The Interview

By White Wagon's Maid to Order

Molly:     This is White Wagon’s Maid to Order, Molly to my friends. I have with me here today new author, Kathy Wagenknecht, who has just published her first novel, Away to Me.

              

               So tell me, Kathy, how does it feel to have written and published a book?

Kathy:    I’m still rather stunned. I didn’t think I could write fiction other than marketing materials and sales proposals, but —

Molly:     OK. So tell me, why did your name you book “Away to Me”?

Kathy:    I liked the word play of “away” and “a way” and what that could mean to someone looking for —

Molly:     So you didn’t intend for your reader to immediately run in a large counter-clockwise circle off to your right?

Kathy:     Um, no. I wanted to use herding terms as metaphors for the plot development. I broke the book into four parts, plus a prologue, and named each part with a herding term. I thought that —

Molly:     OK. So why was there only one border collie in the book?

Kathy:    Actually there was another one who —

Molly:     A puppy doesn’t count. And the dog in the story, Lulu, where did you get that name?

Kathy:    I don’t know. It just came to me when I needed a name for Buck’s dog. I was trying —

Molly:     That’s another thing. Why did Buck have the dog? I think Lulu would have been happier with Betty and Bitsy.

Kathy:    Um, I, um, was trying to show a softer side of —

Molly:     And why did Lulu never do anything but chase tennis balls? Was she developmentally challenged? Couldn’t she help at the farm?

Kathy:    Well, she, uh, did a natural outrun and —

Molly:     Big deal. Any border collie worth her salt can outrun until the cows come home, so to speak.

Kathy:     She tried to herd chickens but —

Molly:     That’s what I mean. Was something wrong with her?

Kathy:     No, she just didn’t have a very big role in the novel. Thematically, she tied —

Molly:     She should have been with Mary Nell, rounding up clues and gathering information. That’s a proper role for a border collie.

Kathy:     Um, yes. I suppose I can see your point. Could you please stop staring at me? And maybe stand up straight? Why are you crouched down like that? And if you would stop interrupting me I —

Molly:     Thank you, Kathy, for talking with me about your book.

Kathy:    Thank —

Molly:     If any of you want to read about a pathetic border collie who is only allowed to chase balls and be petted, read Kathy’s book, Away to Me. It’s available from Amazon and several other places in hardback, paperback and as an ebook. Go to her website (kathywagenknecht.com) for purchase information.

               It’s very good. (She made me say that.) Come Buy a copy.