, what would they be?
Carol
Ann Kauffman-
a. *Through
the Darkness ~ Stories of Hope
b. *
Angels Unaware – Dale Evans Rogers
c. *The
Passers – Loretta Laird
d. *The
Davinci Code –Dan Brown
e. *The
Testament – John Grisham
WADIFTS-
quid pro quo: What book or series
do you enjoy reading over and over again?
Carol
Ann Kauffman-
Hamish MacBeth by M.C. BeatonAgatha Raisin by M.C. BeatonThe Stephanie Plum series by Janet EvanovichSue Grafton’s Alphabet Mysteries, A is for Alibi,
etc., particularly appealing to a first grade teacher.
WADIFTS-
What are you working on now?
Carol
Ann Kauffman- The
Cat Collier Winter Mystery Series (January Black Ice, February White Lies, and
March Blues) is out now and doing well. Cat is a small town detective with a
big city lawyer boyfriend, Carter. I'm working on the Spring Series opener,
April Yellow Moon. In this one, Cat's old high school friend Stephanie is
missing and Cat and her friend Jean get into all kinds of trouble looking for
her. In the meantime, Woolstein, the bad guy, is still on the loose and has
found a new way to threaten Carter, and one of Cat's parents ends
up in the hospital.
I'm also working on the sequel to my sci-fi
bestselling novel, Belterra, called Dark Return, where the indigenous race of
bat like creatures crawls out of the sea and wants their land back. Neeka is
still patching up soldiers and sending them back into battle, and Braedon is
once again attempting to save the world by himself.
WADIFTS-
It sounds so exciting! Do you have any advice for other authors?
Carol
Ann Kauffman- Write.
Write every day. Write a book. When you’re done, write another. You can write
one really, really bad book. But the next one will be better. Learn not to fall
apart when someone says something negative. If you can do something else for a
living, then do that, because this job is not a moneymaker. If you cannot keep
away from writing, no matter how hard you try to crochet and mountain-climb
instead, then you are a writer and you should write. Ignore the rules. Write
from your heart, your soul, not so much your head. Enjoy yourself. If you don’t
enjoy writing it, no one will enjoy reading it.
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Blog
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Website
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OUR INSPIRATION
Collaboration In Motion (#CIM) was established in 2016 by a group of women
inspired by HOPE.
