Today, I have author Kat Obie in the interview chair. We’re talking about her latest series release Loving the Puckers, a contemporary sports romance. Don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway.
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1. Can you tell us something about yourself and how you became an author?
Kat: I’m Kat Obie. It’s a pen name but I’m not super secretive about my real name. I use the pen name to make it easier for people to spell and remember since I do have a Polish last name that’s tricky to spell. I’m a Philadelphia girl who lives in Cleveland. I’ve been obsessed with hockey for a long time. I grew up as a figure skater but as I got older, I got interested in playing ice hockey. I’ve always dabbled with writing but it wasn’t until I found hockey romances that I realized I could write that.
2. What is something unique/quirky about you?
Kat: I have master’s degrees in both Security & Intelligence Studies and Sports Management.
3. Tell us something really interesting that’s happened to you!
Kat: I tend to think I’m pretty dull but I’ve gotten to do a lot of cool stuff like travel the world, I speak multiple languages, I pursue my favorite hobbies.
4. What are some of your pet peeves?
Kat: I hate people with no social awareness and stop walking in the middle of a walkway but you can’t pass them. Also not a fan of willful ignorance.
5. If you knew you’d die tomorrow, how would you spend your last day?
Kat: I would travel somewhere. I would like to gather up as many friends and family into one spot preferably in Europe. We would play games, see the sites, eat amazing food, drink beer and just celebrate what we could.
6. What kind of world ruler would you be?
Kat: I lean towards the center left. When it comes to economy and security measures, I tend to conservative but when it comes to how people want to live their lives, I tend to believe very liberal. I would strengthen world ties while at the same time working on creating strong intelligence networks so I can verify that the pacts and treaties are working well. I would try to make sure that free trade can happen rather easily. I would see if there was a way to help with the distribution of aid and medicines to stop pandemics.
7. What are you passionate about these days?
Kat: I am passionate about Flyers hockey and writing. I also have a renewed dream and hope to purchase a home in France or Switzerland where I could practice my French and write all day.
8. What do you do to unwind and relax?
Kat: If it’s just an average work day, I will watch the Flyers, drink a beer and knit. I’ll do a bubble bath to soak every once in a while. If I’m really stressed then I need to swim some heavy laps and/or skate.
9. Describe yourself in 5 words or less!
Kat: Obsessive hockey, geeky, knitter, writer.
10. When did you first consider yourself a writer?
Kat: When I wrote my first book
11. Do you have a favourite movie?
Kat: Right now no. In the past it was I Heart Hucklebees and The Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind. I’m also a massive fan of the Star Trek, Harry Potter and Marvel Movies.
12. Which of your novels can you imagine made into a movie?
Kat: I could see my whole Loving the Pucker Series being made into a Hallmark Movie.
13. What literary pilgrimages have you gone on?
Kat: So I’ve done a couple. The most memorable one was doing the full trek from Remember the Stars. We did every step of the journey from leaving Copenhagen by the train up to the Baltic Sea. I loved going to the Hans Christian Andersen home and Museum in Odense. Visiting the Ann Frank house in Amsterdam really gave you an understanding how incredible that living space was.
Every time I go to New York City, I try to walk by the Algonquin Hotel. I loved the Algonquin Round Table. I never seem to have the time or money to do a proper dinner and drink there.
I’ve also been to the Edgar Allen Poe’s home in Philly and Baltimore and went to the Irish writers museum in Dublin.
14. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal?
Kat: I would say Gritty. The Philadelphia Flyers’ Mascot is so much fun, a little crazy and completely obsessed with Flyer’s hockey.
15. What inspired you to write this book?
Kat: I wanted to write a non-traditional Valentine’s Day story. I knew I wanted to use either Colton Weber or Shoresy as the hero since they have appeared in all the novellas thus far in the series. Weber was also a bit more of a hero and fit the title. Then he needed an amazing woman to fall for. One of my favorite stories from the NHL is the use and success of an Emergency Backup Goalie (EBUG) and there are some incredible women goalies out there. That was the heroine: an EBUG who falls for a teammate. Then it fell from there.
16. What can we expect from you in the future?
Kat: On March 10th, I’ll be releasing Hockey Hunk. It’s an April Fool’s Day romance in the Loving the Pucker’s series.
Then in April, I’ll be releasing Melting Hearts. It’s in my Loving the Sound Series and it is the love story for Petey who has been in all of those books thus far and is Lily’s dad from Hockey Hero. His love story has been a long time coming.
