Rogue Bruce enjoys running a Scottish bed-and-breakfast with her Aunt Baillie from America. They specialize in hosting romantic Elizabethan-themed weddings, complete with resident ghost, Lord Kai. But love is something Rogue is not the least bit interested in…

By Kathleen Shaputis

 

Interview with Author Kathleen Shaputis

 

• At what point did you decide to be an author and what was your path to publication?

My passion for writing goes back to the first grade and being chosen to play Chicken Little in the class play. I found myself writing plays to produce in the backyard with the neighborhood kids. I was also a big fan of Little Rascal re-runs. The plots varied depending on what I was reading at the time. This continued through fifth or sixth grade. I loved the applause from the audience. But my mother stepped in with the notion it was time to put away such foolish ideas. No one would buy my words as they were too flowery. Put away my old typewriter and pencils. If I couldn’t be a writer, what would I be? After watching an episode of the Wonderful World of Disney about the first seeing eye dog in America, I wanted to train those dogs. I wrote to a northern California school as to what I would need to major at college for the position. This was 1968 and I received a letter stating guide dog instructors was a male only field. I broke. I can’t write nor can I train dogs? I didn’t understand depression, but I know now it wrapped its cloak around me for years. I went into clerical work, married, and had a daughter. Worked hard, divorced, and then worked harder. A decade later I shook off the mantel of “can’t” and found myself waking up early to write before my day began. It felt like coming home. Though over the years I had two or three novels in progress, my first sale was a non-fiction idea I sold to a publisher at a writers conference.

 

• Who is your favorite character to write, and why is that person your favorite?

My favorite seems to be Gillian Nation. Those novels in progress? The first one published was Changes in Attitude. A single, successful business owner who decides to have a baby on her own. Her software assistant was a blond Adonis snob with a healthy trust fund. Gillian from Orange County, California. I adored him. He started out as a costume of an old boyfriend, but quickly showed his own gene pool and expensive style. Gillian is gay, gorgeous, and too talented for his own good. Years later, I pulled out an old outline, work in progress, from 1994 about a cozy mystery in a Scottish castle. I never expected Gillian to barge through the front door, stage left, and bring an entourage with him. Eventually this storyline blossomed into the Baillie Castle trilogy and Gillian demanded a co-starring role in all three books.

 

• Do you identify with your main character or did you create a character that is your opposite?

I do find there are slivered strands of, if not myself, more like my fantasy self in my main characters. I write a woman I would love being, a chance to taste lifestyles and emotions well outside my more mundane world. With His Kilt Dropped Here, Rogue is a figment of what I would have like to be: strong, an animal lover and independently wealthy.

 

• Describe the [book/series] in 10 words or less for people who are just learning about it.

Asking a novelist to pare down a book to ten words or less is most difficult. Almost brutal. Lol. How about:
An unlikely heiress finds herself courted by two gorgeous men. Death and disappearances plunge the castle into chaos. Will true love survive?

 

• Share some advice for aspiring authors. What advice would you give to your younger self?

Research writers’ conferences in your area, or places you’d like to travel. Hopefully, events may open again in 2022 and there is nothing like being in the energy of fellow authors – writers just like you. Look into genre events if you write sci-fi, romance or crime and suspense. I wish I had saved my nickels and quarters to invest this way in myself earlier. Many literary agents tend to cull new clients from conferences where they have a chance to hear your book’s pitch, its hook, and actually see you in person. I can’t impress upon how often I’d hear valuable tips and tricks during these events that would pop up months, a year later, as exactly what I needed to hear.

 

• What is your favorite line from your book?

During a conversation between Rogue, her aunt and the cook, Putney, Aunt Baillie says, “And believe me, you’ll find in life all mere males have foibles of one kind or another.”

 

• What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

Read. Most rooms in my house have at least one bookshelf, if not an entire wall of bookcases. I can’t imagine a day without reading – it would be like not eating. It just doesn’t happen. And you’ll find various genres as my husband, also a voracious reader, and I do not like the same type of books. Bookstores love to see us walking in the door. I love reading outdoors in the sunshine or curled up in my chair when husband has the Motor Trend cable channel blaring on the television. My nose is stuck in a book.

 

 

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