Kirsten McKenzie – Time Travel Mysteries

Kirsten McKenzie’s time travel series The Old Curiosity Shop has been likened to ‘Antique Road Show Gone Viral’ – and that’s appropriate, because Kirsten is a former antiques dealer who is fascinated by the power of previously loved objects. Hi there, I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and Kirsten talks about historic time travel and her passion for unearthing ancient objects from archaeological digs. Six things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode: Kirsten’s passion for digging up the past The serendipity of her first book What she wishes she’d learned earlier Her time as a Shortland Street extra Speed dating readers – and why she loves it The importance of finding your tribe Where to find Kirsten McKenzie: Website: https://www.kirstenmckenzie.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kiwimrsmac/ Facebook: @kiwimrsmac  Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kiwimrsmac Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.nz/kiwimrsmac/ What follows is a “near as” transcript of our conversation, not word for word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions. Jenny: And now, here’s Kirsten. Hello, Kirsten and welcome to the show. It’s great to have you with us. Kirsten: Thank you for having me, Jenny. I appreciate it. Jenny: Look, I like to always start with the Once Upon A Time question, but people like to know the answer. Was there something that made you feel like an epiphany? That you had to write fiction? And if so, what was the catalyst for it? Kirsten McKenzie – mystery and thriller author Kirsten: A catalyst was a slow day at work, and it seems so banal. I was at work at my family’s antique shop. There was an old Crown Lynn beehive Pudding basin on the counter. And that one item just made me go, “Oh, I’ve got a notebook in my handbag. Oh, there’s nobody in the shop. I might write a book.” And I don’t even know where that came from. I went from being a customs officer thrust into helping run the family antique business to being a novelist, all because of that Crown Lynn Beehive Pudding basin. I don’t know what it was. Jenny: So you can’t quite pick what it was about that particular basin? Kirsten: No. But that was the exact moment where I thought “I’m going to write a book.” And then when my brother, who I worked with, turned up, I said, “I’m going to write a novel.” And he said “You never finish anything.” And I was like, well, wow. Here we go. He issued the challenge. He did. And then it backfired on him because after my second book, I quit my job and started writing full time. Starting out as a writer Jenny:  So how did you get from there to historical dual timeline novels? Kirsten: Well, the pudding basin made my character really, because works at an antique shop –  which is what the main character in Fifteen Postcards does. And then, if I thought back to the pudding basin when it was brand new. . . I mean, if you think about everything in an antique shop or a second hand shop,  everything was loved at one point. Crown Lynn Beehive Pudding basin – catalyst for a Kirsten McKenzie book So who was it who loved that pudding basin when it was first manufactured? And I know a lot through my work about the Victorian times. I’m not so au fait with the 1930s and 40s, so I just shot her back a few decades earlier. But everything’s been loved and I wanted to go back to that moment in time when that item and the other items in the stories were loved by somebody.. We’ve all had things that we’ve loved; in our childhood a teddy bear, or a favorite photo frame or a favorite pen that we like to write with. And then over the years, you lose it or gets broken or you’ve moved house and you sell it. But at one point, that item was loved. The random creative process Jenny: So that’s lovely. So very much your connection with the antique shop transferred over to your writing? Kirsten: Absolutely. And I would be writing in the summer holidays when my brother would be polishing brassware. He’d take it to the family beach house. My mother’s beach house and my brother, I recall one summer he was polishing some brassware and in the next sentence there was a tulip-shaped brass posy vase in the book. And then I would be unpacking a box of stock at the shop and there would be a diamante necklace and then that would be in the book. And so everything sent me on a direction that I couldn’t have predicted because I couldn’t have predicted which items I would find appealing enough, or which items jumped out at me to incorporate into Fifteen Postcards. It was like a mysterious journey, and that’s what the book is about. She’s unpacking the items from a deceased estate. And that’s kind of like what writing the book was. I didn’t know what I was going to unpack next and where I was going to go