After that, I plan to do a couple box set releases. I’m probably going to slow down from a rapid release schedule some. Most likely do a book every other month rather than every month. I know in the Loving the Puckers series I want to release a Christmas, St. Patrick’s Day and off-season themed stories. Then in the Loving the Sound series, I’ll like to do a story for Colby Smith which is a new goalie and I need to introduce a couple other players to that mix.
17. What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
Kat: I love Hockey Hero since it has some of my favorite things from the NHL and my previous books. EBUGs (emergency backup goalies) are some of my favorite things in the NHL. Most of the time, they are only there to sit on the bench but it’s still cool to hear about a random employee who is a goalie ends up getting tapped to get dressed with the team. But when David Aryes got to play more the last few minutes and won for the Carolina Hurricanes, I knew I wanted to do a female EBUG who had a chance to play. Then I was just satisfied with the ending after having a couple false starts that were close but not really there.
18. What do you think about the current publishing market?
Kat: Think the biggest changes have already happened. More and more authors are hybrid or independent. The appeal of going to the big publishing isn’t really there anymore. I love being an Indie author since I have more control and can make some money. The downside is having to the promotion by yourself but publishers don’t really help with that anymore.
19. Do you read yourself and if so what is your favorite genre?
Kat: I love to read. I try to read at least 100 books a year. I do love to read hockey romances best and I’ve been staying mostly in the realm of romance. I do also read a fair amount of memoirs and history books.
20. Do you prefer to write in silence or with noise? Why?
Kat: I do like to write with something in the background. If it gets too quiet, I can’t focus. That being said, I do have to be careful not to put on anything too loud and crazy. If I find myself not focusing, I’ll put on some music.
21. Do you write one book at a time or do you have several going at a time?
Kat: Due to my rapid release schedule, I’ll have several books going on at the same time. I will have one manuscript that’s in it’s rough draft stage and being written. Sometimes I’ll have two books in the manuscript phase. Then there is one in the editing stage where I’m trying to clean up a story and get it prepped for publishing.
22. If you could have been the author of any book ever written, which book would you choose?
Kat: My books speak to me so I’m proud to have my name attached to them. While I adore Dorothy Parker’s work, H.C. Anderson’s fairy tales and Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. I don’t think I could take ownership of those works. I would rather meet with them and discuss their works and hang out with them.
23. Pen or type writer or computer?
Kat: I typically will write on computer since that’s where I’m comfortable to work on. But there are times when it’s best for me to hand write it out so I’ll keep a notebook with me and I’ll write it out in pencil. I dislike writing in pen since I make too many adjustments and I want a page to look more or less clean. Scratch out marks will bug me.
24. Tell us about a favorite character from your books.
Kat: I have two. Scotty Wheiland. He’s always been the hero for me and the one that I dream about the most in a sexual way. It’s why he’s my first hero and he appears in every book thus far. Then I also love Klaus Lagerfield. Like Scotty, he’s appeared in all the books but with him you get to see a real character development. In the Loving the Sound Series, he started off as a kid of three and right now is currently age six in that series. Then in the Loving the Puckers series, he’s now twenty six. He gets his love story first and then plays a role in the friend group that the subsequent books come from. So while you still see that kid from before, you see him turn into a real man.
25. What made you want to become an author and do you feel it was the right decision?
Kat: It happened over time. As a little girl, I thought Murder, She Wrote was amazing and I wanted to live a life like Jessica Fletcher and be an author but I seldom voiced that it seemed crazy and something that couldn’t happen.
In high school and university, I knew that I needed to improve my writing skills so I joined a Star Trek roleplaying site. I realized I love creating stories and it was a great way to hone my writing. Then when I lived in Pittsburgh that urge to write was still there but I wasn’t being satisfied as much through the Star Trek roleplaying site. At the urging of my ex and my family, I was encouraged to join some groups in the area to create a social circle. I joined the Homestead Writers Circle that met at a local Barnes & Noble. It gave me a platform to learn about writing and share some of my short stories. I started a couple urban fantasy pieces but those never really got off the ground. I left the group when I moved back to Philly for a second round of grad school. Due to school, I stopped writing for a bit. Then I saw that the leader of the Writers group in Pittsburgh passed away and I realized I didn’t want to pass away without completing my goal of becoming a novelist and publishing my books. I told myself it was time to write a novel and to continue working on it no matter what. At the time, I was reading a lot of hockey romance and I wanted to write my own. I know the sport, I liked the structure of a romance novel and I went for it. I finished my first novel in a span of a year.
