Ask Kathleen Flinn discussion

Three memoirs, now what? There's only so much that my family and husband want the world to know about them, and I don't know if I am ready to do the follow-up (age 14+) to the latest one. So I have been busy working on fiction and other projects. I still want to keep within the food and drink realm. What do you think about this idea?

I love this idea! I think you'll be wonderful at integrating your knowledge of food/cooking/wine etc into a fictional realm. I would love to be a reader! :)

Great! I'd love your feedback. I'll also need recipe testers. I have a great group already. We have monthly incentive prizes to encourage people to do testing. To join, just send me email - kat @ kathleenflinn.com

I love a good fiction piece but from you I love and adore your honesty and open way of writing about what is real about food and things in your life. That speaks to me and I think it's refreshing to hear your insights that help me and others gain more perspective.

Thanks Heather. That's so sweet, and good to think about. I don't think I'd abandon non-fiction altogether, but there are some interesting parts of my life - such as the years I lived in London - that don't work as a memoir for a variety of reasons. So I've been thinking of ways to explore those times and areas via roman a clef or similar.

Oooh! Sounds awesome! I'd definitely want to read a roman a clef (or anything you write!) :) #Fangirl

Fabulous! Sending you an email now.

Great! When I have pages ready to read, I will be sure to let you know. My plan is to publish much more often, which will likely involve doing some self publishing in the year to come since conventional publishing takes such a long time. I have a lot of material - including whole manuscripts - that I haven't had an outlet for so Mike and I area developing a strategy on how to best release them. Some are pieces of memoirs (notably a couple of chapters cut from The Sharper Your Knife) and the others are short stories, some non-fiction, some fiction.

Sounds great! I can't wait! OK really sending an email now ;)

Kathleen your way of telling a story is like sitting with a girlfriend over a glass (or bottle) of wine. I really enjoy your writing. And it's funny...you have a way of making mudane stuff interesting and relateable. So I'd read just about anything you write. Even a paper napkin :)

I think you would be great at fictional food writing! I would personally be very interested in reading your pages.

Have you considered doing self-pub on amazon? I've seen a couple of books that were published through their service and they were very high quality paperbacks. Better than Blurb, I have to say.

Sorry I haven't responded back but I've been on book tour and bouncing around. I got to meet Beth who is in this group at my event in Ann Arbor. Yay!

Thanks everyone for your feedback so far. Where I'm focusing right now is on becoming a "hybrid" author - doing a mix of conventional publishing and self publishing, a mix of non-fiction and fiction.

Just reading through this thread and I think it all sounds good! I'm a fan of your books (obviously), but I also could get behind some foodie fiction, especially if you throw in some cross-cultural experiences. :) Might have to sign my husband up for your recipe testing group (what we've found that works well for us is that I do the food prep and clean up, he does the cooking). :)

Thanks for your thoughts, Carrie!