Katherine Center’s second novel, Everyone Is Beautiful, is featured in this week’s People (calling it “charming”) Magazine and in this month’s issue of Redbook. Kirkus Reviews likens it to the 1950s motherhood classic Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, and says, “Center’s breezy style invites the reader to commiserate, laughing all the way.” Booklist calls it “a superbly written novel filled with unique and resonant characters.”

Katherine’s first novel, The Bright Side of Disaster, was featured in People Magazine, USA Today, Vanity Fair, the Houston Chronicle, and the Dallas Morning News, among others. BookPage named Katherine one of seven new writers to watch, and the paperback of Bright Side was a Breakout Title at Target.

Katherine recently published an essay in Real Simple Family and has another forthcoming in Because I Love Her: 34 Women Writers on the Mother-Daughter Bond this April. She has just turned in her third novel, Get Lucky, and is starting on a fourth. She lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and two young children. You can visit her website at www.katherinecenter.com.

Welcome to Beyond the Books, Katherine. Can you tell us whether you are published for the first time or multi-published? Can you give us the titles of your books?

Everyone Is Beautiful, my new book, is the second in a two-book deal with Random House. The first one was The Bright Side of Disaster. I now have another two-book deal with them and have just finished my third novel, Get Lucky.

What was the name of your very first book regardless of whether it was published or not and, if not published, why?

My first real book-length work (other than a novel I wrote in 6th grade about how Duran Duran fell in love with me) was a collection of short stories I wrote in graduate school called Peepshow. It was never published because I was not at all brave about sending it out. Though it was a finalist for the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction.

For your first published book, how many rejections did you go through before you either found a mainstream publisher, self-published it, or paid a vanity press to publish it?

I was very lucky. I got an agent for my first novel quite by accident when I ran into a novelist at the park who offered to pass it on. Then that agent offered to represent me and then the book off to publishing houses and was able to get an auction going.

Though I did spend ten years getting rejected before that. And rejection is definitely horrible.

How did the rejections make you feel and what did you do to overcome the blows?

The rejections made me feel like I shouldn’t be writing. What was the point? And so I’d quit writing. Forever. And I’d decide that wanting to be a writer was crazy and masochistic and I should move on with my life and get a real job.

But then I’d keep writing anyway. Because I couldn’t stop.

When your first book was published, who published it and why did you choose them?

Random House published my first book under their Ballantine Imprint—and they are still publishing my books. I didn’t really choose them, they chose me. For which I remain very grateful.

How did it make you feel to become published for the first time and how did you celebrate?

It felt great. It still feels great! Writing is the thing I’m best at. I can’t tell you what day of the week it is most of the time. But I can write stories. It’s amazing to know that people are reading them and thinking about them and being moved by them. When somebody sends an email saying they laughed and cried because of one of my books—it’s just mind-boggling.

Though it didn’t really change my life in all the ways you might expect. I’m still just me. Me with books at Barnes & Noble, but me just the same.

What was the first thing you did as far as promotion when you were published for the first time?

I set up a website—and found a great designer to make it pretty. I printed up business-size cards with the book cover on them, thinking I’d hand them out to people. Although it turned out I was way too shy to hand them out. My parents handed out a ton of them, though! And my husband! He’d take them to the pool and give them to moms who were there with their kids.

If you had to do it over again, would you have chosen another route to be published?

No. Looking back, this was a great way for it to happen. I was very discouraged for a long time. But I also didn’t really know what I wanted to write about then. I think I wasn’t ready. I needed to mature.

Sometimes I think making a go of the writing life means just sticking with it long enough to stumble onto some good luck. Of course, this was a little bit before blogging. Now, if I were still wanting to write and not sure how to get published, I’d blog.

Have you been published since then and how have you grown as an author?

Well, I have the three books under my belt (2 published, one in production) and one that I’m about to start writing. I’ve also had an essay in Real Simple magazine and another essay is forthcoming in an anthology called Because I Love Her: 34 Women Writers on the Mother-Daughter Bond.

And I have grown tremendously as an author. The more you do a thing, the better you get. That’s especially true of writing: Your sense of timing and structure and language gets better each time you do it.

Looking back since the early days when you were trying to get published, what do you think you could have done differently to speed things up? What kind of mistakes could you have avoided?

If I could go back in time and give my younger self advice, I’d tell myself not to get so discouraged. But I know my younger self would never listen to my old self, anyway.

