Doing the Genre Juggle

I love to read and write in several different genres. I've always been that way, since I first picked up a book and unlocked the mystery of the alphabet. In elementary school I had a vast love for the Brothers Grimm, Nancy Drew, and Barbara Cartland. (Yes, I read Barbara Cartland in elementary school. But come on, by today's standards they had nothing sexy happening on-screen.)

Currently, I'm reading Eragon. I received the book several Christmases ago from a very dear friend and put it on the shelf while I consumed title after title of romance. Now with the movie coming out this month, I thought I should pull it out and read it. I'm reading it with the same interest in which I breezed through Harry Potter. Though I often say that I won't read anything without a romantic subplot, I have to say the occasional foray into YA fantasy is a nice change to cleanse the reading palate. It makes me think of all the fantasy novels I have started and haven't finished. It makes me want to submerge my mind in worlds created in my mind alone.

The walls of my office are adorned in framed maps of worlds I created, and rendered in pen, ink and watercolor by my hubsand. Fantasy is the genre I started writing in when I first sat down to plot a novel. (The first book I actually finished in the long hand version, written in ball point pen and clasped in a three-ring binder.) So, what do you ask made me switch from fantasy to romance?

Glad you asked. Since I don't read the same types of books all the time, I don't think I could ever be one to write the same kind all the time. I don't care how much I love the characters or subject matter - I couldn't do it. I need to variety to keep the ideas fresh and me from feeling stale. My hat goes off to writers who can spend an entire career in the same genre. Now that's staying power. That's also the reason why I write under several psuedonymns. I want to separate the types of books I write as well as the parts of my personality that pens them. Fantasy and paranormal I write under the same name, while erotic romance gets another name, and contemporary with suspense gets yet another.

Usually people will ask me...How do you keep all those storylines straight if you work on projects at the same time? Easily, my books are so different...at least to me, that I couldn't possibly get them confused.

Now, if I could only see great success under all three names, I'll be a very happy woman.

-Kat