#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Kathryn Prater Bomey

I’d like to welcome my friend, the fabulous Kathryn Prater Bomey, to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Things you need for your writing sessions: A caffeinated beverage and a fairly quiet space. Pro tip: If someone loud sits near you at a coffee shop, drown them out by playing a white noise app through your headphones!

Things that hamper your writing: Loud coffee shop patrons (see above) and social media.

Words that describe you: Organized. Dedicated. Determined.

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Perfectionist.

Something you’re really good at: Music—I’ve played the flute since I was ten years old and still play in several ensembles.
Something you’re really bad at: Also music—I’m completely tone deaf when it comes to singing.

The last thing you ordered online: A cast iron skillet and a few other kitchen supplies after being inspired by a cooking class I received as a Christmas gift.

The last thing you regret buying: A set of placemats I purchased online that ended up being slightly the wrong color and clashing with my dishes. I miss brick-and-mortar stores where you could see and touch items before purchasing them.

Some real-life story that made it to one of your books: In “Running Interference,” a story that appeared in the 2024 anthology Three Strikes—You’re Dead!, a marching band member fainted on the field while standing in a pregame formation. That really happened to someone in my high school band, though not for the same reason it happened to the character in my story…

Something in your story that readers think is about you, but it’s not: In “House Arrest,” a story in the recently released anthology Crime in the Old Dominion, the protagonist is a new mother purchasing her first home. I don’t have any human children, but I am a doting dog mom to a rescue pup named Rio!

Rio

Things to say to an author: “I’d love to read it.” (Even if it’s not true.)
Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: “I didn’t read it.”

Favorite places you’ve been: Anywhere I’ve been able to do a guided tour—I love learning new things.

Places you never want to go to again: The gym. Haha, just kidding—after I go, I’m always glad I did!

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: I traveled to Europe last summer with a performing arts group to play my flute as part of an international concert tour. It was a truly life-changing experience!

Something you chickened out from doing: Introducing myself to someone famous or someone I’m in awe of. Many times.

Things you always put in your books: Strong women protagonists.
Things you never put in your books: Damsels in distress.

Besides writing, what’s the most creative thing you’ve done: Probably all the music I keep talking about!

A project that didn’t quite turn out the way you planned it: Any kind of home decorating project. They always take me weeks (months?) longer than planned.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Finding time to write while juggling a demanding day job, frequent travel to visit out-of-state family, volunteer work, and other weekend and evening commitments (like my music rehearsals and performances).

Easiest thing about being a writer: Coming up with ideas. I have dozens of pages of story ideas just waiting to be written!

Crime in the Old Dominion Edited by Josh Pachter and KL Murphy

About Kathyrn:

Kathryn Prater Bomey has published short fiction in Black Cat Weekly, Shotgun Honey, Punk Noir Magazine, and the anthologies Three Strikes—You’re Dead! and Crime in the Old Dominion. Her work is forthcoming in Hooked on Urban Legends—and Murder and The Dame was a Dick. She has served as president and secretary of Sisters in Crime’s Chesapeake Chapter and is a member of SinC’s Central Virginia Chapter and the Short Mystery Fiction Society. As a manager of a strategic communications team at a global nonprofit and a former journalist, her nonfiction writing has appeared in magazines, blogs, and daily newspapers, including the Indianapolis Star, Grand Rapids Press, Lansing State Journal, and Saginaw News.

Let’s Be Social:

Follow Kathryn at https://facebook.com/KathrynPraterBomey, and sign up for her (very occasional) newsletter at https://bit.ly/KPBnewsletter.