Interview with author Kathy Hall

Hi!

Today I had the pleasure of interviewing author Kathy Hall who is truly a Jill-of-All-Trades, having been everything from an executive to a cab driver and pig farmer to a newspaper editor, all of which provided her with an existence filled with adventures such as homesteading in Alaska in her early years, climbing into Cessna’s countrywide to do swimming pool counts from the air and later pursuing corruption as a small-town reporter. She is also a widow and the mom of two grown children.

Kathy has been writing in one form or another most of her life but found her true love in first-person fiction.

Q: Do you remember the first story you wrote?

Kathy Hall: It was actually a poem called “Evergreen” – I wrote it at 11 years old, sitting on the curb outside my house. It was transformational. I knew it was good and 25 years later it was published in a magazine – imagine that.

Q: Were you inspired by someone or something?

Kathy Hall: I was inspired by old films, oddly enough. I would rush home every day after school and watch the afternoon movie. In fact, my first serious foray into writing was as a screenwriter.

Q: Can you tell us a bit about “The Great Twitter Adventure: How 5 Tweeps Saved the World”

Kathy Hall: I would love to! This story came to me like a bolt of lightning. I wrote it in 3 days – from start to finish, and it needed very little editing. It’s a fun story about 5 tweeps (for those who don’t know that’s Twitter friends) who call themselves The Fearless Five. One of them goes missing and the other four flies into L.A. from around the country to save him. It’s an adventure in every sense of the word.

Q: How did you come up with the story for the book?

Kathy Hall: I had written a blog post about how true friendships are made on Twitter and the response from people was overwhelmingly positive. People were really developing these tight relationships and as I was re-reading the comments it hit me – there’s a story here.

Q: Can you tell us something about the main characters?

Kathy Hall: Maggie – the story is first-person from her point of view – is 34, a hard-working career girl who uses Twitter as happy hour, to unwind after work

Frank – is a conspiracy theorist blogger who attracted his most loyal tweeps after the financial/banking crisis came to a head. He’s the one who has disappeared.

Edie – is an older woman, a fiery redhead (all my fiction seems to have one) who is a computer consultant by day and a recreational hacker by night.

Dwayne – an African-American golf pro from Florida, he’s the funny man who everybody loves.

Tex – is 29, a banker and cowboy, who’s been flirting with Maggie online for months now.

Q: Are they based on people you know?

Kathy Hall: They are amalgams of people on Twitter. Especially their attitudes and quirks.

Q: Which one of your books are you most proud of, and can you share a little from that book?

Kathy Hall: Red Mojo Mama – because this is a book based very much on my own feelings and experiences – high dramatized but still drawn from real life. And I fell in love with the main character, Lydia (Red) Talbot. She’s strong but still fallible, quirky and brave, sexy and loyal. All the things I’d love to be.

She’s a widow who has literally lost her mojo after mourning for her husband, Mac, for three years. She inherits a trailer park in the Gold Country, becomes involved with the inhabitants, the town, and a handyman who makes her believe she could love again.

Red has a lot to overcome though – fear of intimacy, a band of evil city councilmen, and someone who wants her dead. I think it’s a fun read, and it says a lot about how to live your life.

Q: Are you working on something new at the moment?

Kathy Hall: Yes! I’m finishing up the sequel to RMM – Red is an Attitude – and that will be quickly followed by a second Fearless Five adventure.

Q: Where do you see yourself in a couple of years in relation to writing?

Kathy Hall: Living off my writing. That’s my goal, which means I need to get a lot of products out there.

Q: Do you have any tips for aspiring writers?

Kathy Hall: Be Always reading something and write every day, even if it’s just in a journal. I think the very best thing you can do for yourself is to begin a blog. A commitment to a blog is like a commitment to go to the gym. If you can do it regularly, your writing muscles will get in shape and whatever else you want to do with your writing will come more naturally to you.

Q: Which author inspires you?

Kathy Hall: Several –Agatha Christie, Mark Twain, Elmore Leonard and I frankly love a fun read like the Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich.

Q: Where can people go and read your work?

Kathy Hall: All my books are available on Amazon.

Q: Where can people find you on the internet?

Kathy Hall: www.redmojomama.blogspot.com, www.inthewritinggroove.blogspot.com

Q: Thanks Kathy for doing the interview!

Below is an excerpt from the book “The Great Twitter Adventure: How 5 Tweeps Saved the World”! 

 

When we walked out of the restaurant, Dwayne’s voice dropped to a whisper as he asked me, “Don’t look now, but glance to the left when we get to the Jeep. Does that look like the car? There’s two dudes just sitting in a black car. I think it’s a Mercedes, but it’s in the far row. I can’t see all of it.” I took this information in. The others had heard whispering but were smart enough not to call attention to it.

We got to the Grand Cherokee and I beeped the doors open. Before I slid into the front seat, I threw a quick glance towards the black car and saw two heads quickly look away.

Once inside, I turned back to Dwayne. “They turned their heads when I looked their way. I’d have to guess those are our guys. What should I do?”

Edie answered first, “Act natural.”

“Should I try to lose them before we go to the apartment?” I queried worriedly.

“What’s the point?” Tex asked. “They apparently know about the apartment. I say we head on over and hope they try to bother us.” I saw a flash of metal in the mirror and looked back over my shoulder to find Tex brandishing the biggest handgun I’d ever seen.

“Yeah, me too.” Dwayne answered and I twisted in my seat, pulling a shoulder muscle.

“What’s that?” I asked numbly staring at a black, snub-nosed revolver.

“Her little sister,” he answered jerking his head towards Tex’s sniny friend. “The black one,” he finished with a chuckle.

“Gotcha covered,” Edie answered, with a wild look in her eye to match the spiky red hair on her roof. And there in her lap rested a cute littler derringer. The fella leaned forward and peeked over the seat. Both laughed loudly.

“Hey, don’t under-estimate baby sister. She can do a lot of damage at close-range.”

Dwayne threw up his hands. “She gets no disrespect from me. I still carry a slug from one of those babies in my shoulder.”

We all turned to look at him with that one. He shrugged and answered, “Crazy girlfriend.”

Shocked at my friends, I looked numbly at the threesome.

“So, I’m the only one of you that isn’t a gun-carrying bad ass?”

It was Edie’s turn to shrug. “Hey, that can be fixed.”