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SRR: Hello Kathryn and
welcome to Simply Romance Reviews. It is a pleasure to interview you. Before
we begin, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? |
| Kathryn Meyer
Griffith: Hello,
Julie, I’m happy to be here. Ah, a little about myself, huh? Well, I’ve been
writing for almost thirty-six years, been published for twenty-four of
those, and have had eleven (soon to be twelve) novels published and three
short stories….six if I count the three short stories I wrote and
illustrated for a local newspaper after I won their Short Story Contest
thirty years ago. I write full time now but worked twenty-three years in the
corporate world as a graphic artist. I have a beloved husband, Russell, of
thirty years, and a son, James, and two grandchildren, Joshua and Caitlyn. I
have five brothers and sister. I came from a big poor family (a lot like the
Waltons). My one brother, Jim Meyer, is a singer/songwriter who writes and
performs all of my soundtracks for my self-made book trailers (which you can
see here on this site). Please go and give them a look and a listen. |
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SRR:
Who are some of your
favorite authors? |
| Kathryn Meyer
Griffith:
I began reading Science
Fiction (Ray Bradbury and Robert Heinlein), mystery (Sherlock Holmes),
traditional horror, vampires, ghosts and things that haunt in the night
(Stephen King and Dean Koontz) and romances (Nora Lofts and Mary Higgens
Clark) when I was young. I’m a little old-fashioned in that I like stories
with good characters, heart and not much sex and gore; stories that pull at
peoples’ memories and heart strings. I try to write stories like that, as
well. |
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SRR: What
is your favorite book?
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| Kathryn Meyer
Griffith:
I have no favorites,
really. I read anything in the genres of mystery, romance and the
supernatural as long as it’s well written. Over the years I’ve liked Stephen
King, Dean Koontz, Joyce Carol Oates and so many others. Oh, and there’s
some very old book called Smoky (I don’t even recall who
wrote it)….about this horse and its hard life, that I read as a child
and it was the first time I knew I wanted to write a book that would make
other people feel what that book made me feel. Sad (for that horse) and
happy all at the same time when it ended well. |
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SRR: What
inspired you to become a writer?
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| Kathryn Meyer
Griffith: I
devoured books at the library when I was a child. My family didn’t have much
money so the idea of getting free books from some place – books that would
send me to different times and different worlds where I could forget our
troubles – seemed like magic to me. Then years later when my son was born
and I wasn’t working I read a really bad romance (I just felt like jumping
in and changing the characters motivations and mind sets) and thought: I
could write a better one than that! And thus began my twelve year
journey to first becoming published |
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SRR:
Tell us about the first
book that you had published? |
| Kathryn Meyer
Griffith: Well,
I wrote that romance…about a woman in 15th century England during
the time of Edward the Fourth and Richard the Third who was sort of magic
and how it was perceived in her time as being witchcraft…wove this fictional
character (Bronwyn) in among all the historical figures…and that was my
first book. I couldn’t sell it for a while so as I was sending it out and
waiting (back in the old snail-mail days it could take up to two years or
more for feedback and I used an old key-skipping typewriter and lots of
white-out which all took FOREVER) I began another book….bascially about my
early poor family life and the murder of my younger brother, Christopher,
and started sending that out, too. Somewhere along the way an editor said I
should make it a ghost story because it already had that feel to it. So I
added the ghostly subplot and after many more trials, tribulations (the
first publisher went bankrupt right after they bought the book, but then
gave it to the next owner) and twelve long years (of course I took a long
break to get divorced and get my first job to keep a roof over me and my
son’s heads)…I sold it finally in 1984 to Leisure Books. It was EVIL
STALKS THE NIGHT. They also bought my 15th century
historical, THE HEART OF THE ROSE, and then a third horror novel
about a possessed gun, BLOOD FORGE. |
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SRR:
Would you change
anything about that book today?
|
| Kathryn Meyer
Griffith:
Oh, no, not really.
