Kate Betterton

A writer would rather write than do much of anything else. Writing is her gift to the world, a legacy and memorial.

There's a story about the king of an ancient kingdom in Asia--Japan or China, I don't remember which. This king is a poet, and he wants to leave a legacy of his (more…)

My second novel is finished. I mean, well, "finished" meaning the entire story is down on the page, the final sentences are written and doing exactly what they ought'er do, every character has grown, and changed, and reached a certain point in his/her tale, poised to follow the road to new adventures. Now (more…)

A few days ago I was noodling on Amazon, and noticed a new review on WHERE THE LAKE BECOMES THE RIVER's page. It was a generous and kindly bit of feedback, by a woman named Carol, out in Oregon. I lived in the Pacific Northwest (Seattle) for a couple of decades before moving back (more…)

On the set of North Carolina Bookwatch, the sound man, discreet as a fine tailor, mikes you by placing a transciever the size of a cell phone just below your waistband at the back, and a tiny mike on your lapel.

The room is cavernous and dark beyond the hyper-brightly lit stage set of (more…)

I'd never appeared on television before. When the e-mail came from Morgan Potts at UNC-TV inviting me to appear on North Carolina Bookwatch,with gracious host and NC book maven D.G. Martin, I decided some web research was in order a.s.a.p. The taping was set for a few days away. The show is a classic and popular literary interview series on public TV, broadcast throughout North Carolina on Sunday evenings.

When I googled "appear on TV", immediately "do's and don't" came (more…)

Recently I was invited for an interview on the Carrboro Book Beat, on WCOM-FM 103.5 LP FM - the Community Radio of Carrboro.
Hosts Audrey and Paul made me welcome. We had an enjoyable hour discussing writing, Where the Lake Becomes the River, publishing, the creative process, and immortality.

Of the questions that were asked, (more…)

Years back, when I lived in Seattle, a certain graffito adorned buildings around town: "The urge to buy terrorizes you." Being a non-consuming sort, the urge to buy in fact did not terrorize me. However, the phrase stuck in my head, much as had a graffito in large white letters painted on the bricks (more…)

I do believe that if you listen, over how ever long it takes, a book will tell you what it wants to be. In this case, Where the Lake Becomes the River was determined to be non-chronological. It took the shape it wanted to take.

The book starts in a "present" wherein the heroine, Parrish, (more…)

My first rejection was from The New Yorker, when I was fourteen. I sent them a poem, that had something to do with a storm and the exhileration thereof. After some time, they sent back a heavy, cream-colored half-sheet with a black logo across the top: the Manhattan skyline, and a gentleman with top (more…)

So, most folks have seemed to like my humble little book, but one person who really, truly did not like it at all, complained, among other failings, that it had way too many dreams in it. (As Mr. Lincoln said, You cannot please 'em all.) (Mr. Lincoln himself had a quite spectacular precognitive dream/ (more…)