While my closest friends and people in Cleveland aren’t surprised that I’m writing hockey romance novels. I surprised a lot of other people since they always saw me in the urban fantasy or sci-fi realm since that’s what interested me for so long but I couldn’t finish a story in those genres.
It was totally the right decision to become an author. I loved the idea of being an author and respect them so much. I have these stories in my head that I want to share. After I finish one story, I have another story that I want to write. As a result, I now have three novels and five novellas completely written with more in the works.
26. A day in the life of the author?
Kat: It means writing everyday and being curious about how to improve my writing. This means reading books on the craft of writing, taking various webinars, and listening to my more successful peers. I also read books in my niche. I wouldn’t be writing hockey romance books if I didn’t adore hockey romance novels as a reader. I’ll read while I’m on the bus commuting between my two jobs. I make sure that I’m writing at least a thousand words a day. That means writing whenever I have a break or conceptualizing stories when I can. Since I work two jobs in addition to my writing, I’m also doing things like teaching swim lessons or lifeguarding.
27. Advice you would give new authors?
Kat: Write every day. Educate yourself. Find mentors. Ask questions. I’m a person who believes a rising tide raises all boats so I’m always willing to share what I learned and have found that worked for me.
28. What are you currently reading?
Kat: I’m currently reading the Season Opener Anthology from Elle Woods PR. It’s got full length novels from most of my favorite hockey romance authors: Kelly Jamieson, Jami Davenport, Kat Mizera, and others.
29. What is your writing process? What are common traps for aspiring writers?
Kat: I’m a pantser who needs a basic outline. I will do about a six line outline with the major plot points that I want to hit. From there the story will develop and sometimes the story will take a left turn that I wasn’t expecting but it turns out to be a good thing.
I think the common trap is getting too trapped into a method and not being willing to adjust to a story as it’s needed. There are times I think of the story out of order but I want to write everything all at once but that always isn’t the answer. I can tend to write better stories if I write what’s coming to my head.
30. What is your writing Kryptonite?
Kat: I’ll say alcohol. I just lose my writing mojo when I drink it.
31. Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?
Kat: I try to do both. I love being original and adding my own twist on things. But I’ll use tropes and write the market
32. How long on average does it take you to write a book?
Kat: My novellas will take about a month to really write and get ready for publication. Those tend to come to me in a more complete story and I know where I want to go with it from on the onset. The novels are something that’s harder for me to predict and take longer. Falling Fast took me about a year. Crashing Hard took me six months. Stepping Up took me four months. My next novel looks like it’ll be the same amount of time.
33. Do you believe in writer’s block?
Kat: I do but I don’t think it’s a traditional idea of writer’s block.
One of the things I studied and find fascinating is positive psychology. Within the field of positive psychology, one of the most zen and productive periods of people are when they are in a state of flow. Concentration is there, you’re at your peak performance, and things just emerge. I’ve often gone into states of flow when I’m writing my stories. Things are coming out and it’s effortless.
I’ll say that I’ve hit a writer’s block when I’m not working in flow. The words are coming in at a trickle. Then I get frustrated and I will fight the story more. I used to go into a stage where I stopped writing. After reading books about successful leaders and people, I learned how you should do it regardless how easy or hard it is. So I’ll continue to write a thousand words a day and I try to take the stress off myself since flow isn’t something we can be in constantly. Professional athletes have bad games/performances, business leaders make bad decisions, and etc. For writers when we’ll have periods when things start to dry up. Then the next thing I know that the story is coming together and I’m in my state of flow.
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Title: Hockey Hunk
Series: Loving the Puckers Book 4
Author: Kat Obie
Genre: Contemporary Hockey Romance
Out on the ice, the season’s going great, but in the locker room the pranks are getting out of hand. It was time for me to remind everyone not to mess with me— so I came up with a prank the team, and my best friend, would never forget.
Renee Weber is my best friend’s sister. And like me, she’s also ready to teach her brother a lesson. Together, we work out the ultimate April Fool’s prank— telling everyone that Renee is having my baby.
Our plan works perfectly, except for the part where I fall for Little Weber.
What’s the worst that could happen? Either lose my best friend or Renee. Quite frankly, I don’t know which one is worse.
It’s not in my DNA to lose so I’ll have to come up with something big. I’ll pull out a win one way or another.
Note: Hockey Hunk is your best friend’s sister romance filled with sexy hockey players where a fake pregnancy prank goes horribly awry— or did it go perfectly?
Grab the fourth novella in the Loving the Puckers series for hockey-filled dreams tonight.