People loved EVIL STALKS THE NIGHT and still remember it, though it’s long
been out of print. But I’d polish up the prose some, though. Drop some of
the adjectives. Stuff like that. Maybe someday I’ll try to resell it as I
have the rights back now along with six other of my earliest books. Just
been too busy. But one of my newest serial ghostly short stories, Don’t
Look Back, Agnes is sort of a tribute to that book and is like a
mini-version of it. Something spooky and evil in the woods tormenting a
small quirky town and my heroine. |
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SRR:
You have nine published
books and two more that will be released soon; where do you come up with the
ideas for your stories? |
| Kathryn Meyer
Griffith:
Ha, ha. Everyone asks me
that. Who knows? Some ideas just pop into my head, fully formed or just a
kernel; some I dream, some are situations partially taken from my childhood
or life, sometimes I read something in the newspaper and think: This
would make a really neat basic idea for a book or short story. One of my
newest short stories, IN THIS HOUSE, came to me after I read this
brief newspaper article about this old man living in the last house in his
neighborhood (because a lead smelter plant had bought all the other houses
up over the years around him and torn them down because of ground
contamination) and he was all alone now. His neighbors and friends long
gone, his wife dead. He sounded so lonely. And it gave me this idea to write
about a couple who’d lived and loved their whole lives and now everything
was gone…except his memories and his love for the woman and life he’d once
had.I made it a ghostly love story – with a twist at the end. Then my newest
e-novel (paperback also coming in October) is about a widowed woman truck
driver, Loretta, who has to take a dangerous job driving to Wyoming in an
early snowstorm to save her truck and house from foreclosure; she picks up a
mysterious hitchhiker, Sam, on the way and then strange things and murders
begin to happen on their route. Is Sam the love of her life or a
cold-blooded killer? You’ll have to read WINTER’S JOURNEY to find
out. I got that idea years back when my husband, Russell, was a long haul
truck driver for a while. So…my ideas for my stories come from so many
things. |
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SRR: Which
do you find more difficult to write – the full length novel or the short
story? |
| Kathryn Meyer
Griffith:
The full length novels
of course. You’re creating a whole world of places and people and it takes
a lot more time, commitment and organization. Lots of details that must all
click in the end. You know, you got to tie up all the loose threads or your
blanket will have holes in it. |
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SRR:
You have written a
variety of books from horror to murder mysteries to time travel. Which
genre do you like writing the most? Is one more challenging to write than
the other for you? |
| Kathryn Meyer
Griffith: I
love horror the most. Mysteries second. But traditional supernatural horror:
ghosts, vampires or things that frighten a person…without the violence, sex
and gore. A good spooky story. And all my horror – all my stories – are
cross-genred, as I see it. All my books are alike. Good versus evil. Good
wins. They’re just good stories and most all of them have a strong subplot
of romance. I’ve always loved Science Fiction, but I don’t have the mind for
writing it, I think. My books are all emotions and feelings; memories and
lessons learned as we go through life. I’m just a humble storyteller, not a
writer’s writer. |
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SRR:
Do you have a personal
favorite book that you’ve written or are they each close to your heart?
|
| Kathryn Meyer
Griffith:
They’re all my babies.
But these newer ones (with the Wild Rose Press…and my Avalon mysteries,
Scraps Of Paper and All Things Slip Away) I’m prouder of, I
believe, because living has slowly taught me more, I hope, and I weave that
wisdom into my new stories. I have more experiences to base them on. |
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SRR:
Let’s talk about your
characters. How much of your personality do you put into your heroines?
|
| Kathryn Meyer
Griffith: Ha,
ha. I’d say all my women characters were me…only better, smarter and more
fearless. They’re all I would like to be but maybe am not. My male heroes
are based on the men in my life. I had/have a few very good, strong, loving
men in my life and my heroes seem to be patterned after them. My husband,
Russell, is in a lot of my books. He’s tall, witty, strong and has a
generous heart. He was a bit of a scoundrel in his early days, too. Which
makes a nice contrast. Yeah, Russell is my Sam, my Ben, my Mac and even
Ramose. |
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SRR:
In Egyptian Heart,
your hero was very sexy. When creating your heroes, are you inspired by
anyone that you know or are they all a figment of your imagination?
