Rogues Angels ~ Kate and the Kid by Anne Rothman-Hicks and Kenneth Hicks

Please welcome Anne Rothman-Hicks and Kenneth Hicks authors of Kate and the Kids.

Anne and Kennet will be awarding a $40 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $25 Amazon/BN to a randomly drawn host.

Kate and the Kid

by Anne Rothman-Hicks and Kenneth Hicks

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What or who inspired you to start writing?

We were both avid readers for as long as we can remember.  Having read so much, it is a natural thing to want to write.  Ken’s first stories were written in third grade for his favorite teacher, Miss Hamel.  Anne’s first writings were poems, also first composed in grade school, and she traces her love of writing to her grandmother.  Her grandmother’s education was only to the eighth grade, but she composed short (sometimes acidic) poems about her sisters, children and grandchildren in which she gently poked fun at some personality trait.  Anne often thought of her when she started writing.

As for the two of us writing together, while in college we thought of a children’s fiction book we wanted to write and worked on it as a seminar one semester with a wonderful professor.  We never stopped.  So, thank you, Mr. Satterthwaite.

What elements are necessary components for this genre.

Kate and the Kid is a mainstream novel, so it does not have some of the specific requirements that other genres have.  But any novel needs to have a basic conflict and sometimes more than one conflict to keep a reader glued to the page.  In our book, the main conflict is between the two parts of Kate – the one that is selfish and does not want to get involved with a young, needy child and the other that sees this little girl in distress and feels the impulse to help her.  There is a subsidiary conflict between Kate and her boyfriend since he thinks that taking care of a child that is not your own is a crazy idea.

How did you come up with your idea for your novel?

We actually knew someone who was acting as a kind of foster parent for a young child, hoping to adopt, and became very attached to him.  Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately for the child), the mother decided she did not want to give up the child.  Our friend was devastated.  Out of that conflict came the totally different story of Kate and the Kid.

What expertise did you bring to your writing?

We have raised three children in New York City and know something about how hard it can be.  This experience also gave us ideas for plot incidents, such as the accident in the playground.  In addition, Ken is a lawyer with an expertise in Family Law, which was useful for the court scenes.  Anne has an eye for detail from writing poetry that helped in the overall crafting of paragraphs and the delineation of characters.

What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio?

We would like everyone to know that our daughter, Alice, reads, gives comments on, and copyedits our books and that she is the best!

As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?

We have been urged by many of our readers to write a sequel to Kate and the Kid and that is a definite possibility.  We also hope to write a sequel to a middle reader book we recently published at MuseItUp Press called THINGS ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM.  At the moment, however, we are working on an 850 page mega-novel called MINISTER, that we hope to publish in three or four parts.  MINISTER follows the life of a young man from a small town in Maryland on his path to becoming a minister and the struggles he has with his brother, his family and his own beliefs.

If you could be one of the characters from this book, who would it be and why?

This is sort of odd.  Ken thinks that Kate is a terrific person and would like to be as tough, resilient and able to love as she is.  Anne thinks that she would like to be Roger because he is a very kind, decent person who becomes even better during the course of the novel.

Can you give us a sneak peak into this book?

One of our favorite scenes comes about half-way through the book.  In a fit of anger, the woman who was taking care of Jenny for her mother has thrown Jenny’s doll Miranda out the window into the courtyard below.  Jenny is on the fire escape, ready to go down to rescue her doll.  Kate wants to help, but has a terrible fear of heights and tries to persuade Jenny to wait until they can get the superintendent to help them.  This is unthinkable to Jenny and Kate has to overcome her fears, which she does in a scene that most readers find very moving.

Kate swallowed hard and then lifted the window open as far as it would go. She took a deep breath. Her arms and hands were trembling as she eased out sideways, her rear-end first, followed by her right leg, her head and upper torso and finally her left leg. She was hoping to act confident, but as she reached the center of the metal slats, she began to shake. A breeze caught her hair. She couldn’t breathe. She began to cry. The world was a spinning blur.

Then she felt the girl beside her. A bony little arm was wrapped around her neck. Smooth cool lips were kissing the tears on her cheeks and on her eyes, over and over again.

