What is the title of your latest release?
EXPERIMENTS IN OFFLINE DATING
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
An autistic podcaster goes to Ireland for the Matchmaking Festival and ends up trapped on a road trip with a grumpy Irish farmer who pushes all of her buttons.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
That one was easy - Ireland has a real-life Matchmaking Festival every summer, and it was just too good an opportunity to pass up!
Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Abso-fucking-lutely! She’s snarky, courageous, and rolls with the punches. The perfect travel companion.
What are three words that describe your protagonist?
witty, analytical, self-assured, loyal, and smut-loving.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
That it’s easier for me to make a character’s inner voice funny if they’re grumpy. Maya, on the other hand, tends to go with the flow, and it took more acrobatics on my part to bring the humor out.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
Generally, I try to wait until it’s finished because the story always takes its own course, even when you have a detailed outline! Surprises always crop up that make editing afterward more valuable. Also, characters often solidify in the writing, so the woman who I think my FMC is at the beginning of the writing process is usually different from who she becomes as I put flesh to bone and discover who she is.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Hmmm. That’s an impossible question. I LOVE to eat. I plan my whole day around it. If I had to pick one decadent indulgence, it would be truffles - give me truffle fries, or truffle pasta - throw it on anything. In particular, I love this one soft truffle cheese that I used to get in France.
Describe your writing space/office!
I can work pretty much anywhere, and often work when I travel. I absolutely need an ergonomic keyboard on my lap so that I don’t destroy my arms, and I need a view. I don’t like desks that look onto the wall - it makes me feel trapped and stuffy. I love a pretty, green view!
Who is an author you admire?
I’m going to go with David Sedaris - who is one of the funniest living writers - he is bold, hilarious, intimate, and ground-breaking in one master stroke. When I picked up ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY at 16 yr. it changed what I thought a book could be.
Is there a book that changed your life?
I really can’t pinpoint ONE. What I will say instead is that I have always loved books, and each one has worked together to become part of me - to code my brain and shape my life - one word at a time, like a chisel to marble.
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I was travelling in Colombia with my dad (who is Colombian) and we were at my aunt’s house. We all went out for a fancy meal and cocktails! It was soon after that that I booked my ticket to Ireland to research book 2 and go to the Matchmaking Festival for in-depth research.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
Romantasy - every damn time.
What’s your favorite movie?
Impossible! My new favorite, which I watched 4 times at the cinema, is Project Hail Mary. Older favorites are How to Steal a Million, and What We Do in The Shadows. But I could list about twenty.
What is your favorite season?
Autumn. 100%.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I am a natural-born celebrator! Give me absolutely any excuse and I will celebrate it. I will always choose experiences over gifts, so whether it’s a picnic with cupcakes near home, or cave diving in central America, or going out for wine and music in Porto, I like to make memories, big or small.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Let’s do shows. I just finished Widow’s Bay, and laughed the entire way through. It’s a new favorite! For romance-lovers, it has to be Nobody Wants This. When I finished season 1, I immediately started it again. Ate it up!
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
ALL OF IT. But let’s say Thai.
What do you do when you have free time?
Read. Or walk my many doggies with an audiobook.
What can readers expect from you next?
Excellent question! I wish I knew! I’ve written a very comedy-forward, witchy, cozy romantasy that my agent is currently on sub with. The publishing market seems like an unknowable place, especially at the moment, but I am hoping to find an editor who loves its quirks and grumpy/grumpy romance as much as I do! There may also be another travel romcom after my trip to Italy this September. I will be eating all of the food and drinking all of the wine, just in case!
Kat Mackenzie is an American who just happened to find herself living abroad for ten years and accidentally traveling to over forty countries in an attempt to taste all the food. She holds degrees from the University of Edinburgh and the University of Oxford but has discovered that they serve her best collecting dust on the shelf while she pens comedy-forward stories about women who travel.
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