Interview with Karen Wasylowski

Author of Saints and Sinners

Where are you from originally and where do you reside now?

I was born in Chicago, Illinois and now live near Sarasota Florida

If you currently reside somewhere besides where you were born, what’s the story that lead from there to here?

My husband’s sister lived in the area and when a run down property adjoining hers went on the market we snatched it up. (The man who had owned it had been sent to prison for embezzlement so the house sat for a long time and deteriorated.) My husband and his brother in law did the rehab.

What made you decide to write and publish your first book?

It was initially just to pass the time because I really was not a fan of living in Florida. I missed the seasons. I didn’t set out really to become a published author, just took a chance.

How would you describe your books to first time readers?

I really have trouble with this because my Pride and Prejudice continuation is unique from all the others.

When I wrote my book I had not read ANY of the thousands of other Pride and Prejudice variations or continuations, therefore I had no idea that mine was so unusual. My story was more concerned with the two male characters – Darcy and his cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam – than the romance of Darcy and Lizzy. I wrote about the male cousins’ “bromance”, like a buddy film, with the two fellows having adventures together. It was more Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid than bodice ripper.

To me, the story is Austen’s alone and I wouldn’t presume to change a word of it. However, the entirety of JAFF is just that, variations of Darcy and Elizabeth in love, out of love. Then, to make matters even worse, the editor at the publisher’s decided she would write the book jacket description herself and subsequently described a completely different book! She described the usual JAFF Darcy/Lizzy love story instead of what I had really written. Nowhere did she mention the “bromance” take which was odd since that was the ONLY reason she agreed to publish in the first place; nor did she mention the humor, which she had told me was “brilliant” and “wicked funny”. I begged her to change the description but she had moved on by then and said it didn’t matter.

Unfortunately, some JAFF fans were angry when the book first came out and came after me with knives. Thankfully, it has since settled, I’ve found my audience. Truthfully I probably do better with non-JAFF readers. I get the feeling that this genre is not taken seriously by outsiders as it is, but insiders to JAFF really only want the Darcy and Lizzy romance over and over and over. I’m in a Catch-22.

Who do you feel is most likely to connect with the topics you write about?

I try to write seriously but it always turns to humor. I myself enjoy books that have both drama and humor in them. Some books are too silly and that’s boring, and some are so over the top dramatic that it’s not believable. Everyone’s life is a mixture of both.

What unexpected or surprising thing did you learn during the process of writing and publishing?

Number one is that no matter how many times I read and reread and re-reread my unpublished story, I miss my mistakes. Always. I had one woman give me only two stars because I spelled the child’s name ‘Birdy’ and then ‘Birdie’, and I remember while I was writing getting confused, but I believed I’d caught them all. She also said I needed to learn about apostrophes, so I must have messed up one of those too. Only the first book of the series – Darcy ad Fitzwilliam – went through a publishing house so they edited the book to death, sent me pages of changes over and over and people still found mistakes. I don’t blame anyone for getting upset either. A mistake takes you out of the fantasy and back to reality. It can be jarring.

If you could, what advice would you give to your past self before embarking on this journey?

My past self was a CPA. I remember never having time to read what I wanted, just what I had to for work, and I promised myself when I retired I would read only what I wanted and then I’d write my own book. And I did.

How many people would you ideally like to reach with your books?

I would love to reach everyone and make people laugh and cry and get lost in the story.

What has been the biggest challenge and frustration during the process to date?

Well, after Darcy and Fitzwilliam I wrote a sequel – Sons and Daughters. Initially, the publisher had discouraged me when I informed her an agent had contacted me. She told me I had a publisher and didn’t need an agent. Then they turned down publishing Sons and Daughters! So, I published my own, started to find a small following that enjoyed the books. Then I published Wives and Lovers, which was a sequel to Sons and Lovers. The last book so far in the serious just came out in February and it’s my best reviewed yet – Saints and Sinners, which is a sequel to Wives and Lovers, Sons and Daughters, Darcy and Fitzwilliam, and Pride and Prejudice. It’s become a family saga with the last three books centering on the children of the Darcy and Fitzwilliam marriages, their romances and lives. Although, the two old guys are still with us and as troublesome as always. By the way, Saints and Sinners was a finalist in the Author Academy Awards of 2019 in Romance.

What’s your biggest strengths when it comes to book a) writing, b) publishing and c) marketing?

I’ve been told my biggest strength is dialogue writing which is what I enjoy most of all, so it’s not surprising, and humor. I have to hire someone to format the books for publishing and submit the books properly to amazon, nook, and the others. I am not good at all on the computer. And, as for marketing, I think I am only now starting to get the hang of it a little.

What’s your biggest weakness when it comes to book a) writing, b) publishing and c) marketing?

My biggest weakness in all of it is procrastination. I can completely clean a house before I work up the courage to sit and write. And I have little staying power, can only write for about two hours at the most. After that my hands hurt, I get lazy, hungry, bored, and the story turns to drivel. I also think I better get someone else to proofread the next book. After the fifteen or sixteenth time proofreading my own work I begin to get a headache.

When do you think you will write your next book?

I am currently writing the next book in the Darcy and Fitzwilliam series – Love and Madness. This book takes Fitzwilliam’s sons to America where they get themselves in trouble and Darcy and Fitz have to come over and help sort them out. I just got another burst of ideas so I have no idea where the story is going. They tend to write themselves and if they box themselves up in a corner I need to go back and change the path which is what terrifies me. One day I won’t be able to think of anything else and the fun will be over.

Are you self published or did you use a hybrid publisher, or a traditional publisher?

Darcy and Fitzwilliam was published by Sourcebooks Landmark, the next three I have published through Amazon. I don’t know what a hybrid publisher is, I guess I should find out.