~~Releases March 10th!!~~
I was getting antsy. It took all self control to keep myself from bouncing my leg while I hung out with Webs to play some Call of Duty. Renee was coming today and she assured me she was ready to announce our love affair.
I was worried that she might not get onto the airplane and bail. I kept checking my phone for that she was on the way or any update at all.
Webs elbowed me, “Dude. Quit looking at your phone. I need you to protect my flank.”
“Well it’s not my fault that your girl keeps sniping. If I didn’t know better, there’s trouble in paradise.” It was weird that Lily was also playing with us but she was upstairs rather than with us but whatever floats their boats.
“If you were going to be such shit company, I would rather be hanging out with Lil.”
Shit there was trouble in paradise, maybe this wasn’t the best time for a prank but it’s too late to tell Renee that we needed to hold off. “What’s the deal?”
“She got word that Riker’s coming back and she’s going to be sent down to Hamilton in the next week.”
Their whole love story was pretty epic since they fell for each other when she was an emergency backup goalie and she earned a spot on our team while Riker went through alcohol rehab treatment. I hoped that they would get the whole season together but that just sucks.
“Sorry man.”
“It’ll be okay. We’ve been lucky that she’s on the team. Who else gets to hang out with their girlfriend so much?” That’s Webs looking on the positive side of things but no wonder he was giving some shit for being bad company if he wasn’t going to see her for a bit. I’m surprised he was spending the afternoon with me.
The doorbell rang. I tried to pretend I didn’t have any idea of what was going but that had to be Renee. He paused the game and answered the door.
If it was possible, she looked even more beautiful then she did in late January. Her hair was looking lush, long and wavy. While her green eyes were similar to her brothers, hers always seemed to pop especially when her dark hair was down. I was instantly hard by her beauty.
Too bad this prank was the closest thing I would get to having her as a girlfriend. Then again, the next few days would really see how much of a dead man I would be if I did touch her.
The moment she spotted me on the sofa, she looked pissed. She came my way and slapped me right across the face. I was in utter shock and just sat there blinking. “What did I do?”
We agreed, we would ad lib the announcement but oww. Did I have to get slapped? She shouted, “You got me pregnant, you asshole.”
In unison, both me and Webs asked, “What?”
Then Webs turned towards me and he looked pissed. Not that I blamed him but I did supposedly break the bro-code. “Did you sleep with my sister?”
“Um…. Maybe…” Then I got hit for the second time in the span of minutes. That one I was expecting.
There was no way sleeping with your best friend’s sister wasn’t ever going to be a free pass. That didn’t mean that didn’t hurt my jaw. Especially since he got me in the exact spot as Renee did.
Rubbing the spot that he hit in the vain hope it would stop the stinging. Both of the Webers were screaming at the same time. He yelled, “Get the hell out of my house, Shoresy. I don’t want to kill you,” while, Renee screamed “Don’t you dare kill him Colton”
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Title: Hockey Hero
Series: Loving the Puckers Book 3
Author: Kat Obie
Genre: Contemporary Hockey Romance
I had the perfect date. I brought her home and right as we were about to get it on, she ran away. So I never expected to see her ever again but here she is becoming our emergency backup goalie.
How can I convince this amazing, talented girl to give us a second chance?
Not helping things was getting egged on by teammates to make a move since it’s Valentine’s Day.
So I did something incredibly stupid and kissed her. At least, she kissed me right back.
Maybe all hope isn’t lost, except for the fact, it’ll be just one night.
If only she could play with us every night but stranger things have happened. She could have the best game of her life and win a spot on the Sound.
That would be amazing.
Note: Hockey Hero is your second chance romance where you have female goalies, hot hockey players, and a Valentine’s Day vibe. Grab the third novella in the Loving the Puckers series for hockey-filled dreams tonight.
He chuckled and tried to hide his smile behind his hand. I didn’t understand what he found so funny. He said, “‘Cause normal girls can just afford to spend thousands of dollars on dates with bachelors at a charity event. Besides, there’s no way to remain anonymous after tonight. You know that, right?”
He was right. At least for a short bit, I’d be famous. Then the hoopla would die down and people would forget about me, since it was only one game. “Only if I have to play.”
The two of us made our way down the hall. As we were about to turn into the hallway for the locker rooms, he stopped me. “It’s Valentine’s Day. Would you want to finish our date after the game?”
It seemed too good to be true. He was pretending I hadn’t completely flaked on him.
I don’t know what got into me, but I didn’t want to commit to a date. Probably because his ego might have gotten too big for his britches and I thought he could do what I was about to ask. “Only if you score tonight.” I stared at his jawline that I was so desperate to kiss again.