I think writing through those struggles—rejection, lack of free time, uncertainty that what you’re doing matters—is part of the process of becoming a writer. You have to believe in yourself, and believe that the stories you’re writing will mean something to the people who read them, but it doesn’t come easy. You have to struggle with yourself about it. You have to earn that faith.

I also think it’s easy to focus on the publishing part of it when what really matters is the writing. Especially nowadays, with blogging as an option, the great writing has a chance to get its own attention.

What has been the biggest accomplishment you have achieved since becoming published?

There have been a lot of exciting moments in the past few years. Seeing my photo in People Magazine (this week!) has been pretty exciting.

But the biggest accomplishment is the writing. Whenever I put something on the page and it sounds as good as—or better than—it did in my head, I feel proud.

If you could have chosen another profession, what would that profession be?

A photographer. Or a maker of artists’ books. Or a sign maker. Or an organic gardener. Or a landscape architect. Or a house renovator. There are so many jobs I’ve been interested in over the years. The great thing now is that I can give them to my characters.

Would you give up being an author for that profession or have you combined the best of both worlds?

I wouldn’t give up being an author for anything. I thank my lucky stars every single day that I get to write these stories and send them out into the world.

How do you see yourself in ten years?

Still writing stories about the lives that interest me and getting them out there however I can.

Any final words for writers who dream of being published one day?

Don’t dream about being published! Just dream about the stories! No one can keep you from writing the stories. Write them, and love them, and share them with the people in your lives who will love them too. That’s the meat and potatoes of being a writer. Getting to go inside the stories—that’s the best blessing you can wish for.

Diana Holquist loves to write. That’s pretty much all she does. Ask her family about the undone laundry, the un-bought groceries, and the fact that she rarely finds time to get dressed in the morning. Holquist believes that if you train your family right, they won’t notice any of these things. “Popcorn for dinner again, mom! Cool!” is often heard shouted around the Holquist household by her filthy children. 

Holquist’s first book, Make Me a Match, came out in September, 2006 from Warner Books.  Her second book, Sexiest Man Alive, was released October 2007.  You can visit her website at www.dianaholquist.com. 

Welcome to Beyond the Books, Diana. Can you tell us whether you are published for the first time or multi-published?  Can you give us the title(s) of your book(s)?  

I have written two romantic comedies. My debut romantic comedy is Make Me a Match, published in 2006 by Warner Books. My second, Sexiest Man Alive, is out in 2007 also from Warner, which has changed its name now to Grand Central Publishing. I just sold them two more romantic comedies. The first, Hungry for More, will be out in 2008 and the next, still nameless, will be out in 2009. The first three books are romantic comedies written in a series.  I’m still not sure what the fourth will be.  Any ideas?  

What was the name of your very first book regardless of whether it was published or not and, if not published, why? 

The very first romantic comedy I wrote I called My Kind of Crazy. I stole that title from a country music song I heard on the radio. I’m still in love with that title, but my editors shoot it down every time.  That manuscript is now under my bed, waiting for really bad, too long, unpolished romantic comedies with awesome titles to come back in style.  Might be a long wait… 

For your first published book, how many rejections did you go through before you either found a mainstream publisher, self-published it, or paid a vanity press to publish it? 

Make Me a Match, the first romantic comedy written in the one true love series,  was rejected by 37 agents before I found an agent. Then, it  was rejected by about six editors, before two mainstream New York publishers wanted it.  That was fun. I went with Warner Books (now Grand Central Publishing) because the editor there really seemed to get the book and she had some wonderful ideas about how to fix it.  Plus, they had a huge gap for a romantic comedy writer in their stable, so I thought I’d make a nice fit there. 

How did the rejections make you feel and what did you do to overcome the blows? 

Lousy. Awful. Fetal-position-terrible. But I had a lot of experience in rejection because before I got into writing romantic comedy novels, I was an advertising copywriter in New York City.  It was terrifically competitive, and the rejections there were much harsher than what any agent or editor ever handed down. When your creative director at an ad agency tells you for the tenth time, “It’s not funny. Do it again and don’t come back here till it’s funny,” well, you develop a tough skin. You learn to just trudge back and do it again. And again. And again….and make it funny, darn it! After ten years of that, publishing novels was a walk in the roses.  

When your first book was published, who published it and why did you choose them? 

