Author Interview with Kit Tosello & a Giveaway

I’m thrilled to introduce you to debut author Kit Tosello and give you an inside look at her upcoming Women’s Fiction release, The Color of Home. Be sure to comment below by September 17 for a chance to win a copy! (US winner can choose a paperback or ebook; International winner will receive an ebook)

Welcome, Kit! Start off by telling us a little about yourself and your family.

I grew up in the redwoods on the central coast of California. Twenty years ago, my husband, Garth, and I moved our family of five to an adorable little Oregon town on the sunny side of the Cascade Mountains. I’m a kitchen designer turned writer and editor and a small business owner.

For the past nine years, we’ve operated a loose-tea shop in our quaint, Western-themed tourist town. In previous life chapters, we operated a video store, natural foods store, and coffee house. I love drinking our artisan teas and reading books, preferably together! Also hiking, exploring, and capturing images of nature with my camera. Our three grown children and two grandchildren top my list of greatest joys!

You’ve had so many wonderful experiences. I love it. Who was your favorite book character as a child and why?

I’m definitely a silver-lining, everything-is-somehow-going-to-be-okay kind of girl, which has, for the most part, served me well. So I adore Pollyanna. But I’d also like to give a shout-out to another kindred spirit, Amelia Bedelia!

My daughter loved Amelia Bedelia books. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

At various times I dreamed of being a teacher, a flight attendant, and a cruise director. At some point being a novelist became a next-level dream, a dream I thought too audacious to even fully acknowledge to myself, let alone confide in anyone.

And look at you now! How and when did you start writing?

At heart I’ve always been a writer. But I didn’t get serious about it until my mid-forties! My life was full of raising kids, our businesses, and often working outside the home as a kitchen designer—until the economic downturn. When I lost my job, my youngest daughter excitedly said, “Now you’ll have time to write your book!”

I began with nonfiction: inspirational blogging, writing features for the local paper, contributing articles and devotions to various publications. Then, four years ago, a cancer scare woke me up to the fact that more than anything I wanted to finish my novel. While my doctors were ruling out cancer (which they did, praise God), I was finally becoming a novelist!

I’m praising God with you that you didn’t have cancer and that your publishing dream has come true! Is The Color of Home inspired by true events or personal history?

My main character, Audrey, is a Bay Area interior designer. Inspiration for her came partly from my years as a kitchen designer in California. At one time I struggled with panic attacks, so the younger me would very much relate to Audrey and the pressure to perform that plagues her as the story opens.

Audrey and I also share the tragedy of having lost our fathers while we were teenagers. My father died of lung cancer. So I wanted to explore the potential for transformation when a young woman comes to recognize her need to shed some of the emotional coping mechanisms she developed as a young person in crisis.

Audrey’s go-to coping method is to rigidly guard her heart, and to seek a sense of control over her life. But these things no longer serve her if she wants to live freely and wholeheartedly.

Also, every day on my walk I pass an old, abandoned farmhouse, formerly a bed-and-breakfast. This sparked my imagination to invent a redemptive outcome for it, and so was born the Sugar Pine Inn in The Color of Home. Another real-life inspiration was my own move from California to a friendly small town in Oregon twenty years ago, which gave rise to the fictional setting of Charity Falls.

I appreciate your transparency so much. I’m reading your book now, and the depth of what you just described comes through powerfully. What do you hope your readers take away from The Color of Home?

First, I hope they’ll come away with a smile, feeling refreshed and hopeful. But I’d love to think the story spurs readers to ponder the deeper meaning of home, as it has for me! Jesus whispers, “Make your home in me just as I do in you.” I think it’s worthwhile to ask ourselves now and then, Am I making my home in the right things? To allow our deepest longings as well as our deepest disappointments to usher us into a deeper experience of his presence.

That’s beautiful, Kit. Isn’t it cool how God can use a fictional story to impact our own? How did you select the names for your characters?

The moment Audrey came clear in my mind, her name came with her. On the other hand, there’s a story behind her great-aunt Daisy’s name. Her character is loosely inspired by my aunt, a woman who championed my writing and inspired my love of books as a child. Her name was Marguerite. A marguerite is a type of daisy—isn’t that lovely? So her name pays homage to my own dear aunt.

Aww, that’s so sweet. If you wrote in a different genre than your current one, which would you choose and why?

I’m happy writing contemporary, but I also love historical fiction. So I sometimes entertain ideas for a dual-time novel, something that would draw on all the intriguing things I’ve learned about my own family history and carry them into the contemporary realm.

The thought of attempting a dual-time novel both excites and terrifies me. LOL. How long, on average, does it take you to write a book?

First I have to let the characters live in my head for a bit. Then I try to get the story down without going back and doing much self-editing. But I constantly fail at this because I especially love revising. So by the time I finish, it’s a fairly polished draft. Then I set it aside for a few weeks before coming back with fresh eyes and tweaking it some more. Six months is a good block of time for the whole process.

Six months sounds so short to me. I’ve worked on the two books I’ve written for several years. Haha! What does a typical day in your writing life look like?

I write as early in the day as possible, with a matcha latte at hand. If possible, I’ll write again or do other writing-related things after my mid-day power nap. But my duties at Suttle Tea and as a freelance book editor often demand I switch hats throughout the day.

Still, I have trouble shutting off the fiction part of my brain. So while I’m out and about, I jot down random scenes or snippets of dialogue as they come to me. So, yeah . . . I may look normal and responsible on the outside, but there’s usually a world of interesting things going on in my head!

I can totally relate! And now, you’ve got lots of promotion and marketing on top of everything else. I hope this interview will reach far and wide and you will gain some readers. Thanks so much for sharing on my blog. Congratulations again on your debut novel release coming up on September 24!

Join the conversation. Does Kit’s novel sound like a story you’d like to read? What aspects of the interview resonate with you most? What questions or comments do you have for Kit?

Be sure to comment below by September 17 for a chance to win Kit’s book. US winner can choose paperback or ebook; International winner will receive an ebook.

Also, enter the Goodreads giveaway here for another chance to win Kit’s book!

Please share Kit’s interview on social media to help spread the word about her debut novel!

If you missed my 2024 September new releases post last week, find it here.