with it. Antique Road Show ‘gone viral’ Jenny: That’s amazing. So Fifteen Postcards – that was obviously the first book that you’d written. You didn’t have other manuscripts before that? Kirsten: No, that was the first book I had written. Kirsten McKenzie – Book One in her dual time travel trilogy Jenny: Now it crosses three continents and two centuries and there’s some terrific ways that people have described that. They’ve described it as “Time Traveler’s Wife Meets Far Pavilions” or also “Antique Roadshow Gone Viral.” Both of those, but that last one particularly sounds pretty appropriate from what you’ve said. Tell us a little bit about those continents and the time periods, because some people listening may not be familiar with the book. Kirsten: So when I started writing Fifteen Postcards, I wasn’t familiar with the New Zealand publishing scene in any respect, I read books and that was the extent of my exposure to publishing. I might have heard about Penguin Books or Random House, but I didn’t know how you got published or what or what you needed to do to get an agent. And so it was all a mystery to me. So I thought, I know, if I set some of my book in New Zealand, that’ll guarantee me a New Zealand publisher. And just for your listeners, that’s not the case. And then some of the book was set in London because I used to live in London, like most New Zealanders. Three continents, two centuries I love London and my godmother, Elaine Blick who is an author and also a New Zealand author.  She’s from Salisbury. So there’s a tiny bit of Salisbury woven in there as a homage to my godmother. And for the third continent, I set it in India because my husband has been to India many times for work. I thought, if I write about India, I will have to go there. So that was why I picked those three locations, New Zealand, India and London. Setting a third of it in New Zealand didn’t help with getting published by a New Zealand publisher. My original publisher was based in Wales. Jenny:  I wondered whether three continents might have actually put some publishers off. They might have thought that it was a bit too spread out, quite possibly. Telegram Home completes trilogy Kirsten: I wanted to be honest with people that I set it in New Zealand because I thought it would help me get a New Zealand publisher.  That was back in 2014. Since then, I’ve made friends with lots of New Zealand writers and they have told me both tales. Tales where publishers say nobody reads New Zealand fiction and two independent writers who tell me that they’ve sold tens of thousands of copies of books set in New Zealand because their American readers want to read about New Zealand. Jenny: Yes, it’s interesting, isn’t it? The third one is recently out. Kirsten: Yes, Telegram Home just came out. And that’s the third and final book in the trilogy. So I am quite relieved to have it off my shoulders and I’m quite proud of it. Jenny: I’ve found it really interesting – the idea that Sarah the lead character must reunite her family before the doorway to the past closes. And there’s something quite poignant about this idea, when I started to think about it a bit more. The idea that you could go back and talk to your ancestors in previous generations. Do you find that really resonates with people, that it touches something deep inside us? Family memories preserved Kirsten: I hope it does. The reason that my brother and I were running our antique shop was that my father died suddenly of a heart attack and Fifteen Postcards, The Last Letter and Telegram Home are about Sarah’s journey to find her missing parents. And to some degree it’s my journey to reconnect with my missing father because he’s passed on. And I don’t think when somebody dies that they ever truly leave you because they’ve left their memories behind and photos. The Last Letter – Book Two in Kirsten McKenzie’s dual time travel mystery And, you know, I’m wearing jewellery that he gave me. But I hope that other people can go on this journey and imagine what it could be like and what they might do if they could revisit their parents or their grandparents in the past. Someone will always be there And it’s quite a comforting feeling to know that they’re there. Like, if you went back in time, all those people that you loved are there living their lives, going about their normal business, and you could hug them or watch them or hold them or talk to them. And how reassuring would that be, if you were struggling with something in your life, to know that if you went back 20 years or 30 years or 100 years, there’s somebody from your family who’d be there to put their hand on yours and say, it’s okay, I’ve got you. You’re not on your own. Jenny: Yes, that’s a lovely idea. Was there anything particularly tricky about the physics aspect of a time travel novel? Tricky physics and Jaipur magic Kirsten: Yes. Physics is not my strong suit. And it wasn’t until I visited India after I’d written the second book in the trilogy and we visited the observatory in Jaipur, that it all made sense to me. They have this incredible observatory, hundreds of years old and with all these astrological devices and contraptions. And I couldn’t begin to imagine how they measure the distance from the stars on the equator and the hemispheres.  