FEATURED AUTHOR: KATHLEEN SHAPUTIS

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

Independent Rogue Bruce enjoys running a Scottish bed-and-breakfast with her Aunt Baillie from America. They specialize in hosting romantic Elizabethan-themed weddings, complete with resident ghost, Lord Kai. But love is something Rogue is not the least bit interested in. Content with her work, she requires no male accompaniment for happiness. Then Bruce MacKenzie, a Thor look-alike in plaid and denim, suddenly begins bringing more than the usual number of deliveries from town, while Jonathan Olson, a snobbish Rhett Butler type, arrives at the castle to teach a writing seminar to aspiring authors. With two men after the heart she’d thought safely locked away, Rogue is torn. But when things start to take a sinister turn, danger befalls Rogue and those dear to her. The musical soundtrack of Rogue’s life flares from complacent, to dizzily romantic, to heart-pounding scary in this sizzling triangle.



Book Details:

Title: His Kilt Dropped Here

Author: Kathleen Shaputis

Genre: magical realism romance

Publisher: Clutter Fairy Publishing (February 18, 2021)

Print length: 240 pages

INTERVIEW WITH KATHLEEN SHAPUTIS

Kathleen, what’s the story behind the title of your book?
Originally, this book was published by Crimson Romance, an imprint of Simon and Schuster, with the title His Lass Wears Tartan. The title and the cover image, I felt, were bland, unappealing. Sales were dismal. I ask for the rights back and immediately gave it a title with more of a hook for my audience. The drop of a kilt brings to mind a tantalizing picture of pleasure, does it not? The title of a book is almost as difficult as naming a newborn, lol.

Tell us about your series. Is this book a standalone, or do readers need to read the series in order?
His Kilt Dropped Here is the second book in the Baillie Castle Trilogy and can be read as a standalone. The series is set in a Scottish castle during contemporary times with a gorgeous ghost, Lord Kai, and each includes various magical realism adventures and sometimes, murder. There are the castle characters, both staff and owners, and the delightful Diva Squad from Seattle. I’ve enjoyed living among them over the years and miss their frivolity and mayhem. Which leads me to say, there might be a fourth book sometime in the future.

Where’s home for you?
I lived in a two-acre forest in western Washington. Close enough to towns and civilization to be comfortable shopping, but far from constant noises of traffic and people. I adore rainy days and chasing the horizons for rainbows. Looking out any window, I’m surrounded by fir trees and maples, providing evergreen colors throughout the year, and splashes of vibrant hues during the spring and fall. It’s a Patch of heaven on earth.

What choices in life would you like to have a redo on?
So many interesting plots come to mind – if I’d made this choice or that, how different life would be. One belief I held for a long time was what if I hadn’t married shortly after high school. My childhood dream to be a guide dog instructor had been crushed as it was a male-only job in those days and, broken in spirit, I fell for a young’s man’s pursuit. It was a mentally and physically abusive two years, though it produced my daughter. You learn even the darkest times can produce a diamond now and then.  

If someone gave you $5,000 and said you must solve a problem, what would you do with the money?

Funny, after that last question, my first thought is to set up a scholarship for young women to follow their heart’s desires. There is much to be said in helping a fresh mind begin a new journey into the world. I’d want the scholarship to help open doors into schools of medicine, science, politics and literary arts. Assisting the next JK Rowlings or president of the United States, oh the possibilities.


If you could live anywhere in the world, where in the world would it be?
Ooh, that’s an easy one, Scotland – somewhere just outside of Edinburgh. I’m 48% Scot in my DNA from the Baillie and Bruce clans, so the moors call me often. However, living in the Pacific Northwest is almost the same longitude or latitude as that beautiful island. So I plant white heather and snuggle into a cardigan sweater with a hot cup of tea and call it home.

How did you create the plot for this book?
I had the marvelous pleasure of traveling to a week-long writers conference held at Hevers Castle in England back in 2012. I found a group on Facebook called Abroad Writers Conference, and they listed a chance to study and write while staying at an English castle. Since my trilogy is set at a Scottish castle, I used the concept of having a group of writers come to Baillie Castle. None of the characters are based on the original group, lol, most of whom came down with colds during the week.

Are you like any of your characters?
I think I find a little of myself in many of my characters. Similar to an actor digging into emotional memories or events to draw out a tear, I find certain foibles of my own blossoming in various characters. Even the Diva Squad, my girls, make me laugh at their antics as I can see myself reflected in some of their snarkiness.

Who are your favorite authors?
One in particular is Jane Porter in southern California. I’ve followed her books from the years she lived in Washington, writing The Frog Princess, Odd Mom Out and Flirting with Forty, to now having her own publishing house, Tule Publishing, with a stable of excellent authors. The quality of her characters and storylines never fails in making me feel good.  


What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to write?
I am working on a memoir, a dark year in my life during the pregnancy and loss of my great grandson. The working title is Less Than Three Months. It’s a story of teenage pregnancy that I hope will touch others to the roller-coaster adventure of bringing a new life into the world. It’s been six years since we lost him, but every time I sit at the computer to add to the story, it’s as if a fresh blade has scratched across my heart.

What steps to publication did you personally do, and what did you hire someone to do? Is there anyone you’d recommend for a particular service?
I have a wonderful cover designer, Steven Novak of Novak Illustrations, who has been able to take my blurbs and ideas into delightful book covers. I’ve seen his work with other authors as well, and the professionalism is unmatched. Another important person, of course, is an editor. Hiring Sandra Sookoo, a USA best-selling author who contracts for editing on the side, has been an educated delight. A good editor must not only point out the weaknesses and typos but understand your voice as well.

What are you working on now?
My next book to come out is a women’s fiction, Twinkies and Tranquilizers. A single working mother during the disco, swinging Seventies, cruises in the middle-class lane with her precocious daughter as sidekick. For seven years, she tucked in her red cape and headed for her clerical job. Taking a new position in the production company begins an avalanche of back-stabbing and gaslighting from her misogynist boss and others. Her confidence and health are shattered in their efforts to destroy her as an employee, a mother and most of all, a woman. I hope to publish this summer.




ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kathleen Shaputis, author/ghostwriter, lives in the glorious Pacific Northwest with her husband, Bob, a clowder of cats, two pompously protective Pomeranians with little social aptitude, Brugh and Miss Jazzy, and an overgrown adolescent blue tick coon hound, Juno. 

If not writing during her lifestyle in an acre of forest, she keeps busy reading from her never-ending, to-be-read pile and watching romantic comedies. Her hygge in the woods.


Connect with Kathleen:
Blog  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads



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