BF: I am thrilled to welcome Karen Harrington, author of the recently released Janeology, and one of my fellow Kunati authors. Before we get into our interview, here's the description of Janeology, from Amazon.com:
Jane, a loving mother of two, has drowned her toddler son and is charged with his murder in this powerful examination of love, loss, and family legacy. When a prosecutor decides Jane's husband Tom is partially to blame for the death and charges him with "failure to protect," Tom's attorney proposes a radical defense. He plans to create reasonable doubt about his client's alleged guilt by showing that Jane's genealogy is the cause of her violence, and that she inherited her latent violence in the same way she might inherit a talent for music or a predisposition to disease. He argues that no one could predict or prevent the tragedy, and that Tom cannot be held responsible. With the help of a woman gifted with the power of retrocognition—the ability to see past events through objects once owned by the deceased—the defense theory of dark biology takes form. An unforgettable journey through the troubled minds and souls of Jane's ancestors, spanning decades and continents, this debut novel deftly illustrates the ways nature and nurture weave the fabric of one woman's life, and renders a portrait of one man left in its tragic wake.
Welcome, Karen! Janeology has released to fantastic reviews, including one from Amazon's #1 interviewer, Harriet Klausner. You must be on Cloud Nine!
KH: I must humbly say, this experience meets the expectations I’ve imagined for many years. Which is to say, it rocks!
BF: Karen, I heard the interview you did on AuthorLink, which included an interview with our publisher, Derek Armstrong, of Kunati Books. Has anything in your experience as a Kunati author surprised you? What's been your favorite part of it?
KH: I think the daily contact with Kunati has surprised me. I know authors from much larger houses who have very little daily contact with their publishers. It’s amazing how much one needs to learn as a first-time author and I can’t imagine going through this without the Publishing 101 experience I’ve received from Kunati. I think that Derek should bundle all those emails together and put them in book form for every new author.
BF: You had your first booksigning this past Saturday, to celebrate the release of your novel. What was it like?
KH: Going into the store, I was pretty nervous because I’m much more articulate behind the keyboard. When I arrived, I asked an employee for the manager and he used the PA system to find him and said, “Mike, your author is here. Mike, your author is here.” That was the no turning back moment. I thought, “Okay, the author is here. Get to work.” All in all, the signing went great. I had a wonderful turnout and talked books to a lot of interesting people. By the end of the day, I sold 21 books. Being asked to sign a book for a complete stranger was incredible. It made the whole publishing process come full circle for me since I’ve always been the one standing on the other side of the signing table, asking the author for her signature.
BF: You have young children. At one point in my life, I had three kids under the age of five-- and finding five minutes for myself was a nearly impossible feat. I've gotta know: how did you ever find the time to write a novel?
KH: As you know, when you have kids, you must really choose your time wisely. Being a parent has made me so much more selective about what I choose to do and how I spend my time. It’s actually a benefit because you really only do those things that are top priority. So I made the decision to use their sleeping time as my writing time. Before, I might have spent my time watching TV or talking on the phone for a long time. So in a way, having children is a good way to learn time-management skills…in a hurry! My other secret was having my laptop on my kitchen counter at all times. If I happened to think of something to add or a new idea, I just typed it out quickly until I could return to it later.
Jane, a loving mother of two, has drowned her toddler son and is charged with his murder in this powerful examination of love, loss, and family legacy. When a prosecutor decides Jane's husband Tom is partially to blame for the death and charges him with "failure to protect," Tom's attorney proposes a radical defense. He plans to create reasonable doubt about his client's alleged guilt by showing that Jane's genealogy is the cause of her violence, and that she inherited her latent violence in the same way she might inherit a talent for music or a predisposition to disease. He argues that no one could predict or prevent the tragedy, and that Tom cannot be held responsible. With the help of a woman gifted with the power of retrocognition—the ability to see past events through objects once owned by the deceased—the defense theory of dark biology takes form. An unforgettable journey through the troubled minds and souls of Jane's ancestors, spanning decades and continents, this debut novel deftly illustrates the ways nature and nurture weave the fabric of one woman's life, and renders a portrait of one man left in its tragic wake.
Welcome, Karen! Janeology has released to fantastic reviews, including one from Amazon's #1 interviewer, Harriet Klausner. You must be on Cloud Nine!
KH: I must humbly say, this experience meets the expectations I’ve imagined for many years. Which is to say, it rocks!
BF: Karen, I heard the interview you did on AuthorLink, which included an interview with our publisher, Derek Armstrong, of Kunati Books. Has anything in your experience as a Kunati author surprised you? What's been your favorite part of it?
KH: I think the daily contact with Kunati has surprised me. I know authors from much larger houses who have very little daily contact with their publishers. It’s amazing how much one needs to learn as a first-time author and I can’t imagine going through this without the Publishing 101 experience I’ve received from Kunati. I think that Derek should bundle all those emails together and put them in book form for every new author.
BF: You had your first booksigning this past Saturday, to celebrate the release of your novel. What was it like?
KH: Going into the store, I was pretty nervous because I’m much more articulate behind the keyboard. When I arrived, I asked an employee for the manager and he used the PA system to find him and said, “Mike, your author is here. Mike, your author is here.” That was the no turning back moment. I thought, “Okay, the author is here. Get to work.” All in all, the signing went great. I had a wonderful turnout and talked books to a lot of interesting people. By the end of the day, I sold 21 books. Being asked to sign a book for a complete stranger was incredible. It made the whole publishing process come full circle for me since I’ve always been the one standing on the other side of the signing table, asking the author for her signature.
BF: You have young children. At one point in my life, I had three kids under the age of five-- and finding five minutes for myself was a nearly impossible feat. I've gotta know: how did you ever find the time to write a novel?
KH: As you know, when you have kids, you must really choose your time wisely. Being a parent has made me so much more selective about what I choose to do and how I spend my time. It’s actually a benefit because you really only do those things that are top priority. So I made the decision to use their sleeping time as my writing time. Before, I might have spent my time watching TV or talking on the phone for a long time. So in a way, having children is a good way to learn time-management skills…in a hurry! My other secret was having my laptop on my kitchen counter at all times. If I happened to think of something to add or a new idea, I just typed it out quickly until I could return to it later.
BF: Thanks, Karen! Readers, please join us tomorrow for Part Two of my interview with Karen Harrington, author of Janeology. Click the link to see the Book Trailer for Janeology by the inventor of the book trailer, Kam Wai Yu!
