New York City Trip

July had me traveling by train to Thrillerfest in New York City. It was a fabulous experience, worth every penny I spent on it. I attended workshops on writing taught by some of the heaviest hitters in fiction writing today. Many NY Times writers were in attendance. And we all know that is my goal - to be a bestselling writer.

In addition to attending classes, I also took part in Agentfest where 150 hearty souls in search of The agent speed dated 45 top industry professionals for 3 hours. The agents were seated around the room in alphabetical order and the participants lined up to pitch their stories to them. Each person got 3 minutes per agent. And when the bell rang, even if you were in the middle of a word, you got up and moved on. It was a very exciting experience.

I have to congratulate the people who were responsible for running Thrillerfest/Craftfest and Agentfest. Highly professional and well done. I'm so looking forward to going again next year.

Also managed to get in a couple of Broadway plays. Spring Awakening was very good. The music was phenomenal and I was captivated the whole time.

39 Steps, a spoof of Hitchcock's masterpiece, was not my cup of tea. But to be fair, I was very tired when we went and it would have been hard for anything to capture my imagination.

I also visited the UN Headquarters and was very impressed by the building, the grounds, the security and the photo gallery that was on display.

Bernadette Peters was doing her annual adopt a pet thing on Schubert Alley and in addition to seeing Ms. Peters, I also got to see Mary Tyler Moore, Peter Gallagher, Christine Baranski and Mario Lopez.

Behind the 8 Ball

Last week was super exciting. The FedEx man brought 2 boxes of my books, Cup of Comfort for Cat Lovers. My hands were literally shaking as I opened the packages and held tangible proof of my writing creativity.

The book is even more beautiful in person than it was in the pictures I'd seen. My story, "Man's Best Friend" starts on page 49. It is one of 50 stories in the anthology that celebrates our feline friends.

This week it has been a thrill to sign books for dear friends and family members. The book officially comes out July 8, 2008 and I'll be in New York City attending the ThrillerFest writing convention.

The title of this post is Behind the 8 Ball because I'm about two months behind on promo. Since having a story in print and to sell is a first for me, I'm learning as I go.

My goal is to set up some local booksignings at bookstores and public libraries. I also have to have a picture taken and that's one of my least favorite things to do.

As soon as I have some definite dates and locations for the signings, I'll be sure to post them on my website (www.katjorgensen.com) and here. I hope some of you will be able to attend.

If you can't make it to a signing, be sure to check you local bookseller or online bookstore to pick up your copy. There's something for everyone in the anthology whether you're a "cat person" or not.

And to relax while all of this is taking place, I'm still knitting and writing, not necessarily in that order.

And speaking of pictures - I must post some of my sock pictures here. I've got gold to spin into yarn in more ways than one.

Kat

Sidelined but not idle

I've been very busy since my last blog post. Surgery sidelined me for several weeks, but the recovery phase allowed me to do some awesome sock knitting. I'll be photographing my latest in a few days and posting the pictures here. Several are going to be given away as gifts to friends and family.

All of the downtime has also given me a chance to order more yarn (like I needed it -but hey, what's need got to do with it?) and plan some future projects.

I'm knitting a pair of Monkey socks right now from a Cookie A pattern, and I'm really enjoying them. The first sock is finished and fits like it was made for me. LOL! The yarn is so soft and caresses my feet. Can't wait until I have the other one made.

And the downtime has given me a chance to think about the mystery series that I'm writing. So looking forward to finishing the edits and starting on book 2.

My non-fiction short story, "Man's Best Friend" will be out in less than 5 weeks in A Cup of Comfort for Cat Lovers. I'm planning a few book signings and getting some promotional material ready. Busy, busy, busy.

To relax, I've been enjoying reading "The Lincoln Lawyer" by Michael Connelly. I can highly recommend this book. I didn't want it to end and it kept me turning the pages. Connelly is a master at plot twists, something that I aspire to.

Until next time when I have those pictures for you...