My uncle is a physicist, but I didn’t ask him for advice. If I had of, maybe he would have dismissed my theories. But if you incorporate the intense knowledge that the Indians had when they built this observatory, it could make sense if the sun was aligned in the right way with the moon and the stars and the planetary alignment and a thunderstorm. You know, it’s possible. The Butterfly Effect Jenny: I’ve talked to another time travel author Julie McElwain, and she’s got an FBI agent who goes back to 1815 London. And she has some quite interesting things that she threads to the story. She gets semi-adopted by a nobleman who belongs to the Royal Society of Scientists. AT one stage she’s debating whether she should tell him about the Butterfly Effect, because if he knows about the Butterfly Effect in 1815, it’s going to change the whole history of science. Kirsten: Well, you’ve got to be careful not to change things too much. If you change just one tiny thing, does that become a big thing?  I touch on that in some of the parts of the books –  if you change something, what could possibly happen next? Jenny: Yes, it could change the whole history of the family, couldn’t it? Kirsten: Absolutely. Jenny: But that would be very intriguing to write. And also quite difficult to plot, really, to make sure that you didn’t catch yourself out. Mastering the art of plotting Kirsten: Yes. My editor made me complete a very comprehensive family tree. And going through that process for the second book, we realized that I needed to change the gender of one of the children just to make everything work. So luckily, that was before publication, but if I hadn’t have done that family tree, I would have tied myself up into far too many knots. Learning to plot – something Kirsten wishes she’d learned earlier I really admire authors who can plot, and I’m currently reading a book recommended to me by another New Zealand author. It’s called Take Your Pants Off and it’s about plotting and I am loving it. So hopefully that will improve my writing in the future about learning how to plot rather than “pantsing” my way through the story. Jenny: Yes.  Pantsing your way through a dual timeline trilogy must be quite an exciting ride. Kirsten: I don’t know if exciting is the right word, but I have many notebooks filled with,  half-thought-out-plot issues in the middle of the night, You wake up thinking things like “But what about the necklace?” And I remember I had finished Fifteen Postcards and I was about to send it off to my editor and that I realized I’d left some poor character standing on the side of the road in India. And he was meant to be a major love interest. Rescuing ‘lost’ characters And there he was standing in the middle of the road all by himself, in the middle of India, doing nothing, for the rest of the book. I had to go back and weave in the poor man. And he is a major character, and I just left him on the side of the road. I was just too busy with Sarah and her life that I left him, poor Major Brook,  on the side of the road. Jenny: Now, you branched out from your historical time travel into Gothic horror and you published Painted in 2017 and then a medical thriller. Dr. Perry in 2018. And both of those books rated number one on the horror charts for Canada and Australia. Tell us about that change of direction. Did you take your historical time travel readers with you with those books? Kirsten: I like to think that I took most of them. I appreciate that reading horror or thrillers is not for everyone, and I’ve had some of some readers say, oh, I’m not going to read those. You know what? That’s fine. I understand that. I wrote Painted because I needed a break from the historical research. So it’s fun writing historical fiction. But the research really took it out of me and I needed a break. Caravaggio meets Poltergeist And a few years earlier, I had entered a competition run by Ant Timpson called Make My Horror Movie.  