Martha Emms Cognitive Dreamer: Meet Author Katie Gallagher

WELCOME AUTHOR

KATIE GALLAGHER

Author bio: Katie Gallagher is the author of the young adult novel, Catching You. She lives in Western PA with her husband and young daughter who graciously tolerate her inability to resist teenage drama on TV and lack of cooking skills. She loves coffee, flip flops and hates cold weather.

Brief synopsis of your book: Eighteen year old Cyn Clark is excited to start college at RMU, it’s her chance to get away from her sick mother and run of the mill suburban life. But, as soon as she arrives on campus, she begins to have doubts. Her roommate is a bitch and the campus is so huge that she can’t find any of her classes.

What if she made a big mistake coming here?

She begins to wonder if she should just go home and take classes at the community college, that is, until she meets James Lucas. From their first meeting, she felt like there was an intense connection, but was hesitant to do anything about it because of a past relationship.

James works hard to break down the walls into Cyn’s heart and is almost there, when he gets bad news from home that brings questions into their relationship. Now, Cyn isn’t sure about James and instead of talking to him about it, she makes the mistake of kissing someone else.

When James finds out, he ends the relationship and Cyn is completely devastated. And what makes it even worse, is that right after the break up, she finds out that she’s pregnant and doesn’t know what to do. How can she raise a baby on her own?

Book title: Stealing Cynderella

Current book or project you’re working on: The sequel to Stealing Cynderella, tentatively titled Forever Love.

What moment or event sparked the inspiration for your novel? My junior year of college.

Please share two things you learned about the characters in your book.

1) The relationship between James and Cyn share may have started fast, but the connection that they have is very believable.

2)When I first started writing the character of Jennifer, I just wanted her to be the “bitch” but after I finished writing the novel, I now want to explore her deeper.

Who is the most complex character from your current novel?

Cyn. She jumps into the relationship with James so quickly that she doesn’t question it at all, until Ali comes into her life. Ali brings out feelings in her that she doesn’t know that she was capable of. She makes Cyn wonder ‘what if’….

Are there any characters in your book that remind you of yourself? Cyn, my main character, is most like me because she doesn’t really think before she does something. Instead, she follows her heart and deals with the consequences later.

If you could pick any well known or famous author to review your book who would you pick and why?

I’d love Sara Shepard, the bestselling author of The Pretty Little Liars series, to review my book because it was after reading her books that I decided to publish my first book and now I’m on my second and have many more ideas I want to turn into published novels.

Genre/Author/Reader:

What genre and age group does your book fall into? It’s considered to be New adult because of some of the grown up themes; ie: sex, pregnancy and cussing, 18-30 year olds

What is the first book series that got you into reading?

The Baby Sitters Club series by Ann.M. Martin.I started reading the series that was meant for 4^th graders when I was seven years old and kept on reading the series well into my twenties. I even got on Amazon the other night and saw that she had written a prequel and ended up buying it.

Which three authors have inspired you the most, and why?

1) My husband started reading the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher and I started looking over his website for the fun of it and I learned that he wrote the first three novels of his series before he even published the first one. I think that takes lots of guts to do that and every time that I want to give up I try and think about that and push on.

2) I love reading Nora Robert’s novels under her pen name JD Robb. In the beginning she was published one novel a year and lately it’s been two a year along with her other novels. I would love to get to the point where I’m publishing more than one novel a year.

3) I started reading Laurell K Hamilton’s novels a few years ago and then got on to reading her blog and love seeing how she gets into her characters lives as they were her own and wish that I could do that. I love my characters when I’m writing them, but when I’m done it’s like I go back to my real life and leave them. Maybe if I got more into my characters it would reflect in my writing and my novels would be better.

Have you ever read a book you couldn’t finish reading? I recently picked up Lauren Weisberger’s Chasing Harry Winston and couldn’t get past the third chapter. I’ve begun to realize that I’m not as into chick-lit novels as I used to be.

Do you read a book, while you are writing a book? Yes I do. I like being able to step away from my own writing and immerse myself in someone else’s.It helps me re-energize and come back to my own writing with a new attitude.

The process:

How many books have you written? I’ve written four novels, but only published two of them.

Which book is your favourite and why?

It has to be Catching You, my YA mystery novel because in writing that novel I went out of my comfort zone of romance and tried something new.

Is there anything that helps get you in the mood to write?

I need caffeine handy wither it be Pepsi or chocolate or whatever and I also need the right music playlist going as I write. I listen to anything from Taylor Swift to Nickelback.

What were three challenges you faced when writing your book?

1) Fictionalizing the real events enough as to not get people mad at me.

2) Not hitting the delete button and scrapping the whole thing. It’s one of my bad habits.

3) Finding the energy to edit it when I was done. After writing a novel, I get into a book slump where I don’t even want to do anything writing related for a long time, but it’s like writing calls to me and I can’t give it up if I try.

What lessons have you learned as an aspiring writer?

Don’t give up. I suffer from low self esteem and have the problem of always wanting to give up writing because I feel like my books stink and nobody will want to read them anyway, but I can’t because writing is in my blood.

Do you ever experience writer’s block? If so what helps you to ‘overcome’?

All the time. I read books when I’m writing my own because I want to escape my own writing for awhile and to jog my own creativity.

What is the most important thing you’ve learned, either in the self-publishing or traditional publisher, route?

I’m probably going to repeat myself over and over, but DON’T GIVE UP! Writing isn’t for the faint of heart. There are going to be people that don’t like your writing, but that’s okay. Just ignore them and write for yourself and if some day down the road you become a NY Bestselling author, that’s great too!

What part of the writing process do you enjoy the most? I once heard a writer I like say that they aren’t a good writer, but a better rewriter and I agree. When you write your first draft you’re just trying to get the story down and it isn’t until you start reading it over that you see the potential the story truly has.

How long does it usually take for you to complete a book?

I usually takes me a month or two to write the first draft, but then it takes me another year to edit it. So, all in all, about two years.

Which book to movie conversion is your favourite?

Lone Survivor with Mark Wahlberg.

Do you watch a lot of science fiction or fantasy movies?

Not really. I’m more of a romantic comedy girl myself. My favourite movies are You’ve Got Mail and My Best Friends Wedding.

Do you study science, the planets, history, or anything special to help you with your writing?

I don’t watch much television, but when I do it’s usually on the CW which sparks an idea for a new novel or helps me through ‘writers block’ that I may be experiencing with my current novel.

What, who, and when first inspired you to write?

I started taking writing seriously after my mother passed away when I was a young girl because writing became a coping mechanism for me and I realized that I wanted to do it for a living.

Personal info:

Drink – Alcoholic: Royal Flush/ Non-Alcoholic: Pepsi

Food – Homemade Mac n cheese

Vacation – Las Vegas

TV show – Pretty Little Liars

Movie – You’ve Got Mail

Animal – Cat

Sport – Football, but only if the Steelers are playing.

Book – Guilty Pleasures: Laurell K. Hamilton

Comedy – Big Bang Theory

Struggle – parallel parking & low self esteem

How can people connect with you?