USA Today best-selling author Kate Hewitt seems to have “done it all.” She’s a busy vicar’s wife raising five children, and “between meals” she’s also written more than 60 books in multiple genres – from classic romance to intensely emotional women’s fiction  and historical family sagas.

Hi there, I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and today Kate talks about how life – and publishing – is constantly changing, staying ahead of the curve, and the mystery in her own life that might make a story sometime.

Six Things You'll Discover in this Joys of Binge Reading Episode:

How she adapts to the fast changing publishing scene

Why she likes to write in many different genres

Why women's fiction is her first love

Getting a start writing short stories

The mystery in her own life that could make a story

Writing more than 60 books while raising five children

Where to find Kate Hewitt (also writing as Katherine Schwartz) : 

Website: https://kate-hewitt.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KateHewittAuthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/katehewitt1

What follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.

Jenny: But now, here’s Kate. .  Hello there Kate and welcome to the show, it’s great to have you with us

Kate: Thanks for having me Jenny, it's great to be here!

Author Kate Hewett

Jenny: Beginning at the beginning - was there a “Once Upon A Time" moment when you decided you wanted to write fiction?  And if there was a catalyst, what was it?

Kate: Well, I've always written something since I was quite small; plays, poetry, newspaper articles. Ever since I was about 6, I always wanted to be a writer of some sort. Probably a very early catalyst was my brother, who wrote a short story and got a lot of attention for it. I decided I wanted to write a story too! So I wrote a story when I was about 5- it was one sentence long. My father read it, and I think that was the beginning of it all!

Jenny: How amazing, and how lovely that your dad took it seriously!

Kate: He did, yes! When I was about 6 I wrote a longer story, and put on a cover on it. I made it very official looking, and then I wrote on the cover "By the author of the Christmas Rose". Everyone kind of joked that I was into marketing at a very early age!

 

Jenny: You have a kicker line that you write “emotional stories in a number of genres” – and you’re not wrong – everything from women’s fiction to historicals, contemporary series, and classic Harlequin romance of the “wooed by a desert sheikh” kind. I guess they each appeal to you as a writer for different reasons . . . tell us a bit about the different challenges of  each one – and what aspect of your life they appeal to most . . .

Kate: I think I like writing different genres because I really like the emotional womens' fiction I do, although it's quite draining. So to be able to switch from that, to something lighter is kind of like a palate cleanser writing wise, so I enjoy that. I started writing classic Harlequin Romance because I read those when I was a teenager, but to be perfectly frank I really started writing those because I'd read that that was the best chance of a steady income as a writer, and that's what I wanted.

They have a little more of a "swept away" element to them, but I'd say my heart is more with the emotional womens' fiction; the Jodi Picault style of writing.

Jenny: Yes, and I was amused to see in one of your blogs that you were saying that investing the time in your most recent book I think- it was a bit like thinking like Jodi Picault for a change!

Kate: Yes.

Kate Hewitt - Harlequin Romance

Jenny: I can imagine Harlequins are fun though; they're probably only about 50,000 words are they?

Kate: That's right.

Jenny: You can get them done and have a sense of accomplishment.

Kate: Yes, that's what I did like.