Katiaesque

  • FIRST REVIEWS: BAD NEWS, GOOD NEWS

    Ah, the life of an author. All glamour and fun, you say? Well. Not when you get your first negative trade review. Like, the kind that takes your book down all the way. Back in the trenches (ah, the safe, anonymous trenches before your writing comes out into the world), I’d gotten plenty of rejections,…

    Katia Raina

  • Biggest Distraction

    #Authorlifemonth is a campaign that showcases what it’s like to be an author or a writer. Writers, published and unpublished, share photos and snippets on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or any other social media, answering questions that give people the glimpse into their daily glamorous routines! 🙂 Jumping in midway here — and this isn’t going…

    Katia Raina

  • Day 7: CASTLE OF CONCRETE

    CASTLE OF CONCRETE by Katia Raina, Young Europe, June 2019 #YADebut2019 #MagicMirror Aaaaand here it is, my friends: the news and the big mystery; here it is, the secret revealed! My historical YA debut, CASTLE OF CONCRETE, set in the last year of the falling-apart Soviet Union, is the story of a timid Jewish girl…

    Katia Raina

  • Building A Meaningful Writing Life

    People think that writers enroll in an MFA program on a quest for publication, the shiniest treasure of all.  And maybe some writers do. Okay, many do. Most. I guess I did, too. I enrolled in the program with that shiny goal in mind. And then, after intense writing and reading and studying, one of the biggest lessons…

    Katia Raina

  • What I’ve Learned: MFA in a Nutshell, Part 1

      Hey all! I am, of course, back from my final VCFA residency, a shiny new MFA in hand.  It’s fun to look back on the incredible, enriching, life-changing journey this has been and take a moment to talk about what I’ve learned. First, let me quantify it for you: two years of learning, what exactly did it…

    Katia Raina

  • Happy New Year! Off to Graduate!

    Happy 2015 my dear readers! May it bring you love and joy and beauty (not to mention, lots and lots of writing, of course)! The year 2014 has been pretty exciting. I completed the second half of my studies at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Learned up to my ears. Wrote a critical thesis delving into novels in verse. Finished a draft…

    Katia Raina

  • Questions and Answers

    Hard to believe Hanukkah is almost over, Christmas almost upon us, the year almost through, my very last MFA semester completed. As I am wrapping up the preparations for my final Vermont College of Fine Arts residency (!!), I think it’s appropriate to share one last lecture post I had promised you. This one comes courtesy of…

    Katia Raina

  • The Value of Adults

    My teenage son was peeking over my shoulder, and when he read this title, he laughed.  I didn’t ask him what was funny — that adults have value? — or that we are at a point of needing to blog about it? But we do. Need to talk about it. During the summer residency at the…

    Katia Raina

  • A Very Belated and Very Zen Bit (or Should I Say “Bead?”) of Writing Wisdom

    It seems crazy that I am only now getting around to sharing such a long-promised post, about a graduate lecture from the summer’s residency by a fellow Vermont College of Fine Arts now-alumni Joe McGee. Crazy, when I am now finalizing work on my own upcoming lecture for January! (Gulp). Nevertheless, here goes! Joe’s lecture, ZEN…

    Katia Raina

  • Five Ways To Get Closer

    That’s what I have been doing, the reason you guys haven’t heard from me in a while (ahem): I have been getting closer to my characters. Especially the protagonist of my creative thesis, a novel for young readers, 75-80 pages of which I am to send to the MFA program office by December in order to…

    Katia Raina