Happy Friday to you all,
And today it's a magical day with witchy lady, Kate Kenzie. I'm loving the hat, Kate. It looks lke the Sorting Hat from Harry Potter. Do please tell which house you were sorted into, I'm curious! Somehow, I doubt you would be sorted into Slytherin!
Before we get started with Kate's interview, I would like to say that I hope you're all getting sorted with your Christmas shopping and all your plans are coming together nicely.
For once, I'm ahead with the shopping, I've only
got a few more bits to do. Christmas Day I will be at my daughter's house and busy cooking dinner for nine of us. Unfortunately, I don't have a magic wand I can wave and make dinner magically appear on the dining table. I can cook but it's not my favourite pastime, that's for sure.
My tree will go up on Monday (two weeks before Christmas). I've never been one for putting my decorations up in November. It should be fun and games this year with my youngest puss cat, Ginny! My older two cats have never bothered with the Christmas tree, but this year I think it will likely be trashed within hours of decorating it!
Anyway, I digress! Let's get on with Kate's interview without further ado!
Eva: Welcome Kate and thank you for taking part in this series. Now, tell us all about yourself (as in, a bit of a biography).
Kate: Thanks so much for hosting me, Eva. I’m Kate Kenzie, debut author of A Blend of Magic and though I wasn’t born in Yorkshire as soon as I moved there, I felt like I was coming home, but particularly in my favourite coastal town Whitby and the Yorkshire Moors where my novels are based. I’m a book blogger and creator of the
Enchanted Emporium bookshelf where my fictional witches from my novel review the books they love and interview authors. Book blogging fuels my book addiction but everyone needs an escape and mine is into fictional worlds.
How many books have you written up to now? Are they published or self-published? What genre are they?
My debut, A Blend of Magic is indie published through a new imprint, Mythic Alley. It is a witchy romance for fans of Practical Magic and Netflix’s the Good Witch but with a Northern voice and is set in Whitby, Yorkshire. A witch and proprietor of a specialist tea shop, the Enchanted Emporium, discovers there is more to life than making potions and tea but has to face her dark past to have the future she deserves.
I am currently writing a novel about friendship and adult ballet which I hope to find a home with a traditional publisher and have more ideas for other the Enchanted Emporium novels.
Of all the genres there are, is there any genre/s that you feel you wouldn’t be able to write and why? Is there any genre that you really wish you could write, but feel you wouldn’t be able to do it justice?
Despite my love of crime novels from Ann Cleeves and MJ White, I doubt I’d be able to write one. As a child I was fascinated with forensic science and its use in solving murders and while the curiosity remains, getting the facts and character dynamics right for a good story would lead me down research rabbit holes I think I’d get lost in. As a reader, I rarely pick out all the clues and motivation of the killer until the end, so I’d be useless and imagining them. I’ll leave that genre to the professionals.
I would also love to write high fantasy as I adore fantastical world building but they are a labour of love and I wouldn’t have the patience or skill to pull it off like some writers.
Do you have any favourite ‘out-of-the-ordinary’ words that you like to use in your books? What are those words? Also, what words used by other authors irritate you more than they should?
I love words though I don’t put them in my work as much as I should. I must try harder. Words I love are sequestered, bamboozled, discombobulated. A friend bought me a book of words which gives a different word and their meaning and origin daily. I love it. I can’t recall any words that annoy me more than they should but now I’ve said that I’ll find books littered with them.
Do you sing at all, be it karaoke, in a choir or have done so professionally? Whether you have or not, have you ever written (or had the urge to write) any song lyrics? Have those lyrics been used at all?
I sing but would never do it in public or in company. My voice belongs in the kitchen or shower only. It was once described as a kin to a wailing cat by my nan which I’ll never forget. I’ve never written any song lyrics but occasionally if I don’t know the words to the songs on the radio, I make them up with surprising results.
What question would you like to pose, (if you were to ever interview your favourite author), which never seems to get asked in author interviews? And who is that favourite author?
I have so many favourite authors as I love many different genres. In the romance genre, I love Milly Johnson, Miranda Dickinson and Heidi Swain. Crime favourites are Ann Cleeves, MJ White and Dorothy Koomson. An author I’ve adored since first reading Lady of Hay is Barbara Erskine and I’d love to know what paranormal experiences she’s had and if these have filtered into her work. This question is one the witches of the Enchanted Emporium always ask with surprising results.
If you were to ever write a children’s book, (and those of you who already do) would you/do you do the illustrating yourself, make use of a family member or friend’s talent or pay an illustrator? Do you solely write or do you have any other creative pursuits?
If I published a children’s book (I already have many ideas and scribblings in this genre) I’d have a professional artist to illustrate them. My artistic skills are not up to standard and artists add a flare to books I’m incapable of doing. I’d love to hire my school friend Debra McFarlane or James Brown for my fantasy stories.
I love all crafts and used to do a lot including crochet and miniature bear making but I have dystonia which now affects my hands so I struggle to do those now. I try with disastrous results.
Of all the characters you have created, who is your favourite? And why?
I love the original witch of Whitby who is only mentioned in passing in A Blend of Magic as her ghost lingers in parts of the Enchanted Emporium. I know her backstory and how she links the other witches together. Without her, the world I’ve created around the Enchanted Emporium wouldn’t exist. I can’t wait to share that knowledge in future books or short stories.
I also have a soft spot for Amber, the youngest witch in the Enchanted Emporium. She first starred in my first ever novel (currently hiding in my desk) which I wrote while at school. She has evolved since then, grown depth and has a more complex relationship with her father but without that terrible first draft I would never have written A Blend of Magic.
