Katiaesque

  • Who are you gonna call?

    When your characters refuse to talk to you, when words start running one into another, when your body goes on a no-writing strike and you fall behind in your own deadlines, who are you gonna call? Your writing buddies!!     They read your words, over and over and over and OVER, and STILL they believe in your work, sometimes more…

    Katia Raina

  • The Draft

    I am feeling a little numb, right now. Also, I am in a bit of disbelief. About forty minutes ago as of this writing, I have finished The Draft. 229 pages. 52 chapters. 59,000 words. Now. I can’t possibly even send this thing to my trusty writing friend– yet – let alone e-mail it to my…

    Katia Raina

  • Not Yet! (A writing update)

    So I told myself I would die or finish this draft of my manuscript — which my agent and my supportive writing friends are waiting to read. Have been waiting to read. Um . . . for a while now. It is a story that almost died — a weird magic story a whole bunch of people…

    Katia Raina

  • Happy Miracles!

    How quickly Hanukkah flew by this year. Every year when my family lights the candles to honor the miracle of oil lasting eight days in a ransacked temple, I think of other miracles.  The miracle of love.  https://katiaraina.wordpress.com/2009/12/13/the-miracles-of-winter/  The miracle of dreams coming true, the miracle of manifesting your wishes into reality — using words and willpower like magic…

    Katia Raina

  • Marc Acito: “A Poster Child for Misfits and Oddballs”

     Yep, that’s Marc Acito and me, in his midtown apartment — an island of mirrors and glass —  complete with head-spinning cityscape views. Marc calls the place a  “sanctuary” from the craziness that New York City can be. [“One of the most important lessons I’ve learned as an artist is to slow down,” he tells me right off the…

    Katia Raina

  • My Annual Thank You To Ms. Universe

    Last year, freshly signed with Ms. Awesome Agent, awash in monumental gratitude, I posted this: https://katiaraina.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/a-year-in-my-writing-life-things-i-am-thankful-for/ Today, I would like to offer up yet another thank you letter to Dear Universe. Dear Ms. Beautiful Universe, Thank you for: 1. the fall  2. my blog 🙂 3. my agent, still by my side — still armed with…

    Katia Raina

  • Working

    Hi there! Thanks for sticking around. I am still here — still working hard. Here is what my planner page for last week looked like: All those numbers in different  colors? Totally unrealistic estimates of the chapters I should be revising. (That’s why there are so many of them.) 🙂 After a few weeks of beating…

    Katia Raina

  • Craziness!!!

    Hi my faithful friends, readers and followers! I think you should know what my life is right now — it’s a hurricane!!! There is a chance that maybe maybe maybe I can make this other story work . . . (as soon as my agent says she likes it — if she DOES, I’ll tell…

    Katia Raina

  • Deborah Wiles: Documenting the Decade of “What?” and “Wow!”

    As promised earlier this summer . . . It is such an honor to introduce to you Deborah Wiles, the author of picture books and middle-grade novels, including my favorite “Each Little Bird that Sings” and now, the brand new “Countdown,” a documentary novel with a great spunky heroine! https://katiaraina.wordpress.com/2010/06/27/countdown-by-deborah-wiles/   How was the experience…

    Katia Raina

  • “Rhythm in My Head:” an interview with Ann E. Burg

    Since she was about four years old, Ann E. Burg, a middle child of four siblings, was walking around, “writing poems in [her] head.”                Michael fights, fights, fights                                                                         He fights for his rights               When he wins, he grins . . . Ann’s mother  and  father always had classical music playing on the radio,…

    Katia Raina