Gothic horror best seller – Painted by Kirsten McKenzie And you had to write a one page proposal. And I entered the competition with my one page proposal and I made it to number 13. Unlucky for some, but Ant Timpson said it was “Caravaggio meets Poltergeist.” And I thought, you know what, I’m going to make that into a book. And I found it so easy to write. I loved writing it. It’s set in a old Gothic house, high on a hill. But there’s no country it’s set in, there’s no time frame, there’s a snow storm, there’s no phones, no computers. So it could be set anywhere, any time. And it’s a very small cast of characters and a haunted house, so to speak. And the freedom to just be in one house and  over a period of one week was so refreshing. And it’s, yes, much different than writing across two centuries and three continents. Jenny: Yes. And then what about Dr. Perry? Medical thriller in retirement home Kirsten: Oh, my mother was looking to move into a retirement home. And so she and I had started looking at the various options around Auckland. And I can assure you that not all retirement homes are created equal. There were some horrible places we visited as well as some amazing place we walked through. It had been in the news about elderly people and some staff issues and how badly some elderly people are being treated. And I can imagine that some retirement homes due to staffing shortages or putting profit over people, could treat their elderly in a very unpleasant way. Dr Perry – best selling medical thriller – Kirsten McKenzie So that was the catalyst, it that was looking for a retirement home for Mum. She’s now moved into a beautiful resort and I’d live there in a heartbeat. But Dr. Perry was about that, about profit before people. And what can go wrong.  There is a paranormal bend to it. And like Painted it leaves it open at the end for the reader to dwell on the ending, The same thing happens with Dr. Perry. There’s a little opening at the end for the reader to dwell on, “Oh, my God. What could happen next? What if she left open?” And I like that in a book. I like having happy endings, but I also like having something to think about. Jenny: So, yes, I think that readers often like to put their own imagination to work, don’t they? On open endings Kirsten: Absolutely. Jenny: It’s what they say about sometimes with books being turned into movies that people much prefer being able to fill in the details themselves rather than have it just presented to them. Kirsten: That’s right. Absolutely. You need to have a little bit in the corner just to think about. Jenny: How did you get those to number one on the charts? I mean, I’m sure they’re very good books, but a lot of good books just sit there, don’t they? Kirsten: They do. I think the New Zealand author community has been incredibly supportive and helpful in giving advice about marketing and the right book bloggers to approach, the right publications to approach, how to approach them. I didn’t know any of this and I am so grateful to the people who passed on their experience and their advice. I think everyone in the community seems to lift each other up. It is very hard to rank highly when there are six million other books in your genre out there. So I’m very lucky for their help with the marketing advice and to the bloggers and to the horror and thriller publications that reviewed the books for me. The Ruination of Art – new work Jenny: That’s fantastic. Now you’re returning to historical thrillers, your latest one, set in Florence in 1966. It’s called The Ruination of Art. So that’s the one that you’ve got coming next. Tell us about that one. Kirsten:  Ruination of Art started life was going to be my Booker Prize winning literary novel, when I first sat down to write it. And then it turned into maybe it won’t win the Booker Prize. Maybe it could just be a really good historical fiction novel. And then I would turn it into actually I’m quite good at writing standalone thrillers. So it’s going to be a standalone thriller set in Florence in 1966 during the terrible floods that they had, which wiped out a lot of the artwork and architecture. Florence floods, 1966 – picture credit The Guardian – inspiration for Kirsten McKenzie’s next book It’s funny because Michelangelo warned Florence in the 1600’s about their flood defenses and their waterways and they still have the same problems today. So I have 60,000 words of that, that I started a little while ago, that need to just be massaged more into the thriller genre, as opposed to the Booker Prize winning literary masterpiece. And then it will be about 80,000 – 90,000 words once I finished. Enjoying a NZ-based publisher Jenny: And are you self publishing or do you have a publisher? Kirsten: I have a publisher, a small publisher based in Hawke’s Bay, Squabbling Sparrows Press. Jenny: All right. Yes. that’s right. I had heard the name when when we meet at that function, but I wasn’t quite sure where they were. That’s right. Yes. Kirsten:  My publisher was in the U.K. for Fifteen Postcards and The Last Letter. And to be honest, being with somebody at home is much nicer. It’s hard dealing with the time zones and people being so far away and faceless people on the end of your email. So small is good. And I’m happy. Jenny: That’s