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| Kathryn Meyer
Griffith: You
mean Ramose? Like I said…based on my sexy, brave long-legged husband, father
and a few of my brothers. Tall, strong, good-hearted men. Oops, I think I
married Ramose, except my husband’s part American Indian and not ancient
Egyptian! |
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SRR: Can
you tell us about Winter’s Journey, your new release from The
Wild Rose Press? |
| Kathryn Meyer
Griffith:
I think I’ve spoken
about it already, but here’s the promotional cover blurb: To keep the bank
from repossessing her eighteen-wheeler and putting her and her daughter on
the street, trucker Loretta Brennan takes a dangerous route to Wyoming with
a winter storm approaching. She worries if she can make the deadline and
navigate the icy roads since her driving partner husband died in an accident
the year before. At a truck stop, Loretta meets handsome hitchhiker Sam
Emerson, who helps her out of a bind. She feels compelled to return the
favor and offers him a ride to Cheyenne. Blizzards, a series of trucker
murders, and a sinister truck haunt them along their route. They grow close
despite Loretta's fear that Sam may be aligned with the killer. Is Sam a
good man down on his luck or is she falling in love with a murderer? |
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SRR:
Can you give us a sneak
peak as to what you are writing now? |
| Kathryn Meyer
Griffith: I’m
working on a straight horror novel (well, as straight as I can write…a tiny
bit of romance always seems to slip in somehow) about the end-of-days. I’m
calling it BEFORE THE END…and it’s about this traveling musician
woman, her musician brother, her small family (most of her family - all but
the one brother, old aunt and uncle - were killed in a childhood house fire)
who discovers she is to be a warrior for God (among others she will meet and
gather on the way) right before the Rapture comes. She slowly realizes she
can see the demons (they’re hidden from normal people) and she has
great powers to defeat evil. Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer she must pick up
the sword (forged by angels) and fight the demons that the end days will
bring out. It ends with the Rapture. I hope, if it sells, to write two more
in the series. You know, break them into the seven years of tribulations
after the Rapture and make them her ragtag gang’s and her further fights and
adventures until Armageddon? I love writing this book. |
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SRR:
When you’re not busy
writing, what do you do in your spare time? |
| Kathryn Meyer
Griffith: I
love to read. Walk in the woods. Be with my family. Draw pictures. Watch
spooky shows or mysteries on TV. I love to jam with my singer/songwriter
musician brother, Jim Meyer (soon you’ll be able to even download his songs
on a website he’s making right now…you can hear his songs on my book
trailers, except for Egyptian Heart (which by the way comes out in
paperback from The Wild Rose Press on May 30, 2008!) – that’s
Egyptian music)…his original songs, a cross between bluegrass, folk, country
and pop. My husband plays the stand-up bass with us, too. I love to sing,
though I’m not near as good as Jim…or that’s what he keeps reminding me. He
allows me to sing a little harmony. |
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SRR:
Before we close, is
there anything you would like to add? |
| Kathryn Meyer
Griffith: I
think I’ve said it all, ha,ha. I tend to talk a book as well as write one,
I’m afraid. Well, I’d like to say thank you for this opportunity to speak
about my books and my life. Thank everyone who’s reading this…for reading
this. Please, all, go have a look/listen at my self-made book trailers and
see my new book covers either at http://thewildrosepress.com
or
http://www.myspace.com/kathrynmeyergriffith
or
http://authorsden.com/kathrynmeyergriffith
or
http://www.bebo.com/kathrynmeyerG
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SRR: Thank you so much,
Kathryn. It was a real pleasure to interview you. |
| Kathryn Meyer
Griffith: And thank you, Julie. It was a pleasure to be allowed to
ramble on…and on…and on. (grin.) Bye now. |
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~ Kathryn Meyer
Griffith was interviewed by Julie Kornhausl for Simply Romance Reviews |
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