“It’s okay, Katy,” the girl said. “We can help each other. We’ll do it together, Katy.”

Do you belong to a critique group? If so how does this help or hinder your writing?

We are not members of a critique group.  Since Anne and I work together, we are our own critique group in a way.  We also have a daughter who is very smart and who gives us brilliant editing and sundry advice.

When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step?

What is the best and worst advice you ever received? (regarding writing or publishing)

The best and the worst advice is the same – don’t ever give up.  In other words, if your desire to write is not an unquenchable burning inside you, then for the love of God don’t get started.  We would add that success is not guaranteed, but satisfaction is.

Do you outline your books or just start writing?

We don’t have a formal outline before we start a book, but we do talk through the main characters, the basic plot outline, and the themes that we want to address. We actually start writing to get a feel for the characters and the situations and always make changes as we go.  We have put all of our books through many rewrites.

How do you maintain your creativity?

We take a lot of long walks, sometimes alone, sometimes with each other during which we talk.  We also like to cook different kinds of ethnic dishes.  Anne does yoga.  Ken goes into Central Park looking at birds and trees.

Who is your favorite character in the book. Can you tell us why?

We both agree that Jenny is our favorite.  She is a little girl, six years old, and damaged by mistreatment, but ready to blossom when love comes her way. 

Are your plotting bunnies angels or demons?

Anne’s plotting bunnies are demons.  They make her toss and turn at night and worry incessantly during the day until the loose ends are resolved and weak spots are eradicated.  Ken is always pretty sure it’s going to work out.  He sleeps well at night.

Anything else you might want to add?

Although many things happen over the course of the book to Kate and to Jenny, KATE AND THE KID is essentially an emotional journey for Kate, her boyfriend, Roger, and the kid, Jenny as they learn what it means to love someone.  The subtleties of the parent/child relationship are explored as well as the ways that a child can interfere with a man and a woman’s desire to be together. 

KATE AND THE KID is about a young woman (Kate) who has just lost her job and had a major fight with her boyfriend (also arising from the trauma of being fired). At this very low point in her life, Kate is tricked into taking care of a sweet but emotionally damaged six-year-old girl (Jenny) who only communicates with adults through a doll she calls “Miranda.”  As a result of an eventful night of babysitting, Kate begins to bond with Jenny, which causes a whole new set of complications with the people in Kate’s and Jenny’s lives.  This book tells the story of how Kate and Jenny help each other to heal, grow, and navigate the difficult and sometimes dangerous world of New York City.

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She began to press all the buzzers on the panel in the building’s foyer, one after the other, hoping that some kind soul among her neighbors would let her in.  The headache that had started in the cab settled in for the night, pounding just above her right eye.  At that exquisite moment, Kate saw the kid -- that ghostly, smudge-faced kid -- sitting on the staircase inside.  A one armed Barbie doll was on the step beside her.

"Hi, Sweetie!" Kate said through the wired glass, exaggerating the enunciation of the words to make her meaning clear.  "Would you come and let me in, honey?  You remember me, don’t you?  I live on the third floor?!"

The girl did not budge, apparently still trying for the grand prize in a zombie look-alike contest.  At first, Kate felt a twinge of concern for the girl. Why on earth was she out in the hallway so late in the evening?  Kate leaned her forehead against the cool glass and closed her eyes.  When she opened them again, Jenny took the doll into her lap, whispered something into her plastic ear, walloped her twice across the bottom, and started up the stairs.

"Hey!  Hey, where are you going?!" Kate shouted.  "Hey you better come back here you little... Hey!  Hey, did you hear me?!"

And with the little darling thus doubly emblazoned on Kate's mind, if not yet on her heart, their second encounter ended.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Anne Rothman-Hicks was born in New York City and, except for a brief exile to the suburbs imposed by her parents, she has lived there all of her life, the latter part of which she has shared with her co-author, Kenneth Hicks, and their three children.

Links:  website -- www.randh71productions.com  

Facebook author page -- https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kenneth-Hicks-and-Anne-Rothman-Hicks/622272714477979y

Buy links http://www.amazon.com/Kate-And-The-Anne-Rothman-Hicks-ebook/dp/B00D9W3V20

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