Katlynn Brooke

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born in Zimbabwe, when it was still Rhodesia. My father was in the construction business so we lived in the bushveld for most of my childhood and teen years. My experience with Africa has inspired me to write as much as I can about the places I have lived. I have also lived in India and Indonesia and traveled extensively to many places around the world.

I now live in Virginia, USA with my husband Charles.

I enjoy painting in watercolor, reading and writing.

I have written one fiction book so far but I plan on writing many more.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Talk to the Moon” is my debut book; a fictional account of a young girl’s experience on a Christian Hospital Mission in Rhodesia during the 1940’s. It was inspired by my mother, who, before she married my father, actually worked on a Hospital Mission. The mission in the book, however, is entirely fictional. My mother did leave diaries after her death and kept detailed journals for most of her life. They were found by my sister and myself and she had always told me to read them and had in fact given me some of them to read before her death. The journal about her days on the mission were rather bland–not a secret in sight– so I thought it would be fun to write something that sounded more interesting, and “Talk to the Moon” was born.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write by the seat of my pants. My characters determine what is going to happen and the plot forms as I write. It is all rather spooky. I need to be completely alone when I write; no distractions and no noise. I don’t think that is unusual for a writer, though.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I enjoy and admire African writers such as Nadine Gordimer and Alexander McCall Smith. These books and writers have probably influenced me quite a lot but I do a lot of reading and it’s hard to say just who has most influenced me. I can’t not mention “Out of Africa”; quite the classic!

What are you working on now?
I am working on the sequel to “Talk to the Moon”. It is called “Place of the Elephants” and while “Talk to the Moon” was mostly about personal relationships between people, the sequel will focus more on African wildlife and conservation, especially the problem of poaching elephant and rhino.

This book is narrated by my “Talk to the Moon” protagonist, Holly, who is now married and lives in the bushveld. I drew heavily on my own family’s experiences of living in the bushveld. The setting actually exists although I have changed the name, and we did live in this place for several years during the 1950’s. The characters in the book are most definitely fictional but are inspired by actual events and the poaching epidemic in southern Africa.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I love Amazon’s KDP Select free Kindle book promotion. I was amazed at the enthusiastic response I got from the reading public. For a novice writer with only one book, this is a very valuable way to get out there.

I am finding many websites such as this one that are happy to help feature a new writer and that is a refreshing change from the conventional publishing route where it is difficult to break through.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
To get oneself out there as much as possible. Books do not sell themselves and it doesn’t matter how good a writer one is, one needs to promote oneself and work tirelessly at it. I find this to be a full time job and consider it my job to promote my book every day, even if it does well.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
That writing is the easy part. It was disappointing to me to hear that because like all writers I hate the marketing aspect of authorship, and wish I could do nothing but write all day. I must say that it is true and the best advice I’ve ever received: to work hard at promoting and marketing my book(s) and not just spend all my time writing. I have learned to budget my time and allot a certain amount to the fun stuff but I am finding that promotion and marketing isn’t so bad after all!

What are you reading now?
I am now reading “Orange is the New Black” by Piper Kerman.

I love non-fiction and have been focusing on true World War 2 stories written by survivors of the Jewish Holocaust, and those who survived plane crashes. I find this fascinating. Often truth is stranger than fiction and it’s amazing what hardships and terrible ordeals people survive. I also enjoy true crime because it gives me insight into why people are motivated to do unthinkable things to others. Psychology is another one of my interests.

What’s next for you as a writer?
To complete “Place of the Elephants” and write yet another sequel in the saga of Holly Morgan. I still have a lot of material left on Africa. I have been doing a lot of genealogy research into my own family roots, and plan on writing at least one book on my slave ancestors who were brought to South Africa by the Dutch from India and West Africa. This too shall be a fictional account based on true stories that are well-documented.

What is your favorite book of all time?
The Lord of the Rings trilogy by Tolkien. I can read these books, including The Hobbit, over and over.

These books are so vastly different to anything I write and I can’t explain my fascination with them. It just is.

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