Kate Stollenwerck
Kate Stollenwerck, a fifth-generation Texan, was born and raised in Dallas. She graduated from Northwestern University and the University of Texas at Austin School of Law. She practiced law for several years in Chicago before deciding to stay home with her kids. Once her youngest went to school full-time, she dusted off some old manuscripts and pursued her long-held dream of being a writer.
Kate now lives in Florida with her husband, three children, and their crazy cat. Hello, Goodbye is her first novel.
Is there a genre of music that influences your writing/thinking? Do you listen to music while you write?
90s music heavily influences my writing/thinking because I write Young Adult novels and that is the era when I was coming-of-age. Listening to my favorite songs from my youth will transport me back to a time and place when the emotions of first love, first heartache, the highs and lows of friendship, and the complexities of home and family feel tangible, nearby, and I reconnect with my teenage self.
For my debut novel, Hello, Goodbye, I listened primarily to The Beatles for the better part of two years as I worked on this story. The grandmother in the novel is obsessed with The Beatles and shares her love of the band with her granddaughter, Hailey. The idea for this novel actually came to me during a long beach walk while listening to This Is The Beatles on Spotify. I had the entire plot and title (a play on a Beatles song) after one creative session listening to John, Paul, George, and Ringo.
I don’t listen to music while I write, but my routine is after I finish a writing session, I like to go for a long walk, listen to music, and think about the characters and plot. If the creativity is flowing, I spend most of the walk typing notes on my phone. I’m not an outliner or plotter, so music helps me connect with my creativity and uncover the story.
Favorite non-reading activity?
Spending time with my kids at the beach. In this tech crazy world, I love the simplicity and timelessness of watching my kids build sandcastles, body surf, and jump waves! The salty ocean air is therapeutic, the repetitive crashing of the waves calms me, and the bright sun makes it impossible to look at my phone! I easily lose track of time when on the beach and find it's one of the few places my brain stops running in circles.
Not all books are for all readers – when you start a book and you just don’t like it, how long do you read until you bail?
I don’t like to give up, especially on books! I always give it 100 pages, because some of my favorite novels are slow burns at first. If I’m a hundred pages in and not feeling it, I will speed read a bit more. If I’m still struggling after another 50 pages or so, I’ll cheat and read the last ten pages and call it a day! But I don’t do this very often – I really try to power through. It just feels wrong not to finish a book, especially now that I’m a writer and know how much time, effort, and heart the author has poured into the novel.
Vacation druthers – city or rural? Why?
City vacations are my favorite because I live at the beach. I love to walk a city and discover its charms -- partaking in a local culinary experience, wandering through a beautiful park, admiring interesting architecture, exploring a museum or art gallery, or shopping in funky neighborhoods at locally-owned stores, and, of course, I’m always on the hunt for a new indie bookstore!
What brings you great joy?
Spending time with my family. My sister is my best friend and she and my parents (I’m so lucky to still have both!) live in Texas and I’m in Florida so any opportunity we have to be together feels sacred to me, especially after Covid and our long separation. Although we exchange daily texts and speak on the phone often, being together and doing simple things like getting to share a glass of wine with my parents and sister on the back porch and just talk about nothing brings me great joy!
