Katherine H. Brown is…On the Writing Block!

Sherry Ickes
Sep 23
4 min read

Ready to dive into this one? Hang on a sec, as we find out who Katherine is…

Katherine H. Brown is a Texas author with a love of reading and chocolate chip ice cream, a wife, and a mom to two amazing daughters. Book lover and weaver of words, Katherine always has several projects going at one time including several cozy mystery series, a Mary Poppins meets steampunk mystery series, and more ideas than she has time to jot down for future books. Katherine loves to hear from readers and often gets input from them through newsletter polls to help choose character names or book titles.

Do you have a writing schedule, or do you write whenever you can squeeze it in?

I would say that I have a loose schedule. There are certain times where I do try to write each day. The first, if I wake up in the morning while my 4-year-old daughter is still sleeping. This is a small and infrequent miracle. That girl wakes up between 5:30 and 6 in the morning at the latest; often, she wakes at 4 or 5 and comes to our room to snuggle with me until we get up a little before 6 for me to make breakfast.

The second time that I try to get the bulk of my writing done is…that’s right…during her nap, haha! Are you seeing a pattern? She takes a lot of attention and even when I try to send her to do an activity while I work, she interrupts six times anyway so it is easier to save my energy for writing when she is in her room for nap. Lately, that has been difficult as we are transitioning from nap time to quiet time because she has stopped napping four or five days of the week. Quiet time will take a lot of practice before she stays in her room for too long though.

Luckily for me, my mom keeps her a few times a month for me to really have a day to get things done that need focused attention, like my writing or editing or creating marketing materials and posts.

Do you always know who the killer is, or do your characters surprise you in the end?

It is so very rare that I know who the killer is or how the book will end. As a reader, I don’t like to read the blurbs and spoil any part of the book by guessing the plot from the snippets. I’ve managed to take the trait into my writing, unintentionally, and it is almost painful for me to try to plot every detail because then I feel bored. A couple of the times that I “planned” the killer, it was all of a sudden, a fully different suspect that came out of nowhere in the book as I was writing and a better idea hit me. Bunnies & Burglaries is a prime example of a time when my “plan” went completely off route by the time the book was finished but I loved it!

Are there any animals in your book? If so, describe them and how involved they are in the investigation.

In my Sassy Supplies Cozy Mysteries, there is one particularly persnickety Persian cat named Jinx. Jinx has a favorite chair (which just so happens to be Grampy’s favorite chair) and has mastered the art of the disdainful look for his human Charity Basham. Charity lets the look slide though, especially when her prickly pet manages to trip up the villain during several close calls that she has during the series of mysteries, murders, and odd happenings.

Do you prefer pen and paper, or computer for writing?

My method is pen and paper for character names / descriptions / vague plot ideas and funny bits of conversation that I think of before the book gets written. When I begin the book, I create a cover for inspiration to capture the mood and them, then I grab my laptop and jump right into chapter 1. It is so much faster to type and my fingers almost move through the words faster than I acknowledge even thinking them, whereas when I write my handwriting is terrible and my thought processes seem to bog down along with the slower method of writing.

For the rest of the book, I will keep up almost 100% typing for the story, though on occasion if we are taking a road trip or something I may add things to my notebooks or jot new ideas on paper in addition to carrying a small portable keyboard with me that will Bluetooth to my phone. Poetry might be the only thing that I fully write on paper instead of computer. I write less of it than I used to but I find it is easier to compose stanzas and rhymes and convey imagery through verse and then use lines and arrows to draw on the page where I think things might need to move around to in order to fit better.

What is Costumes and Cadavers about?

Party guests congratulate Charity Basham, owner of Sassy Supplies Crafts & More, on the scariness of her backyard skeleton decoration. Unfortunately, Charity didn't put out any skeleton decorations.

With the discovery of a dead body, her Halloween party turns into a nightmare. With her fingerprints (and some suspicious white cat fur) are all over the murder weapon, Charity finds herself at the top of the suspect list.

Can she clear her name before the dishy Detective Sota arrests her for murder?