Reading and Writing Challenges for 2017

January 1, 2017By Karen Barnett No Comments

I’ve spent today thinking about what lies ahead for 2017. Here are a few things on my list: Our oldest will graduate from high school We’ll be sending that same child off to college! Our youngest has ten gazillion dance competitions and performances coming up I have a book deadline . . . . . . and … Read More

Setting Goals for Fall

August 17, 2015By Karen Barnett 2 Comments

I don’t know about you, but it’s been a super-busy couple of weeks for me. I’m ready for a book and a hammock. Who else feels that way? Instead, I’m going to do a little organizing and let you know what’s happened this month and what is coming up this fall. Ready? WINNER First off, I need to … Read More

Weary Writer? Time to Recharge!

July 16, 2014By Karen Barnett 3 Comments

I’ve taken it easy the last couple of weeks, relaxing as the flurry of book launch activities has died down. Signings, FB parties, interviews, radio–it was all a bit intense. Good, but intense. There are still a few media things floating around out there, but the pace has slowed down. To be honest, I was … Read More

A Writer’s Life: Juggling

February 4, 2014By Karen Barnett No Comments

Have you ever been curious about the day-to-day life of a writer? I’ve compiled a quick list of what my working life entails right now. I’ve also included a prayer request with each section. I’ve been feeling led to pray more earnestly about my career–I hope you will join me.1. Writing the second book in … Read More

The Nomadic Writer

January 28, 2014By Karen Barnett 3 Comments

Two laptops and my “happy light” to battle those gray Oregon winters. Long gone are the days of a writer hunched over a typewriter. I love that in today’s world, we can write anywhere. I rarely work at a desk. I have one, but it’s in the darkest part of the house and is usually … Read More

When God Hands You a Meal Ticket

November 5, 2013By Karen Barnett 6 Comments

“God, I can’t do this. I can’t make this story work.” I’d reached that point in the rough draft where everything seems hopeless. The characters feel flat; the plot twisted beyond help. I’d been there with Mistaken. I’d pushed through it with Out of the Ruins (Book 1 of the Golden Gate Chronicles, releasing in … Read More

Tween-Torture

October 31, 2013By Karen Barnett 6 Comments

I long ago gave up the idea of being the cool parent that all my kids’ friends would adore. Since I make up stories and talk to invisible people, I’m much better suited to being the “weird mom.” As a writer, I probably spend too much time locked in my house, or hanging out with … Read More

Suffering from Vocab-lag?

October 14, 2013By Karen Barnett 2 Comments

It’s funny how certain words remain in our vocabulary even after technology has left them far behind. My 11-year-old daughter was just telling me how she’d seen a meme (and there’s a funny NEW word) on Instagram that joked how kids of today’s generation will never understand the satisfaction of angrily flipping a cell phone … Read More

My best ideas come to me in the shower. How about you?

October 3, 2013By Karen Barnett 4 Comments

Somewhere between the shampoo and the conditioner the idea hit me: the perfect solution to the plot problem I’d been wrangling with the past few weeks. My mind zeroed in on different scenarios. “And then the hero could do THIS. Woo-hoo, wouldn’t the heroine hate that? She’d react like this… And then in the next … Read More

Visiting the setting of Mistaken

July 30, 2013By Karen Barnett 1 Comment

We traveled north to Port Angeles, Washington this week for a family reunion, and I had the opportunity to revisit some of the locations I used in MISTAKEN. For those of you who have read the book, I thought you might enjoy seeing how these places look today. Above, I’m posing on the lovely walkway … Read More