There’s been a thread going on a loop about women coloring their hair. My first reaction was to skip them all, since I’m a licensed cosmetologist and I often am tempted to give my professional opinion. I know that’s seldom wanted, but still– I’m tempted. 🙂

The gist is that women tend to color their hair too darkly as they age, and it looks fake. Yeah, doh! This isn’t news.

I’ve preached this for years, and urged my clients to lighten an overall color, and add multi highlights. Heck, even a simple “reverse highlight” makes a huge difference to how old a woman looks, and doesn’t chain a client to a salon and touch ups every month.

Simple rule of thumb is make the hair look natural, and that often takes multi layers of color.

Enjoy my interview with Kat that was originally posted on Writeminded.

Jan: I’ve heard more than once how easy it was to “break in” to the romance genre back in the 80s. What difficulties did you encounter getting your first novel, Magnificent Passage, published in 1988? And what stumbling blocks have you’ve encountered since in your writing career?

Kat: I find that so funny! When I started everyone was saying how easy it was to “break in” in the 70’s! The truth is, Magnificent Passage, my first book, was turned down by every publisher in NYC. Then Crown publishing decided to start a new line and they bought me as their lead. Not much money but a nice break. Unfortunately, the line was shut down after my first two books! Again I was turned down by everyone in New York. I finally got picked up by Berkley, who was starting a new line. They featured me as a lead, which was another nice break. I’ve had plenty of ups and downs, have worked for just about every publisher in the city and not because I loved moving around.

Jan: Do you and your author/husband Larry Jay Martin brainstorm/critique each others work?

Kat: Larry and I definitely do NOT critique each other’s work. Good way to wind up divorced. We figured this out fairly early on in our careers. Larry does, however, help me a lot with plotting, particularly once the book is underway and I run into walls I hadn’t expected. He’s great at making me think it through, helping me figure out what is plausible and what isn’t.

Jan: Since you’ve written several series in multiple genres, what appeals to you most about plotting connected works? What do you find is the biggest challenge in writing a series?

Kat: I really prefer to write single books, non-connected. Gives me more versatility, a completely new story with completely new characters. But readers really seem to like connected books. I tried it and it seemed to help sales. I did it again, same reaction. I think connected books are much harder as you need to develop an umbrella from the beginning, covering all three books in the trilogy. I am really just learning how to do that. The biggest challenge is the limitations placed by the characters…for instance three sisters…it’s hard (though not impossible) to have something suspenseful happen to each one.

Jan: You’ve consistently had two or three novels published a year. Do you have any trouble adjusting to the different voice, pace and tone when you switch from historicals to contemporary? Which genre is more challenging to write?

Kat: I write two books a year. Sometimes the publisher stockpiles them and puts out three in a year but really I write two. That is about as fast as I can work. I really enjoy switching from modern to historical because I believe it keeps me fresh. I am getting ready to write 3 historicals in a row, which I would rather not do, but it will make it easier to stay in the time and keep the characters straight, since they are 3 brothers. I think each of the categories are equally challenging, just in different ways.

Jan: What’s next up for you? Any pearls of wisdom you’d care to share about writing?

Kat: As I said, I’m getting ready to start a new historical trilogy—the bride series, about 3 brothers and the women they marry. In the meantime, the last book in my Heart trilogy will be out end of December, then the last book in my contemporary paranormal series is out in July of next year. So I am BUSY!

Pearls of wisdom…? I guess my best advice would be to persevere. Writing is a tremendously difficult business. The task is daunting in itself, and then there are editors and publishers to deal with, and distribution issues. The only way to make it is to put your head down and just keep working—and try not to let the bad times overshadow the good.
Best of luck to all! Kat

Jan: Thanks for stopping by Writeminded, Kat!

I just finished mowing the yard–all four acres of it–and I can say with certainty that the dog days of summer are here. Wow, it’s miserable hot and humid.

Added to this chore is the sickening fact that my lawn mower is about ready to give up the ghost. I know a cylinder blew the last time I mowed, and I’m running on one. Crawling better describes it. The guy who fixed it in the spring said if it went again, that was it. Bury the *$%@ and buy new. *sigh*

The only grass that had grown was the crappy stuff–saw grass, water grass, crab grass. It looks ugly standing tall, and uglier cut short because it’s just a bunch of browish stubbs then.

Do I care? No!

I don’t have a lawn service–wouldn’t have one even if I could afford it. There’s too much poison out there already without me contributing. Besides, if I fertalized, re-seeded, de-thatched, aerated, watered, yada, yada, I’d have to mow grass more often.

That takes time–my writing time. So I’ll be content with the spotty lawn and strive just to keep it down until the summer is history.

I hate those two words.

Lately I’ve ran into that phrase on several frustrating occasions. One was a pair of shoes I wanted sooo badly pre-conference. They weren’t available in my size, and the clerk actually snickered because I wear a size 5 shoe.

The second instance is the most annoying because its a cluster and it all revolves around the fact I have dial up. I want DSL so badly, but guess what? It’s NOT AVAILABLE in my area.

So I’m seriously considering road runner, if it’s not too costly. We don’t have cable–I’m not a TV person and can’t see forking over money for something I’d rarely watch. The only TV freak in the house is my mom, and she watches the same shows on broadcast TV everyday, including the re-runs. Ad nauseum.

So that’s my rant for the day. What’s yours?

The RWA conference was draining and fun and long long hours on my feet. I tried my best to work business in with pleasure and did a fair job.

For some reason my phone calls to my cps and friends went screwy (or either they were avoiding me, lol) but I met them more in passing which was better than nothing. That’s my only regret–that I didn’t get to have face time with the friends I love most. So the only alternative is for us to get together at some small con later on so we can really rap.

I finally hunted down Sharon during the waning hours of the con, but I was so dead dog tired by then I was nearly incoherent. Meeting Michelle Diener from South Africa was a special treat. Wow, she’s one classy chick! I felt like a dwarf beside her. 🙂

It was so nice to meet up with Kat Martin again. I’ve loved her works forever, and we both share the same loves of the land and the west. A high point was meeting Linda Lael Miller, who hooked me with her works with her Orphan Train trilogy way back when. Linda did the blurb for my debut novel, which made it all the more sweeter to meet her.

I met old friends and make new ones. Luck was with me when I garnered two impromptu meets with agents who are reading my work now.

The Kensington party was great–again it’s nice to put faces to the names on the net. I’ve read so many of these authors–some are auto buys for me–some are new to the K family. It was also great to spend time with the editors outside of the work environment and talk about something besides books!

The RITA/Golden Heart was well done, and I congratulate the winners. A few of my friends who were up for awards didn’t win, but they will forever be winners to me.

I’ve posted pictures on my website, so take a look.

Now if I could just have a week to rest up–