Author Interview for Katie Hughart by Holly Hood

I would like to welcome author Katie Hughart to our blog today. She has recently released her first book, Panic. And I am happy to introduce her to all of you. If I had to pick a few words that described Katie's writing style those would be, gripping, real and heartfelt. Katie takes the reader along for the ride, within her book is a world of emotion and moments that really build the story. You feel what the characters do, every move they make creates even more life in the story.

Enjoy the interview!

1) Who are you? What do you do?

My name is Katie Hughart, and I’m a mother, wife, writer and self proclaimed creative mastermind. I’m currently a student at a local college and I’m working on my second full length novel. Panic is my first novel and it is in the suspense / romance genre. When any writer puts a story on paper they leave an essence of themselves on the page. I believe with Panic I left a piece of my very being there for the world to experience. In my next series I am delving into the world of Paranormal Romance / Sci-fi, it was unexpected, but after Panic, a completely main stream book, my mind took a few turns into other dimensions and I haven’t returned since. (lol)

2) What is your writing process? Do you follow a regular routine?

At any moment I’m writing 10 books at a time, but I’m always focusing on one. I will get idea after idea for new books, or ideas for the books that I’ve started. I will jot these idea’s down and come back to them later. I have more idea’s for books than I could ever write! I get these thoughts randomly by hearing a song, seeing a picture, or just seeing a person that inspires me. I don’t have a regular routine, my routine is to write as much as possible— every day when it’s feasible.

3) What are the most important elements of good writing? According to you, what tools are must-haves for writers?

This question made me think, because I don’t usually think about the must haves that I need, I simply write; but once I gave it some thought, I rely heavily on my laptop, printer, paper, ink, pencils pens, resource for publication, etc. If I was left in a room with nothing but a piece of paper and pencil, the only thing that I would really need would be the creativity that God has blessed me with. If I didn’t have that there would be no need for any of the other stuff. I believe the most important element of a good story is a GOOD STORY! I don’t want a dry boring story from start to finish—no one does. Start telling me a story and then let it unfold, and if the story doesn’t make me smile, laugh, cry, or slam it down in a heated display of frustration because the protagonist is being downright irrational, then why write it? Why read it?

4) What motivates you to write?

Life motivates me to write, nature, beauty, death, joy, sorrow, sex, magic, all of these things inspire me. A picture, a song, a breath, if someone truly feels life they are motivated by life itself. Everything that sustains my life inspires me to create. If I didn’t create, I would wither and die, so my motivation for creating is life.

5) Do you ever suffer from writer’s block? If so, what do you do about it?

I do suffer from writer’s block and I get frustrated with my flow at times. Sometimes it feels like the story is flowing through air and I can hardly type fast enough to get the words on the page before they’re gone, but sometimes I feel that it flows through mud, and I have tug and pull and yank my thoughts out and when I finally get them I have to wash them off and make them clean again.

6) Do you have any advice for other writers?

My only advice to other writers would be to write and never stop. I read once that a child who creates an art project looks at that project and is happy regardless of the outcome. The project is special because the child created it. So love your creations and grow, so that you can one day develop into what you were truly meant to be without the expectations of the world on your shoulders.

7) What is the message in your book? What are your readers’ reactions to it?

I wrote Panic after my dad died. Sometimes I feel that my dad’s spirit was guiding me to my purpose in life. The message behind Panic is that life sucks and sometimes you get a happy ending and sometime s you don’t, and sometimes you are stuck somewhere in between. The only way to survive the blows life throws at you is to take them and keep getting up again, and to never give up, even when you don’t see the rainbow at the end of the storm, trust that it is there.

8) Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?

I learned so much from Panic that I wouldn’t even know where to start. One thing I learned from Panic is that I am a writer. Now and forever I have found my place in life and very few lessons can rival the lesson that brings you your destiny.

9) What are your current / future projects?

Now that Panic is finished I will be working on the first book in my upcoming Wilderness Series, Wolf’s Run. It is a paranormal/ romance about a girl who falls in love with two wolf spirits from another dimension. I’m running free with this one and the sky is the limit on creativity. I am also working on a YA novel about a head strong girl, who uncovers a secret that she never expected, and ends up involved with the very guy running the whole operation. I’m working on a sequel for Panic and that’s about all I can fit in my schedule right now. I will have my hands full developing these idea’s into amazing books that will hopefully take a lot of readers and suck them in.

10) What book(s) / author(s) have influenced your life and writing?

I started reading Helen Keller in the third grade and it was the first book that I couldn’t put down; and right before junior high I was hooked on the fear street series by R.L. Stine. As time went on and my reading taste matured, I read V.C. Andrews, and then Nora Roberts, Danielle Steel and Stephanie Meyer.

E-mail katehughart@yahoo.com

Twitter @ khughart

Blog: http://katehughartwriting.blogspot.com

Examiner.com articles: http://www.examiner.com/user-katehughart

Katie's first book, Panic, is available on Amazon.com. Get your copy today.

Paperback Copy

Kindle Version

I’d also like to share my favorite quote because I feel the person took the words right out of my mouth.

"The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally inhumanly sensitive. To him a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death. Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create - so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, his very breath is cut off from him. He must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency he is not really alive unless he is creating." ~Pearl S. Buck