Make Me a Match was published by Warner Books (now Grand Central Publishing). I had two offers on the table, and both publishers promised a two-book deal, which was terrific. But the editor at the other house, who was very senior, wanted to publish Make Me a Match as is. She loved it. The editor at Warner was very junior, and she wanted MAJOR changes. She wanted me to pull out the entire motivation for the hero—about 150 pages of subplot. But her ideas were so smart and right-on, I just knew that if I re-wrote those 150 pages, the book would be so much better. I think that my background in advertising, where every ad is a collaboration between at least five or six people, made me very open to her point of view. I love collaborating—it’s much more exciting than actually writing. So it was an easy choice for me. So far, I’m delighted. Warner (Grand Central Publishing) has done a great job with the books, from editing to distribution to publicity. It’s been a pleasure.  

How did it make you feel to become published for the first time and how did you celebrate? 

Oh, it was great.  I was at a PTA meeting for my kids’ elementary school when I got the call that the deal was done, so there wasn’t much celebrating right away.  But once I got out of there, I called everyone I knew. I had little kids, so my husband and I opened a bottle of champagne at home. I’m still celebrating. Every day, I can’t believe my books are published and out there.  

What was the first thing you did as for as promotion when you were published for the first time?

Well, my instincts for promotion were all about advertising, since that was my background. I bought an ad in Romantic Times for Make Me a Match that was edgy and different. It totally flopped. It took me a long, long time before I understood that advertising wasn’t the way to go for books. I had to learn publicity, which wasn’t easy.  I’m still struggling with figuring out how to promote my books. It’s not easy, but it’s essential.  

If you had to do it over again, would you have chosen another route to be published?

Um…that’s hard to answer in a public forum.  I was so anxious to get published—and I think that this happens to a lot of people—I spent more time on working toward that then I did writing. I can see now that I’m falling into the same trap with publicity. I probably spend half my time promoting my books. That takes a toll.  But I don’t know if there’s any way around that. Live and learn.  

Have you been published since then and how have you grown as an author? 

I’ve gotten two two-book contracts in a row from Warner (Grand Central Publishing) to write four romantic comedies in all.  I’m getting faster (important!). Also, I’m learning to edit as I go, which takes a lot of practice. I’m also getting better at layering. What I mean by that is that I write the first draft for plot. The second for character. The third for humor….and so on.  It still takes writing a lot of drafts to get it right, but now at least I have a system for writing romantic comedy that I know I can count on. 

Looking back since the early days when you were trying to get published, what do you think you could have done differently to speed things up?  What kind of mistakes could you have avoided?

The hardest part for me in getting published was to see the forest, not the trees. I think that beginning authors think, “this is a great sentence!” Or, “ooh, look at that beautiful turn-of-phrase.” But readers don’t care about that kind of stuff—and neither do most editors or agents. If you want to get published, you have to look at the big picture: the plot and the characters. Does it make sense? Do you like the characters? This is really what matters when it comes to getting published.  I spent way too long perfecting first chapters and penning beautiful but superfluous sentences.  

What has been the biggest accomplishment you have achieved since becoming published? 

Since becoming published, I think my biggest accomplishment was staying published. I still don’t know if I’ll make it past these four books. I just have to keep writing and keep working. It’s never easy to get published and it’s even harder to stay published. Once those first numbers come in, you’re competing against yourself with every book. It’s terrifying. 

If you could have chosen another profession, what would that profession be? 

Oh, I’d love to paint. But I’m terrible at it. Geez, I really ought to wish for a profession that actually made a little money, huh? 

Would you give up being an author for that profession or have you combined the best of both worlds? 

I wouldn’t give up being an author for anything. I love my job. When I get old and can’t type anymore, I’ll paint.  

How do you see yourself in ten years? 

I hope I’m still writing romantic comedies that people love to read.  I get e-mails from folks who say, “your books are so fun!” To me, that’s the greatest compliment.  I hope that in ten years, folks are still saying that. I hope I’m showing readers a bit of fun.  

Any final words for writers who dream of being published one day?

Keep at it. Never give up. Ugh, those are terrible, unhelpful clichés, aren’t they?  Here’s some real advice: never ever use clichés! (Just kidding.) Okay, here’s my advice: As a writer, you can either spend ten years crafting a beautiful novel of substance and wisdom, every sentence carefully crafted and sweated over. Or, you can sit down, give yourself a deadline, and just have fun.  You know what? When you’re done your funny, fast, fun novel, you’ll find that it’s actually full of substance and wisdom.  Plus, someone will want to publish it.  Don’t sweat the small stuff—go for the story and characters!  Good luck!

Tags: Beyond the Books, virtual book tour, online book promotion, Diana Holquist, Sexiest Man Alive, romantic comedy