Writing Buddy Wednesday: Kitty Bucholtz

Today, I have the bubbly and fun Kitty Bucholtz, joining me. I met Kitty at a RWAus conference back in 2010 and have been internet buddies since. 

Welcome to the Taverna, Kitty!

Thanks for inviting me to the Taverna, Eleni! I particularly like the fact that your morning is my afternoon in California, so I think I’ll have a pint while we talk. (Oh, how I miss Strongbow!)


You self-publish your fiction. Can you tell us how that came about?

I’ve published magazine articles and other short nonfiction in the traditional way, but when it came to my fiction, I couldn’t find an editor – with or without an agent – who was buying what I was selling. By the time I finished my MA in Creative Writing at University of Technology, Sydney, last year, I told myself I’d give traditional publishing one more shot, then start my own company. I flew to the RWA conference in New York the morning after my last class, talked to a few editors and agents about my books and my writing style (a humorous, almost chick lit style), and I got the same old reply – we don’t know how to sell it.

I thought to myself, “Well, I do!” So I started Daydreamer Entertainment and self-published Little Miss Lovesick as an ebook a few months later. The next fourteen months were filled with multiple international and local moves, several deaths, and a lot of unemployment. So I didn’t get the print version out until November 2012. But I’m on a roll now, and expect to publish Unexpected Superhero in March or so, and Love at the Fluff and Fold a few months later. Both are book one in two different series.


You have a short story in an anthology, too, right?

Two, actually! When I lived in Sydney, I was a member of The Writers Coven, an RWA chapter in the Inner West. Our anthology, Moonlit Encounters, came out just before Christmas. “Rescue at Loon Lake” is a side story that takes place in the same small town where Love at the Fluff and Fold is set.

My California RWA chapter published Romancing the Pages as a fundraiser last August. My story, “Hero in Disguise”, is the beginning of the love story that leads to the superhero adventure in Unexpected Superhero.

Who or what inspired you to write?

I think I came by it naturally because my mom was a writer. I’ve always had stories in my head and they often make it to paper. But my sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Day, was the person who really encouraged me to come up with stories and write them down for extra credit. I realized before the school year was over that she was using my natural gifts to keep me out of trouble, and I loved her for it. Little Miss Lovesick was dedicated to her. I have to work up the nerve to track her down and send her a copy.  :)


You also teach online classes. Can you tell us a little about that?

I love to teach! I taught at a business college, taught software to lawyers at a law firm, and I’ve taught at a dozen or more writers conferences. Due to moving a lot for my husband’s job (he’s a computer animator and worked on Happy Feet 1 & 2 and Avatar), I started teaching online because I could teach from anywhere in the world.

Every January, starting this week, I teach a 4-week class called Going the Distance: Goal Setting and Time Management for the Writer [Eleni~ go to Kitty's website: http://kittybucholtz.com/classes/].

I love helping people figure out how to achieve their goals in a way that allows them to also attend their kids’ soccer games and get a good night’s sleep. ;) There’s still room in the class if anyone wants to join us!


What do you love about being a writer?

I love working for myself. If I weren’t a writer, I’d have my own business doing something else. But I love writing because I love the connections and parallels between apparently different things – like an acorn and the human soul, or a comic book superhero and Jesus. Exploring all kinds of things in story form – reading or writing – is the most fun way to spend my time!



What would be your ultimate research trip?

Hmm, good question. I’ve never thought about it because I try to choose settings that I know, and everything else can be researched in books and online. Though, come to think of it, I did travel to the wilderness in Ontario, Canada, to research the beginning of Little Miss Lovesick. I’d say that my husband’s idea of touring Europe via footraces sounds like fun. Going from country to country running 5K, 10K and half marathon races, and then wandering around the cities and the countryside would probably give me more ideas than I could write in this lifetime!


What’s with you and all the running?

Ha, ha! Yes, I know, I’m a little weird. I wanted to do something I didn’t think I could do before I turned 40. I’m the biggest couch potato – my favorite activities are reading, writing, and watching TV and movies – and my body shows it! But I signed up to run a half marathon with my husband and another friend just to prove to myself that life after 40 can be as exciting and fun as it was before. Or more so!

Now I’ve run several half marathons including one in Sydney, and we’re running another one here in California next week. Plus we’ve run the City2Surf twice, which is our all-time favorite race. The best part for me about running is that every time I run, I find myself comparing it to writing and the business of writing. I see myself doing more than I thought possible, getting slightly better and faster every time, and of course visualizing a crowd cheering for me at the end! Ha, ha! Just like I do things to make my body stronger so that I run better, I take classes and read books to be become a better writer, with readers cheering me on to write more books. Only I hope I’m a better writer than I am a runner! Ha, ha!


Thanks for having me over, Eleni. It’s been fun hanging out!

~~~

Thank you, Kitty. 

Folks, you can find Kitty at her website, Facebook, and Twitter.