great. It’s a bit scary that 1966 is considered as historical, isn’t it? For someone like me. It is. Kirsten: Possibly. Maybe we should just call it an Italian thriller rather than historical thriller. The joys of historical accuracy Jenny: Now the time travel element of your historicals edge almost into fantasy, and I’m wondering how much latitude you allow yourself in terms of the factual detail with your history. You say that you actually spend a lot of time doing the research. Tell us about that. Kirsten: I do spend a lot of time researching it because I want to ensure that it’s the small things that I think that matter more. So the description of whatever it is that they are drinking or the type of wallpaper on the walls. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’ve moved one of the major battles in India, I moved it 500 miles closer, so that my protagonist could run from the sound of gunfire. So it’s just a small thing. It’s only 500 miles. I don’t think it affects the story in as much as she’s not in the battle.  It’s on the sidelines. I’ve put Gilbert and Sullivan having dinner in the Savoy as my protagonist and her father walk past. At the time I found a menu from the Savoy. So the food that they’re eating is completely historically accurate. The Savoy is completely historically, accurate. Whether Gilbert and Sullivan were having dinner at the time, I couldn’t tell you. Maybe they were. They did used to eat there. So I do a little bit of creative license and then things like the Peach Melba that we’re eating. And the name of the chef. Completely accurate. Twitter research conversations And I also use Twitter. It’s going to sound like a really strange research resource. But I would ask people on Twitter. How long does it take to walk from Manse Street to High Street in Dunedin? And I remember one man came back and said, ah, 20 minutes and a woman came back and said no, it’s forty five minutes. And then the two of them had this big argument about man-length legs versus lady-sized legs.  And I just decided it would take the person half an hour to walk. So in that way, all these people were part of my writing process. And it wasn’t just, you know, distances in Dunedin. It was pubs in London and churches in England. And in Bruce Bay, there was a photographer I tracked down on Twitter who’d taken photos of Bruce Bay on the West Coast (of NZ). And I said, can you describe for me the sand? And he’s like, well, it’s just sand. But I said, is it grainy sand or is it like rocky sand? And then all of this was over Twitter. Jenny: So fantastic. Kirsten: Yes, I love it. Life as a Shortland Street extra Jenny: Moving away from talking about the individual books to your wider career. You mentioned that you were a customs officer. I see on your CV also that you worked in TV briefly. Tell us a bit about what you did before you started your full time writing career. Kirsten: Well, like most Aucklanders, I’ve been on Shortland Street. Jenny: Oh, really? Shortland Street – NZ’s 25 year old soap, where Kirsten did time as an “extra” Kirsten: Yes, I was a featured extra. So I was a nurse and that meant that I had never had more than seven words to say. Otherwise they’d have to pay me more. So I would say things like “Your coffee doctor” or “I’m sorry. No, I finished.” Those a couple of my lines I can remember. I used to do that. And I was on a season of Spartacus  as a market woman and I was in Power Rangers and Step Dave. All those New Zealand sitcoms where they might bring in the extras to sit in the bar and spend the day pretending to drink wine, but actually apple juice. Jenny: That’s great. I’d assumed it would be writing scripts. Understanding camera angles Kirsten: But it does give me an insight into film, and especially for Painted, more so than the other books about what a camera angle would catch if you were filming from behind someone or over somebody’s shoulder or coming round the door, or the pattern of a hand print left on a mirror and so Painted was written with a very cinematic bend to it. Jenny: And for people who aren’t familiar with New Zealand TV, Shortland Street is our longest running soap. I’m not sure how many years it’s been going now, but many, many years. Kirsten: Twenty five years.  So that’s our Coronation Street or Days of Our Lives. There’s an overabundance of airplane crashes, earthquakes, murderers.  