Author Interview with Carol Ann Kauffman

Author Interview

Carol Ann Kauffman

Niles, Ohio

What have you written?

     I've written four full-length novels and a novella in the TIME AFTER TIME series: Blue Lake, Belterra, The Baslicato, and Bentley Square, and Waiting for Richard, and a serial, Charming Deception.

What is your favorite genre to write?

     Romantic science fiction adventure stories, or 'rom-scifi-ture'.

How old were you when you started to write?

     I got my first writing award at thirteen, but I think I might have been about ten when I discovered I liked stringing words together to form mental paintings.

Favorite food.

     Pasta.  Anything I cook.  I like my own cooking.  It's not too. (Not too spicy, not too greasy, not too bland.)

Where would you like to visit?

     Scotland

Favorite musical artist.

     Adele, Michael Buble', Eric Clapton, Frank Sinatra

Where do you get your inspiration?

     Life.  My emotional reaction to what happens to me, to my loved ones, to my friends, to total strangers.

What do you do when you get writer's block?

     Never had one.  I have the opposite; massive jumbled idea overload.  And red wine and chocolate fix that.

Who is your favorite author?

     MC Beaton, Janet Evanovich, Dan Brown, Michael Connelly, Patricia Cornwell, Jude Deveraux.

Best book you ever read.

     One?  That's hard.  Dan Brown's Deception Point, Digital Fortress, DaVinci Code, Angels and Demons and MC Beaton's Hamish MacBeth series, Agatha Raisin series.

Who is the one person who has influenced your personal life the most and why?

     My father.  Why?  Because he taught me you can accomplish whatever you want to in life.  It's your heart, your fire, and your wilingness to work toward your goal that matter, not your gender.

If you could sit down and have a conversation with ONE person, living or dead, real or fictional, who would it be and why?

     Thomas Jefferson.  I've always found him fascinating.  He was a real out-of-the-box thinker.  His ideas on architecture and agriculture were simply amazing.  I loved visiting Monticello.

What advice would you give to someone who aspired to be an author?

     Start today.  Sit down and write.  It doesn't matter if you think it's good or bad.  Just keep writing.  Write every day.  I started with a travel journal.  Every time we went somewhere, I journaled that night before bed.  I later used those notes in writing the travel parts in my novels.
     "Start writing, no matter what.  The water does not flow until         
      the faucet is turned on."
                                           - Louis L'Amour