Pay It Forward: Catherine Karp

The final interview of the Pay It Forward series!! Don't forget everyone else who's playing:

Click here for more inspiration: Lisa and Laura Roecker, Beth Revis, Leah Clifford, Victoria Schwab, Kirsten Hubbard, Elana Johnson, Dawn Metcalf, Kim Harrington, Carrie Harris, Amy Holder, Kathy McCullough, Suzette Saxton and Bethany Wiggins, and Tiffany Schmidt.

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Catherine Karp & I have known each other for years. We worked together at Academic Press in San Diego, as editors of various types along the chain, on the same "team" even. She was my Mommy-mentor, pregnant a year or two before me. I went to her for advice and bags of hand-me-downs from her daughter to mine. (We *just* ran out of these, by the way!) We were both writing then, she more seriously than me at the time. We kind of lost touch when she moved to Oregon and we moved to Montana, but oddly enough we're both writing YA now. And her agent, the slithery Barbara Poelle, is great friends with mine, the sharkly Janet Reid.

As a certain Disney ride told me yesterday, "It's a Small World After All..."

Here's Cathy's interview. Enjoy!!

1. Tell us about your current book.
I'm working on a young adult historical ghost story/mystery that's tentatively titled Blackbirds.

 
2. Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publication (finding an agent)?
I've been lucky enough to have landed an agent twice, although I'm still struggling to reach that elusive publishing contract stage.  I worked with the first agent back in 1998 and 1999, when I was writing historical fiction for an adult audience.  It took me four years of writing, rewriting, and querying, but eventually I received a heart-racing email from an agent who said she was excited about my work.  Unfortunately, the historical fiction market was dead back then, and she couldn't sell my manuscript, despite glowing rejection letters.  We parted ways, amicably, and after co-founding a historical fiction publishing company, I came up with the idea for a modern-day comic novel about marriage, the suburbs, and a vampire.  That querying process was a swifter one, and I started working with Barbara Poelle of the Irene Goodman Literary Agency after she suggested some revisions.

Barbara is fabulous and worked diligently to sell my manuscript for about two years, and we came, as she put it, as close as you can get to having a contract without actually having a contract.  Last fall she and I started discussing going in the direction of young adult fiction.  We met in New York this past January and chatted about my new project, so here I am today, working on Blackbirds, hoping the third time's the charm.  

3. Was there ever a time you felt like giving up? Why didn't you?
There have certainly been moments along the way where I've questioned if I'm on the right path in life.  But I've always received so much support and encouragement, plus I can't even fathom giving up writing.  Deep down a voice inside me always tells me to keep plugging away.

4. How have your goals/dreams changed since you started the process?
At this point, after fifteen years of attempting to break into the business, I'd be thrilled to get even one book in print through a traditional publishing house.  But I'd want it to be a memorable book.  I've always admired Harper Lee's ability to produce a whopper of a novel and then gracefully give a bow.  
5. What's the piece of advice you wished you knew when you started?
I actually received some wonderful advice from a screenwriter when I was in high school: Never give up.  It's the most common words of wisdom given to writers, but it's so true.  As long as writing makes you happy, keep on working away.  If you're willing to constantly go back to the drawing board...and if you READ, READ, READ authors who challenge you to set the bar higher...you'll eventually get there.

Catherine Karp
http://www.catherinekarp.com
http://suburbanvampire.blogspot.com