Kat

What I've Been Up To

Writing, well actually, revising. I'm collaborating on a mystery series and we've been working on the rough draft. Today, I finished the first set of revisions. And it felt good. Really good. Even though I wrote the last couple of chapters and knew how the book ended, I found myself racing to read the pages and see how the book turned out. It's good. I like it. A lot!

Now my collaborator, Tracy, and I have to exchange our revisions and read each other's notes on what we've done. And then come to a consensus on where do we go from here on the next draft. Lots of work? Yes. But you know what? I feel like I'm taking a simple ball of clay and shaping it into a piece of art. Like in knitting when you start out with a length of yarn and a couple of needles and you create something spectacular from the parts.

At least, I hope that's what we're doing.

And in my spare time, I'm knitting socks. I'm working on the second Shibui knit toe-up sock and I'm also working on the Knitter's SOTM kit from last month (picture of yarn and pattern at the top of this post). This is knit cuff down and I'm about 2/3rds of the way down the cuff. It's a pretty pattern and fun to knit. I get bored doing ribbing designs and love the challenge of lace.

I've also been spending money ordering yarn and patterns to do more socks and a shawl or two. We'll see. I'm still very happy with the gratification that sock knitting gives me.

Plus, I love wearing them and showing them off. The best will be when I do a booksigning and can wear a really cool pair of socks.

Hope your creativity is flowing.

Kat

The Cat and the Sock and My Daughter

Here's Ben and my latest sock creation, the Ariel. Doesn't he look happy? Not.

The Ariel was made out of Soxx Appeal and knitted on size 1 double-pointed needles. It seemed to take me forever to make this one sock. It may suffer second sock syndrome for a while.

Maybe Ben is just mirroring my expression. I like fast projects. It does look pretty on my foot though.

Here's a picture of my daughter BJ and me from my recent Charlottesville trip. She's neither a writer nor a knitter, but she's very creative with a special flair for floral arrangements. We had a great visit.

And no, I don't love Ben best because he got top billing on this blog post.

Kat

Luxury Socks

Here's a picture of my favorite sock. It's from a SOTM club pattern called This Way and That and refers to the cables that go every which way on the sock. The yarn is wonderfully soft and feels so good to wear. It's from Pagewood Farms and is in the colorway Prism. I'd definitely use this yarn again. The socks were fun to knit and I've received a lot of compliments on both the pattern and the feel of the finished product. And I have both socks made. It doesn't get much better than this.

New Yarn Store Discovered and Booksigning

Last week, I visited my daughter in Charlottesville, VA and discovered a wonderful yarn shop, It's A Stitch. The staff was friendly and helpful and the yarn was beautiful - but is there really an ugly yarn to a sock knitter?

I went into the store only planning to buy enough yarn to do one new pair of socks and came out with some gorgeous cream Panda silk to knit a lacy scarf and enough sock yarn to keep me busy for months.
After a sumptious dinner with my daughter and a visit to her apartment, I bopped back over to Barracks Road Barnes & Noble to catch the Romance Panel during Virginia Festival of the Book.

The panel was moderated by New York Times best-selling author, Cathy Maxwell. Cathy and I have served together for the last five years working as program co-ordinators for Virginia Romance Writers. A couple of years ago, Cathy dedicated her book "In the Bed of a Duke" to me. At the booksigning that followed the panel discussion, Cathy signed a copy of that book for my daughter. Talk about smiles all around.

The panel was composed of Mary Burton, Joanna Bourne and Patrice Michelle - all accomplished writers who had a lot of valuable information to share with the audience.

After the event was over, I was so happy to have a chance to talk with one of the most awesome and knowledgeable booksellers in the business, Sandi Cararo. During our chat, Sandi found out about my story in the up-coming Cup of Comfort for Cat Lovers anthology and asked me to do a signing at the store. Of course, I said YES. The book comes out in July, so I have a lot to do before then. This will be my first foray into signings and promotion.

Yarn and books. Knitters and writers. It just doesn't get much better.
My mind was popping on the way home! And hasn't stopped yet.