Ask the Author: Kay Thomas
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Kay Thomas
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Kay Thomas
I’m most productive at my office desk at home with Pandora playing, instrumental only, to cover up the noise from lawnmowers outside and my family inside. My husband works from home, too, and his office shares an air vent with mine. I can hear every word he says on the speakerphone unless I crank up the music. The upside is that several of the men he works with have incredibly awesome voices. So listening is not such a bad thing, even when they’re talking about technical telecom stuff, I don’t understand.
Kay Thomas
Don’t give up on your dreams. When those rejections come (and they will...it happens to everyone) send out another query or request immediately. Then go have that chocolate bar, glass of wine, long hot bath, or all of the above to soothe the hurt feelings. I’ve always thought that I got published initially because I was too stubborn to give up.
Kay Thomas
Many people have asked where I got the idea for my new Elite Ops series. My son has Aspergers. Several years ago he was working with a new social skills therapist who was in the process of changing careers. This man had left the DEA and was starting his own security business while also working with special needs kids. Quite a combo, right? I was fascinated by what would take someone from such a challenging, busting-down-doors job to teaching my seventh grader how to talk about his feelings. Conversations there definitely started my wheels turning.
At the same time my son was working with this guy, my critique partner gave me an article from The Atlantic magazine about a gentleman who goes into Latin American countries to recover children who’ve been kidnapped by non-custodial parents. The article combined with those earlier conversations got me to thinking some more, and the concept for Hard Target came from there. But I realized I couldn’t just write Leland Hollis’s story and be done with that world.
I had watched the Russell Crowe-Meg Ryan movie, Proof of Life, a couple of times. I also started following the now-cancelled Discovery series called Kidnap and Rescue about security consultants who go into foreign countries and get Americans who have been kidnapped while working or living overseas.
I started wondering what if instead of just one sexy guy, I had a whole company of men and women with backgrounds that were ex-military or ex-DEA who wanted to start their lives over again and work in the private sector. The idea kept percolating and the Elite Ops team was born.
At the same time my son was working with this guy, my critique partner gave me an article from The Atlantic magazine about a gentleman who goes into Latin American countries to recover children who’ve been kidnapped by non-custodial parents. The article combined with those earlier conversations got me to thinking some more, and the concept for Hard Target came from there. But I realized I couldn’t just write Leland Hollis’s story and be done with that world.
I had watched the Russell Crowe-Meg Ryan movie, Proof of Life, a couple of times. I also started following the now-cancelled Discovery series called Kidnap and Rescue about security consultants who go into foreign countries and get Americans who have been kidnapped while working or living overseas.
I started wondering what if instead of just one sexy guy, I had a whole company of men and women with backgrounds that were ex-military or ex-DEA who wanted to start their lives over again and work in the private sector. The idea kept percolating and the Elite Ops team was born.
Kay Thomas
I’d have to say it’s a tossup between the commute and working in my pajamas. I feel incredibly fortunate that I’m able to work from home, although some days when I’m really into a story, I have to remind myself to wash my face and brush my hair or I’ll scare the UPS guy.
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