His eyes lit up. “Oh, you can count on that.”
Then his soft lips came down on mine and we kissed again. It was like no time had passed since our last kiss.
The moment was broken when I heard an “Ahem.” Colton pulled back from the kiss, and Scotty was staring at us. “When I said help Lily get acclimated to the team, that’s not what I had in mind.”
I was mortified that Scotty caught us kissing. I don’t know what made it worse: the fact that Scotty was my boss for the day or that I thought of him as an uncle.
Scotty was clear. “My office now.”
That ended the moment, and we followed him to his office. As we got to the office door, he pointed to Colton. “Wait here.”
I walked into the cupboard-sized office. It wasn’t made to host a lot of people. “Sorry about that in the hallway.” I couldn’t bring myself to actually say that I was making out with Colton.
Scotty sat down. While he was trying to be tight-lipped, you could see a smile on his face. “Are you going to hit the Sound with a sexual harassment lawsuit?”
“No.” That was the last thing on my mind, even if things ended badly. I couldn’t believe he’d just asked me if I was thinking about a sexual harassment lawsuit.
“Then it’s fine, as long as you guys only canoodle when people can’t catch you.”
I don’t know what I found more shocking: him using the word “canoodle” or that he seemed okay with the fact that he’d just caught me making out with one of his players. “Wait, you’re okay with what just happened?”
“Yeah. Both of you are good kids, and it’s Valentines. You deserve to have some fun.” It was so shocking. He was protective of his daughter, Alex, when it came to dating, so I figured that he would be pissed to see me making out with anyone. Then again, he was so romantic with his wife, so I might have read him wrong.
Regardless, I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth and question things.
“The real reason I wanted to talk to you was that I needed to make sure your head was in the game for today since I just got word you are going to play.”
“Wait! What? I’m the EBUG. What’s going on with your backup goalie?”
“Showed up puking in the locker room. He wasn’t feeling well this morning, but I thought he could sleep it off. He didn’t. He’s going to start the game so we’re legal, since we must dress two goalies. We’re only going to play him for the first period or until he can’t play anymore. Whatever happens first.”
This should have been a dream for me, but it changed everything. It was a lot of pressure, and I was going to get so much press regardless of whether we won or lost. I stated the obvious. “Not having much luck with goalies today.”
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Title: Hockey Hellion
Series: Loving the Puckers Book 2
Author: Kat Obie
Genre: Contemporary Hockey Romance
I’ve always had a thing for Sabrina Lagerfield.
Too bad she can’t stand to be around me and won’t give me the time of day.
When I had to host a party for her brother and make it a night to remember, I came up with the perfect plan. Convincing her to help me create an epic party.
Puck me, a snow storm had to hit when she was over effectively trapping us together.
This can only end one of two ways.
We’ll never speak to each other again or she ends up naked in my bed.
I know which one I want.
Note: Hockey Hellion is your enemy to lovers and a forced proximity romance. What could go wrong when you mix a love hungry hockey player with a gorgeous headstrong girl? Grab the second novella in the Loving the Puckers series for your hockey romance fix.
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Title: Hockey Hottie
Series: Loving the Puckers Book 2
Author: Kat Obie
Genre: Contemporary Hockey Romance
I’ve always had a thing for the coach’s daughter.
Not that he needs to know that. Coach thinks she and I are friends… and we are, have been for years. But I’d sure like to be friends with benefits.
Except then I’d be dead, because coach wants to believe his daughter is still the angelic little figure skater who just needs a workout buddy.
Why, oh why did I ever agree to help her train?
There’s no way I can keep my feelings for her a secret when we’re getting hot and sweaty together.
But I’ve got the perfect plan.
Just one little date won’t hurt.
Until she shows up to the Halloween party wearing that.
Puck me.
Note: Hockey Hottie is your escape into some friends to lovers romance with schmexy hockey players, some figure skating antics, and too many Labyrinth Halloween costumes. Grab this first book in the Loving the Puckers series for your hockey romance fix now.
**Get it FREE March 9th – 13th!!**
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Kat Obie is a passionate hockey fan. She plays, she watches, she dreams of it so she decided to start writing hockey romances.
Find Kat: Facebook | FB Group | Instagram | Bookbub | Amazon | Goodreads
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$15 Amazon Gift Card, E-book of Stepping Up by Kat Obie – 1 winner each
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Maggie Blackbird 
Looks like an amazing series to get my hockey fix. Thanks
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