Ohhh,  everything that could possibly happen on Shortland Street has happened more than once. Jenny: And some people’s lives stretch right through that series. Kirsten: Oh, yes. Yes. Dr. Warner. He’s had three wives or four wives. The secret of Kirsten’s success Jenny: Yes. Has there been one thing you’ve done, perhaps more than any other, that you’d say was the secret behind your staying power in this game of writing? Kirsten: I want to say finding your tribe. But you’ve tribe can just be one person. So I’ve got a couple of people that are there on the end of your Facebook Messenger who I can go to for help and advice at any stage, and we help each other. So we’ve helped beta read each other’s books. We’ve helped with marketing advice, with linking people up. They’re the people that you go to and say, oh, my goodness, I’ve just got a one star review in this person’s called my main character a bobblehead. What should I do? And they’re the person that laughs it off with you and tells you to go and have a wine. Everybody needs that one person, but that person needs to be at the same part of their career as you because you’re both in the same street. Like there’s other people that have written more books than me and had more success. Their advice is invaluable as well. But that person who’s on that parallel track to you, who knows exactly what you’re going through and you’re both navigating Amazon rankings and reviews and Goodreads, they’re invaluable. Kirsten as reader Do you answer reviewers on Goodreads  – and you don’t normally  – and book shops and book signings and can you help me? How do I get signage for a book festival, all of that sort of thing? I’m very lucky that I’ve got some close friends there. That’s the best advice. You can’t do it on your own. You write on your own, but you can’t do it on your own. Jenny: That’s fantastic advice. Yes. Turning to Kirsten as reader, because this is The Joys of Binge Reading. It sounds like you have been a fairly passionate reader in the past. What did you like to be and read? Kirsten: Oh, I as a child and I can see from here, my bookcase is stuffed full of Enid Blyton. And because my father was an antiques dealer, he would bring home the First Editions and he would just bring home random Enid Blyton and books as he came across them. So that’s what I read as a child. And then I read everything. The Stephen Kings, Dean Koontz. I like reading biographies. Then George R.R. Martin, The Game of Thrones. I have never really been a fantasy reader, but his books just hooked me. And they’re huge. The way he describes somebody’s bodice or the laces on somebody’s shoe.  You can’t leave the book. You’re so drawn in by the descriptive passages that the whole world ceases to exist, apart from his words. More favourite authors And my other favorite author – I wouldn’t never have imagined I’d read a series about witches and vampires, but the series The Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. And that’s a time travel as well. That was incredible, that whole series and the historical aspect to it. When she goes back to Elizabethan England and although witches and vampires at not my usual reading fare, although I did enjoy Twilight. As much as people dismiss Twilight, I loved Twilight. Jenny: I haven’t heard of your witches lady. Kirsten: Well, she is incredible.  She was a historian first and then wrote this trilogy set around the Bodleian Library. Oh, just amazing. But I’ll read almost anything. I’m not a big romance reader, but you know. Not because I choose to ignore it. Just that’s not currently on my shelves. Jenny: I think I’m a bit the same. I don’t try and tackle fantasy on this show because I think fantasy is actually a whole genre in itself. But I really enjoy Nalini Singh’s paranormal books. She is a New Zealand author who has done incredibly well overseas and I love her paranormal books as an exception to the rule, so I know exactly what you mean. Kirsten: Yes, if you stumble across them and it’s great to get that surprise. You appreciate “I’ve just really enjoyed this.” Nix Wittaker’s Lady Golden Hand – a “top read” for the year The New Zealand author Nix Whittaker,she’s written a paranormal series.  I came into it via the second book, accidentally. It’s set in Victorian England, but with a dragon-shifter in it. I was attracted to the book because the blurb talked about Londonium. I don’t know if you know, but every year I head off to England and I work on an archeological dig. And of course, the Roman name for London was Londonium. In Whitaker’s book, Lady Golden Hand, she’s in London and she’s one of the first police woman. And she’s investigating a crime. And it involves a man who turns into a dragon. It’s really good. It’s historical fiction, but with a dragon. So, yeah, just randomly, I really enjoyed it. And the sequels just come out and or the next installment. So I’ve just bought that online. At some stage I must go back and read the first one. I really enjoyed it. It’s one of my top reads this year. Unearthing amazing artefacts That’s lovely that. Tell us about Londonium. Where did the passion for that come from? Kirsten: Well, at school I did Latin as you do, and I was lucky enough to go on the school trip to Greece and Italy. Thanks, mum and dad. And from that