Living a paranormal life

Last week we floated on Nancy Nicholson’s sailboat. This week we’re talking about a different kind of floating … spirits. No, not the kind you drink. Whether you believe or not in the paranormal and things that go bump in the night, they are simply part of author Kathryn Brown’s life.  She is a convincing advocate!

Kathryn lives in a 18thC  farmhouse built during the time of the Industrial Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment and before both the American and French revolutions. With her gift of connecting with spirits, imagine the company she finds within those walls!

Living in the Northumberland area of England, Kathryn is part of the wonderful and eclectic community of writers I’ve had the pleasure to connect with through LoveAHappyEnding.com. Established by author Linn B. Halton, this group of 30 invited authors and associate readers, is a fine example of the support and networking in which writers participate all around the globe.

Celebrating the relaunch of her novel, Discovery At Rosehill, I’m pleased to introduce you to Kathryn and know you will find her website offers a wealth of information. Not only does she share her work in the paranormal genre (which includes romance, mystery and suspense!) but Kathryn also is a powerful spokesperson as she writes of her experience in raising a beautiful young daughter with autism.

Kathryn, it’s such a pleasure to have you visit here! Congratulations on the success of Discovery at RoseHill which I recently read and could not put down. As you know, I am as interested in the story about an author as I am about the stories they have written. I know you have a wealth of interesting information to share with my readers, so let’s get started.

You’re fortunate to live in a truly historic home on a beautiful property. Please tell us how you discovered it. What would you say is the best part of living in such an old home and what is the most challenging?

Kathryn: I found the house back in 1993 when I first visited Northumberland with my parents. We stayed in a holiday cottage on the farm and I fell in love with the place! Even back then, I knew this was where I belonged. I think we all get a hunch sometimes when our heart misses a beat and we realise where our destiny lies. I had no idea when or even if I would live here, but circumstances changed dramatically in 2001 when my dad passed away and I needed to move on. His introducing me to this beautiful place was like a “calling”, as though he had introduced me to a new life I would one day live. And so, just 6 weeks after his passing, I moved to Northumberland and began my new life on the farm, where I have lived ever since.

The house is very atmospheric; it contains a wealth of history and recorded facts within its walls. Every time I touch a wall I feel a rush of energy surging through me, as though I’m being introduced to another experience that once happened to previous occupant. The house was built in 1750 as a gentleman’s residence, and I suspect servants are still running through its halls whenever I hear the little bell ring.

I’m intrigued how, as well as a writer, you describe yourself as a farmer. You explain that you take care of the admin side and your husband really farms but I suspect your involvement is much greater than paperwork. Would you let us peek into that side of your life?

Kathryn: My work on the farm is mainly accounting and sorting out the admin, paying bills, sending out invoices, calculating quarterly tax payments; it’s all very boring really! But I do help during the lambing where I become a midwife – someone has to do it! And no, lambs aren’t cute; they’re filthy, tiring and very expensive to run, lol.

You write often, and touchingly, about the joys and challenges of having a twelve-year-old daughter who happens to be autistic. I want to thank you for sharing your experiences. Every person learns from reading your blog posts. If there was one powerful message you wanted to share with parents, what would it be?

Kathryn: Just one?! In that case, I want to banish the ignorance that surrounds our society as a whole. People with disabilities are looked on so often as less than equal, as people who are contagious, people who are stupid. My daughter and all other autistic people are far from stupid. They are wired differently. They are still equal and should be treated as such. I find when I blog about special needs issues, my comments take a dramatic fall and it upsets me. I want to get the message out there that “anyone” can wake up one day and find themselves with a disability, yet the majority of people refuse to accept this. People stare at us, they ridicule my daughter with their eyes, they misunderstand her. But what they don’t realise is that she hates people staring at her, she never ridicules others and the reason she doesn’t understand them is because they treat her as a second class citizen. To Amy, everyone is the same. She sees the world literally, in black and white, while they see her as different.

How did you become involved in writing about the paranormal world. Does this exist for you strictly in fiction or is it actually a part of your life?

Kathryn: It’s a part of my life. It has been for many years. Not in a scary way but in a wonderful way. How many of us would love to speak to our loved ones just one last time? I speak to mine often. That’s why I wrote paranormal; I wanted to turn my experiences into fiction, allow them to become someone else’s experiences. By creating Camilla I was able to stretch my imagination and give my main character a new dimension to life.

Please tell us a bit about Discovery at Rosehill.

Kathryn: The book was started as a diary of my own paranormal experiences. After a while, I realised I could make a story out of it by expanding these events into a story surrounding main character and medium, Camilla Armstrong. It’s a mystery, but one that Camilla solves. And of course I wanted to introduce a love interest, but being a little controversial, I decided Camilla’s relationship would be with a vicar. Conflicting and complicated, but intriguing and exciting. I’m a lover of twists in the tale which is why I created the character of Ross, an old flame who breezes into Camilla’s life and confuses her just when she’s in the throws of falling in love. But the real story behind Discovery at Rosehill is the paranormal story; a tale of visiting spirits who grace the rooms of Rosehill and help Camilla to work out the mystery of why she was led to the house by her deceased grandmother.

What future plans do you have for writing and publishing?

Kathryn: I’m currently working on a murder mystery called Hideaway. I hope to start the edits soon. I’m not sure at this stage whether I will self-publish again or whether I shall try my hand at submitting, but once it’s been edited and proof read and I’m ‘almost’ happy with it, I’ll make my mind up. An author can spend months editing and getting it just right, but there comes a time when tinkering is just for tinkering sake, and submitting is the way forward.

Thank you so much for having me on your blog, Patricia.

The pleasure was mine!

Discovery at Rosehill Amazon listing – click here.

How do you feel about the paranormal? Is it something you think about? Have you ever had any experiences with visits from apparitions?