Link back to the person who created the tag. According to R's Loft, it is Savannah who created it
Thanks the person who tagged you. I wasn't tagged, but thanks to R's Loft for making this available!
Share the tag graphic. I'm assuming it means reuse the banner above, so I did. But I'm annoyed Harry Potter is in the picture.
Tag eleven bloggers. This isn't happening. I don't know eleven bloggers. If you're a writer, I TAG YOU!
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Vital Stats and Appearance
Name: Kristina Elyse Butke
Nicknames: Kris. Usually only my family can call me this, but when I taught in Japan I told people to call me "Kris" because I thought it would be easier for them to say. It's "Kurisu" in Japanese (クリス).
Birthday: July 26
Hair Color and Length: My hair is usually a really dark brown but honestly it's been growing in silver these past few years, and I have to dye it all the time. I usually wear it shoulder length but I've let it grow out to the longest it's ever been, halfway down my chest.
Eye color: Brown
Braces/piercings/tattoos: My ears each have one hole in them and I have a tattoo of the Welsh dragon on my right ankle. I want to get a tattoo of a Japanese dragon on my left ankle.
Righty or lefty: I'm righthanded.
Ethnicity: White, and half-German on my Dad's side. I'm not sure why this is being asked.
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Firsts
First novel written: My first novel ever was my graduate thesis, The Name and the Key. I wrote it from 2010-2013, the duration I was in graduate school.
First novel completed: The Name and the Key, 2013.
Award for writing: When I was younger I got awards for my writing. I won the DARE essay contest, and got school awards like the Bill Asher Drama Award for playwriting, plus awards in high school. I haven't been nominated for or won any awards as an adult, but I hope that changes.
First Publication: When I was eight. It was called something like 2000 A.D. - A Child's View. I was also published in middle school in a poetry anthology called Teacher's Selection and then in my adult years I've published poetry in a few online magazines. It's hard for me to write poetry and short stories while working on novels, so that explains why I have this huge gap where I haven't published anything--too busy working on Son of the Siren.
First Conference: I attended the Columbus Writer's Conference in the early 2000s, I think when I was still an undergraduate at Capital University.
Query/Pitch: My first query letter was written in 2013 to Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary. There was a pitch session at graduate school and she asked me to query her after I pitched the book. I was rejected, but she included some advice for me that was helpful, so I took it as a very good rejection. It was for The Name and the Key. I didn't query anybody else because I decided it needed rewriting. I've been working on rewriting it on and off for years, going back and forth between preparing it for publication and letting it sit. As of right now, I'm rewriting it for publication. We'll see if I can keep up with that!
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Favorites
Novel (that you wrote): Son of the Siren. The Name and the Key will always have a special place in my heart, but I made some grave mistakes with that one, which lead to my decision to rewrite it from scratch. I have mentioned on the blog that it's my favorite book before, but that has changed with some thought. Son of the Siren was the hardest book I've ever written, and it has had a long journey that's nowhere near close to being finished, but I think it's the best thing that I've written, and now it's my favorite.
Genre: Fantasy
Author: I have several, but if I narrow it down to one, I'm going with Margaret Rogerson.
Writing Music: Soundtracks and classical music.
Time to Write: I tend to do late mornings into the afternoon. I used to be a night owl but as I've gotten older, that's changed.
Writing Snack/Drink: I've stopped drinking soda so now it's fruit punch, water, or Vitamin Water.
Movie: It's really hard to pick my favorite but I really like Elizabeth with Cate Blanchett. I could watch that over and over again.
Writing Memory: I have good memories of doing my musical Melancholia at OSU Mansfield. I wrote the book, music, and lyrics. It's one of my greatest achievements.
Childhood Book: The Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series.
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Currently
Reading: I'm reading a bunch of BL on Lezhin and some BL eBooks, like Seaside Stranger by Kanna Kii. I'm currently in a rut with novels, unfortunately, and DNF'd my last two because I just couldn't get into them. I'm also dipping into Grimm's Fairy Tales to get some inspiration for my next book.
Writing: I'm working on the sequel to Son of the Siren (finally! working on something!) and writing blog posts and scheduling them in advance. I also started working on The Name and the Key again even though I said I would stop. I'm so changeable!
Listening to: Not really anything at the moment.
Watching: In terms of anime, I'm watching Attack on Titan: The Final Season and Hell's Paradise, I'm also watching the Harry and Meghan documentary on Netflix.
Learning: I want to take some developing education courses and some writing courses but I don't have the funds right now.
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Future
Want to be published: Definitely. I'm working on that now. I got an agent in January and we've been working together to get prepared for submission, and now it's a long waiting game. I've been praying hard nearly every night about it. If it doesn't work out, I'm going to self-publish, but I'd rather publish traditionally.
Indie or Traditional: I originally wanted to pursue indie publishing but it's got me scared, I don't have the knowledge or business acumen, and I ran out of money. But if Son of the Siren fails on sub, I will definitely pursue self-publishing again.
Wildest Goal: I want to see people cosplaying my characters, writing fanfiction, and making fan art. I'd also like to be nominated for a World Fantasy Award at some point. Perhaps even wilder, I want my work to be an animated series by Kyoto Animation in Japan.
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