Kate Robinson, author of "Heart of Desire"

Today I'd like welcome Kate Robinson, author of  "Heart of Desire: 11.11.11 Redux" to the Thursday interview. Before we get started, a quick intro!

Kate Robinson began her lit career writing bad poetry in Des Moines, Iowa, and continued to hone her writing chops in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, Wales, and Kenya, which serves her well as chief wordwhacker at Starstone Lit Services near Los Angeles. She holds a BA in Anthropology with a concentration in Museum Studies from Prescott College (Arizona) and a MA in Creative Writing from the Aberystwyth University (Wales). Her stories, essays, and poetry appear in international anthologies and journals, and she also expounds upon jellyfish, sundogs, and sundry digressions on the writing life at www.jellyfishday.blogspot.com. She loves the appearance of the extraordinary in ordinary daily life and tries always to dance with paradox and absurdity.

OK - HERE WE GO !!  

No.1  Would you break the law to save a loved one? .. why?

Sure. I already have. Would do it again. It does have consequences, but the right thing is always the right thing regardless of the law. What’s legal isn’t always ethical and what’s ethical isn’t always legal, as they say.

No.2  What is the difference between being alive and truly living?

Living a juicy, creative life with no holds barred and no worries about what people think is the difference between being alive and truly living.

No.3  What motivates you to write?

Seems to be a natural bent. I’ve always loved stories in any form – oral, written, film.

No.4  Why do humans want children?

To torture themselves. Or is it to full-fill karma? You know, when your mother hopes you have ten kids just like you for revenge. Parenthood is a never-ending and evolving challenge. I have four offspring ranging in age from 20-38 and two grandchildren.

No.5  What was the biggest challenge in creating your book "Heart of Desire: 11.11.11 Redux" ?

My biggest challenge was not being  ready to write a novel when I began in 1999. I’d just started writing short fiction and got ahead of myself a bit. So the novel became a mishmash of every novice mistake in the book. I went through dozens of revisions to repair it as best I could and used to call it my MA in creative writing before I formally earned an MA in creative writing. It’s also a big story for a novice writer and I had to find ways to contain it, first through writing it in a rotating first-person viewpoint and then later, by revising it into third person but restricting each chapter to a particular characters’ viewpoint.

No.6  What is the most important thing you have learned in life so far?

Stay calm and read.

No.7  How did you come up with the title "Heart of Desire" ?

I had a working title that didn’t quite click. The tale began as a flash story and the original title, November Eve, fit well enough, but didn’t quite cover the expansion to novel. Heart of Desire popped into my head one day and I didn’t know why, because I didn’t feel that quite clicked either. And the title troubles many of my writer friends because they expect a romance. Though Heart of Desire has strong romantic elements, it isn’t a genre romance. It was several years before I realized what my subconscious mind was up to, playing with desire in the context of what we desire most in our lives and how these simple desires create both joy and suffering. That’s the theme underlying the novel. At the surface is the sci-fi thriller and all the action hullabaloo.

No.8  How do you handle personal criticism?

Humor. Thick skin.  Mediation. Jogging and hiking.Sometimes with loud, noisy denial if I’m backed into a corner and out of whack.

No.9  Why should people read your book?

I don’t suppose everyone should read my book because sci-fi thrillers aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, nor political manoeuvring about climate chaos and secret government, nor the premise that humanity perhaps crossed a cosmic milestone in 2012. Also, my protagonist is female and men may not feel a connection to her, though there are also some strong male characters driving the plot as well. But if your curiosity is piqued by the pitch, then by all means, read the book!

No.10 Why is there something rather than nothing?

Oooo, I love paradox . . . Because we are here to ask the question?  Ha. Well, one could counter that with a Buddhist viewpoint. Because the true nature of mind is emptiness, which isn’t empty in the ordinary sense of nothingness, but is a union of space and clarity (some say union of awareness or wisdom and compassion) that leads to enlightenment. And enlightenment only occurs when we allow everything else to settle and fall away, to let go of the thought that anyone or anything has a separate identity . . . so “nothing” becomes everything and is really, really something, so to speak!  *laughter*

 Thanks Kate  for taking the time to answer my questions & the best of luck with your new book! 

Check out her new book "Heart of Desire: 11.11.11 Redux" on

GOODREADS & AMAZON 

As election year 2008 unfolds, Tess Vaughn’s deepest desire is to live a quiet life in rural Arizona. But when the former investigative journalist jogs into the arms of married presidential candidate Senator Harris Cantrell Henry, she finds trouble galore.

Not only does Henry say things she doesn’t want to hear about abuses of the National Investigative Homeland Security Agency (NIHSA) and his political nemesis, Senator C. Clelland Collins, he babbles gibberish about doubles, ETs, and UFOs. Tess finds herself pregnant when she ends  the trysts. Her daughter Mikka’s paternity and precocious talents are secrets she must keep. But her secrets aren’t safe when Senator Harris Henry becomes the 44th President of the United States.

On 11.11.2011, the hyped pre-2012 window of positive opportunity, President Henry announces his intention to engage the United States in the international fight against global warming. But his deepest desire to provide full disclosure of his contact with extraterrestrials remains an uneasy secret. When President Henry disappears, Tess’s fears for Mikka’s safety mount.

Tess enlists the assistance of two upbeat New Age ministers, Marshall and Savannah Updike. Their greatest desire is to witness the triumph of good over evil in 2012. The couple challenges her common sense with their Bible Code prophecy of an enigmatic “Starchild” whose fate is linked with President Henry. And the Updikes insist that meeting another handsome hunk is Tess’s best hope for Mikka’s survival.

Carson Hodges’ one-pointed desire is to live in the moment and reach enlightenment. The Native American healer charms Tess with his lack of guile and manages to steer her one step ahead of trouble. That is, until Tess’s brother Paul Vaughn – whose only desire is to be loved – talks too much to the wrong people.

.