moment on, the whole Roman history, I’ve just loved and adored. And years ago, I read about a site called Vindolanda,  which is a Roman fort just outside of Newcastle in England that has been operated by trust and volunteers like myself who pay for the privilege of digging alongside an archaeologist for two weeks at a time. And my husband just said to me, “You know, you’ve always wanted to do it. Go and do it.” So I flew over for the first time in 2015 and dug for two weeks, and I loved every single shovel full. And this year when I went, I found a writing tablet. So a two thousand year old writing tablet, where you can still see the ink writing on it is as we are  pulling it up out of the anaerobic soil, the soil without any oxygen in it. And to hold that in my hand, I don’t know what it says yet, you could see the writing, but I’m not very good at reading ancient Latin.  It might just say, “Please send more socks” or it might say “You still owe me money for the beer, send it now.” Or it might have the name of the missing cohort that they still don’t know the name of. So it could change our knowledge of history or it could just be an order for more socks. And I love it. Jenny: How amazing! Digging in dirt for relaxation Kirsten: So now I go every year and it’s my two weeks off from my children and my housekeeping.  My fingernails are all broken… But I love it. It’s an incredibly varied group of people. Some retired, some young students. Some archeologists from Europe who don’t get to do something as exciting as finding writing tablets. Vindolanda – one of time travel author Kirsten McKenzie’s “happy places” When I went in 2017, we found children’s wooden swords. And it’s a Roman fort, so it’s not meant to have woman and children in there, but obviously they’re making children’s toys. So all these things, they add to your cache of stories that you can pull on in the future. So a book that I’m planning for next year, Ithaca Bound, is set in an imaginary fort next to Vindolanda. And it’s going to have a couple of the same characters from Fifteen Postcards in there. So it’s not part of the trilogy because obviously a trilogy is just three books, but it will be a spinoff of sorts. So people will just have to look out for those Easter eggs. Looking back, anything to change? Jenny: Amazing. Now, circling back to the beginning and looking back over your writing life so far at this stage in your career, if you were doing it all again, would you change anything? And if so, what would you change? Kirsten: I would learn how to plot first. I would sketch out my storyline and I would know where it was going to start, what would happen in the middle and what would happen at the end before I sat down to write it. This book I’m reading now, about learning how to plot, that’s why The Ruination of Art is on a bit of a standstill, because I’m going back and writing each of my characters down, learning about them, learning what their motivations are. Before I feel confident enough to progress any further. So that would be it. I love pantsing. I love going off on tangents and changing direction. But I think if I was doing it again, I would plot first. Jenny: You’ve been very productive. But I imagine that if you plotted, you’d probably write faster as well. Kirsten: That’s the theory. I listen to a couple of podcasts every week.  Mark Dawson’s the Self Publishing Formula podcast and Joanna Penn’s The Creative Penn podcast, and they quite often interview authors who talk about how plotting does speed up their writing, They talk to authors who also do voice recording – voice text, which I don’t do. But as I understand it, plotting speeds up your writing and that helps authors who want to do fast release of long series. Jenny: Yes, it sounds great in theory, it’s probably a little harder to do than what they make it sound like, I think. A typical day of sprint writing Kirsten: But I also have two school age children and a husband who travels a lot. So my writing time is as limited as well as housework and after school activities. And today was the speech finals and next Friday is the cross-country. Jenny: So yes, if I was going to ask you if you had a typical working day, sounds like you don’t really. Kirsten: My typical working day is that the girls go off to school. I procrastinate a lot in the morning. And then at about two o’clock, I realize it’s an hour to school pick up. And I write really well for an hour. I do write. But then there’s the marketing stuff in the middle as well. So I’d like to say I do a thousand words a day, but I do a thousand words on a day that I sit down and write. And I know that I can write three hundred and forty seven words in ten minutes if I do sprints. So that’s as fast as I can write. In a 10 minute sprint I can write three hundred forty seven words, but then I can go