Have you ever killed off a character in your books (I’m sure you have)? If so, was it because…it fitted nicely into the storyline? OR…Did you start to really dislike the character and, with too much work involved to re-write without that character, think it the easiest option to have that person die?
So far I’ve not killed of a character in my books but have offered a reprieve to two characters in different manuscripts. In my current work-in-progress I planned to kill the husband of one of my dancer protagonists but when I looked at the plot, I decided his death didn’t add much to the story and it would be more heart breaking if he survived. Another was a ferret in my YA fantasy work-in-progress. My daughter saw the post-it note declaring his death on my plotting board and she was adamant he had to stay so he is for now.
Are any of your characters based on family members or friends? Have you kept their characters totally true to life or have you given them bonus traits that you wish they possessed in real life?
I haven’t done this consciously but I think writers can’t help themselves taking snippets of people they meet or know and amplify or tone down characteristics to form unique personalities in their books.
Relationships/family life aside, what are your TWO main regrets in life?
Not finishing my degree. I left uni in the beginning of the third year and though I tried to finish my degree with the Open University my health let me down at the last moment preventing me doing my exams and continuing the studies. I’d love to go back to study but it is so expensive now. I also regret stopping writing in my twenties. I should have continued despite imposter syndrome and not waited until my forties to seriously aim to become the author I always wanted to be.
What was your passion as a child? Did that passion stay with you during your adult life OR did you, as you grew up begin to detest what you once enjoyed?
Apart from collecting stickers and having scrap books of picture of whales, my passion was always writing and creating stories. This never left me but I did push it to one side in my late teens. Of course, it never left me completely as I’d get ideas for stories and characters I never did anything with them.
Tell us about your ultimate ambition, be it personal, travel, writing, work, hobby related or other?
Besides becoming a bestselling author, I’d love to write a screenplay for my current work in progress and it to be picked up by a tv production company. I can see all the scenes and characters and could include parts of the novel I have had to cut because of word limits. I’d also like to achieve my childhood dream of going to Lapland at Christmas.
Most people I know are not happy with something physical about themselves (face/body etc.,) but if you could change anything about your personality, what would you wish to change?
I wish I wasn’t so shy. It’s not helpful when trying to market books as face-to-face interviews and talking aloud are my worst nightmares. I hated it being chosen in class to speak and I struggle with it now. As soon as the spotlight is on me, I panic and want to run away. It’s one thing I must get over but how, who knows. I’m in awe at people who can do podcasts or chat on social media without resembling a rabbit stuck in the headlights.
What is your ‘go to’ snack, whatever the time of day? And drink of your choice?
I love tea which is probably why I wrote a Willow as a witch with a tea and teacup addiction. Yorkshire tea is my go-to drink, made strong with no sugar but my snack choice changes depending on my mood or book I’ve been reading. I’m one of those readers who instantly fancies the food the protagonist is eating. There needs to be a shopping list on the back of books so you can stock up with the food mentioned before you snuggle down to read. It could add a new sensory layer to the reading experience. I am partial to traditional biscuits like a digestive to dunk in my tea and Tunnocks tea cakes.
Cats or dogs? What do you have? Do you introduce any pets into your books?
I was always a cat person and petrified of dogs until I met my husband and his puppy. I now have two Jack Russells, Pip and Nigel who are ideal sizes to snuggle on my knee.
A Blend of Magic has a ghostly black cat appropriately named Black Cat who has haunted Whitby for centuries. He was inspired by a real local ghost story I found while researching, It also stars a ginger Maine Coon called Vincent and a ferret called Beetle. The latter animals are the witch’s familiars.
AND FINALLY Kate, Hit me up with all your Amazon book-links? And the links to your website and social media profiles?
Amazon links:
Amazon UK bit.ly/45DlbO1
Amazon US https://a.co/d/8KQ5tza
Website: https://katekenzie.com/
Social media
Newsletter: http://subscribepage.io/katekenzie
Twitter: @kakenzie101
Instagram: @kakenzie101
Facebook: K A Kenzie Writer
The Enchanted Emporium links:
Blog: The Enchanted Emporium Bookshelf
A BLEND OF MAGIC BLURB
A witch cannot exist on potions and tea alone.
Hiding in the shadows, staunch singleton Willow Anderson is content running her successful
business, The Enchanted Emporium. With Christmas days away, she’s eager to exchange selling
bespoke tea blends and spells for extended bubble baths and binge-watching festive movies snuggled
next to her Maine Coon, Vincent.
Nate never usually runs away from his problems, but drunk and disorientated, he finds himself in a
small fisherman’s cottage in the Yorkshire coastal town of Whitby. After discovering his girlfriend’s
affair, he is in no rush to return to the City. His wish for time alone in a Christmas-free zone comes
true until an uninvited feline guest arrives.
Neither Nate nor Willow want company, especially from each other, but they have little choice when
concussion means they must spend at least twenty-four hours together. Sparks fly and not just the
romantic kind. When darkness from Willow’s past returns and threatens to destroy all she has
worked for, pursuing a love affair is the last thing she needs.
With meddling ghosts and a teenage apprentice with her own matchmaking agenda, love and change
are in the air.
But can Willow face her fears, and the past, to capture the happiness she deserves?
Thank you once again Kate for taking part in this series!
Check my Facebook page for news of who is in the spotlight next Tuesday and Friday.
Namaste,
XXX