A Writer's View: Kai Strand

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The Writer's View by Kai Strand

It is important for authors to remember to live life while they are writing about it. It is all too easy for us to spend days on end, in our pajamas, hunched over the keyboard, writing. You may be more prolific that way, but you aren’t experiencing life. Without those experiences, your writing turns flat or outdated. That’s why I like to change up my writing spot frequently. It keeps me engaged in the world around me and provides all sorts of character fodder to choose from.

1. As for home, I have a writing couch in my writing loft! After two back surgeries, I can’t sit at a desk for too long. I can, however lounge with my laptop desk on my outstretched legs, indefinitely. I admit, I feel rather chic in my writing loft.

2. I do love to get out and about though. During the summer, I will stop at the various parks around town and sit at a picnic table along the river. The chatter of the ground squirrels and the honking of the Canada geese are only just heard over the rush of the Deschutes River. I feel very spoiled in these glorious conditions.

3. If the weather is spotty or I need to plug-in, I visit a coffee shop. I love writing in coffee shops. Mostly because of the people watching, but also because I get COFFEE!!!! Bellatazza, in downtown Bend has some unique seasonal offerings that always make my trip worthwhile, and you can’t beat the view!

4. Bend, Oregon has a very charming downtown. I simply love being there. It is also home to the quaintest writing spot on my list of favorites, Dudley’s Bookshop Café. First off, more coffee doesn’t hurt, but the atmosphere is fantastic. There is even a very talented young man who stops in to play the piano now and again – just because it is there and he can. With the knitting club visiting in the corner and customers browsing the bookshelves I’m in writing heaven!

5. Finally, we visit the epitome of writing spots, the public library. Our public library system is fantastic as are the libraries themselves. I visit several different locations depending on my mood that day, but my favorite is the downtown branch. I will always look for a table on the fringe of the teen library section, because I love to soak up teen speak and I love to sit next to shelves of teen books. When that isn’t available I’ll find a table by a window. Poor me, huh?

As you can see, I’m a rather spoiled author to have such a lovely choice of spots. Is it any wonder I’m continually inspired with new ideas?

Jeff Mean would rather set fires than follow rules or observe curfew. He wears his bad boy image like a favorite old hoodie; that is until he learns he has superpowers and is recruited by Super Villain Academy – where you learn to be good at being bad. In a school where one kid can evaporate all the water from your body and the girl you hang around with can perform psychic sex in your head, bad takes on a whole new meaning. Jeff wonders if he’s bad enough for SVA.

He may never find out. Classmates vilify him when he develops good manners. Then he’s kidnapped by those closest to him and left to wonder who is good and who is bad. His rescue is the climactic episode that balances good and evil in the super world. The catalyst – the girl he’s crushing on. A girlfriend and balancing the Supers is good, right? Or is it…bad?

About the Author:

When the electricity winked out, Kai Strand gathered her family around the fireplace and they told stories, one sentence at a time. Her boys were rather fond of the ending, “And then everybody died, the end.” Now an award winning children’s author, Kai crafts fiction for kids and teens to provide an escape hatch from their reality. With a selection of novels for young adult and middle grade readers and short stories for younger children Kai entertains children of all ages, and their adults. Visit Kai’s website, www.KaiStrand.com, to browse her books, download companion materials or to find all her online haunts.

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