Wednesday, February 15, 2017

7 Things to Know About Me

By Kay Kendall

This is where I have lived.
Half of my family is from Texas, the other from Kansas, and I once lived in Canada for 22 years with my Canadian husband. We’ve been homesteaded happily in Texas since 1990, and he now calls himself an American. That said, each of us has dual US-Canadian citizenship, as does our son.

Some people divide the world into two camps. I am a …
I’m a dog person. I’ve lived with a few cats over the years, but I’m allergic to their fur. Dogs I can relate to. Cats, not so much, and besides, just thinking about them makes me wheeze and sneeze. (My fervent love for rabbits is a whole other subject.)  



I once thought I would die and wasn’t even out of college.
On campus I was riding my bicycle down a path, barreling down a slight hill, when my brakes failed. I couldn’t stop and careened onto a busy street. Cars came at me on my right, but I whizzed by in time to avoid getting scrunched. This scared me almost to death.

The first thing I ever wrote was…
I wrote and illustrated my own version of Clement Moore’s wonderful “Night Before Christmas” when I was seven years old. After that I tried to rewrite Little Women.

I wrote for many years before calling myself a writer.
In the early 2000s, while shopping at a Whole Foods store, I spotted a mug adorned with words from Henry David Thoreau. Aimed straight at my heart, the words were, “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined.” I bought that mug and used it for five more years while I wrote and wrote and wrote some more. It took that long for me to acknowledge that being a writer was my heart’s desire, and another year passed before I could call myself a writer. Now I call myself an author, because my two mysteries are published. That is the best part, being a published author.  

Being a writer is the most daring thing I’ve ever done.
The most daring thing I’ve done is to put myself out into the world as a writer. It takes guts to send your baby/book out into the world, knowing that lots of people could sling mud at you and say your book is the stupidest thing they’ve ever read. I’ve heard many very famous authors say how depressed they get about bad reviews, so I know I’m in good company. I figure it is well worth the risk. I can take the heat so I do stay in the kitchen.

If forced to choose, I’d prefer to be famous rather than rich.
Forced to pick, I’d much rather be famous. I would go further and choose to be famous for being an author whose books people love to read. Why not rich? That’s easy. Many rich people lead very unhappy lives. They grow mean and nasty and very, very selfish. Enough said.

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Want to read the first 20 pages of Kay Kendall’s second mystery, RANY DAY WOMEN? Go to her website http://www.austinstarr.com/ 
That book won two awards at the Killer Nashville conference in August 2016—for best mystery/crime and also for best book. 
Her first novel about Austin Starr‘s sleuthing, DESOLATION ROW, was a finalist for best mystery at Killer Nashville in 2014. 
Visit Kay on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor





2 comments:

  1. I enjoyed the blog, Kay :) I learned just a scootch more about you, and can honestly say, I've read your books and love them :) Inching that mug closer to you and whispering..."Write another, gal..."

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  2. Oh thank you so much, dear Loretta! You have made my day--heck. You made my week! I hope the next book will publish later this year. I will tell you more when I see you next!

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