back and edit afterwards. So I prefer to write and sprint. Jenny: Yes. So you’ve mentioned your upcoming story about the Roman fort, but what is next for Kirsten, the writer? What have you got planned for yourself for the next 12 months? Newcastle Noir and Ithaca Bound Kirsten: I’m going to finish The Ruination of Art and get it published and enter that in the next Ngaio Marsh Awards. Then after that, work on Ithaca Bound. I’m going to try and coordinate my annual archaeological dig with attending Newcastle Noir in the UK, which is a Crime Writing Festival, and that’s in May. So hopefully I can coordinate my travel for that. In Labor weekend this year, I’d go down to Christchurch to be an attending author. It Wham Bam Author Jam, which is like a speed dating event for authors. So instead of taking my usual vintage suitcases and my hall stand,  and everything else that I would take to to have a beautiful display, it’s a black tablecloth. It’s you as the author and your books. And it’s basically speed dating author and a big room. And there’s authors coming from around New Zealand and Australia. And last year was very successful. So that’s why I’m going along this year. So I’m pleased that they’re having me. Fingers crossed. We sell lots of books. Jenny: So is that readers? Can you date with the reader, so to speak? Kirsten: The readers come to your table and if they’re there’s no fancy displays or, you know, there’s no prizes for the best display. It’s simply a black tablecloth and your books and you behind the table and away you go. So I like that. Where to find Kirsten online Jenny: How amazing. I haven’t heard of that. And they can ask you any questions they like. Is that the idea? Kirsten: Yeah, anything. Jenny: It’s fantastic. So how do readers find you online? Kirsten: Well, my website is kirsten mckenzie.com , And that’s got a semi-regular blog on it where I talk about things that I’ve done and and things that I’ve learnt. And I’m on Twitter a lot as @kiwimrsmac.Of course, I had Twitter set up years before I became an author, so it’s too late to change my handle now. And there is another. Kirsten McKenzie on Twitter. Who’s a fabulous Scottish author. She and I quite often get each other’s mail and tweets, but I read her books before I first published mine. She writes great historical fiction. The Chapel at the Edge Into the World is my favorite one. So if you get us confused, it’s okay because she’s also an incredible author. And so at my website I’m on Twitter, obviously Facebook. My books are available much. My historical fiction trilogy is available on Amazon, but my other books are available wide and your local bookshop can order them in. And I think they’re in most libraries. Or you can just ask your library to order it. Jenny: Yeah. No, it’s great. They’re definitely in the Auckland Library. Well, Kirsten, it’s been great talking. Thank you. We had come to the end of our time, but what a fascinating life you’re leading. That’s for sure. Kirsten: Thank you so much for asking such interesting questions. Looking ahead to Londinium Jenny: I wanted to ask you what time of year you were going to your day. Do you go to the same same time every year? Kirsten: They do it over twelve two week periods.  obviously, numbered  one to twelve. My favorite time to go is period 10, which is now. And so all my friends are there now. But I went period seven this year, just fit in with our family commitments. But next year I’m going to go hopefully in May. So that’ll be my first time in May. But that’s to coordinate with Newcastle Noir. I’d love to just be a guest there and adjourn and listen to some of the amazing speakers that they’ve got lined up, Jenny: Yes. Yes. I was just imagining it might be a bit cold at some price. I think it might be. They don’t they don’t operate over winter. So it’s just from April to the end of September. Jenny: Look, fabulous. Thank you so much for being on the show. And we’ll look your new books with interest. Kirsten: Thank you so much, Jenny. If you enjoyed Kirsten’s books you might also enjoy Julie McElwain’s time travel mysteries. Thanks To Our Technical Support: The Joys of Binge Reading podcast is put together with wonderful technical help from Dan Cotton at DC Audio Services. Dan is an experienced sound and video engineer who’s ready and available to help you with your next project… Seek him out at [email protected] or Phone + 64 – 21979539. He’s fast, takes pride in getting it right, and lovely to work with. Our voice overs are done by Abe Raffills, and Abe’s another gem. He got 20 years of experience on both sides of the camera/microphone as a cameraman/director and also voice artist and television presenter. Abe’s vocal delivery is both light hearted and warm and he is super easy to work with no matter the job. You’ll find him at [email protected]