Christina Baker Kline
Christina Baker Kline
Christina Baker Klineis an American novelist. She is the author of five novels, including the #1 New York Times bestselling novel Orphan Train, and has co-authored or edited five non-fiction books. Kline is the recipient of several Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Fellowships and has received numerous other awards...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
CountryUnited States of America
bookstores chain companies editors hard laid large online retailers
It's hard selling books in general: companies are merging, editors being laid off, bricks-and-mortar bookstores closing, large chain bookstores squeezing out independents, and online retailers squeezing out chain bookstores.
autograph available copies ideal next novel six weeks
In my ideal world, my next novel would have a first printing of, say, 2,500 hardcovers for reviewers, libraries, collectors, and autograph hounds. The publisher could print more copies if they get low. And simultaneously, or six weeks later, the book would be available in paperback.
domestic genuinely novel
When I start a new novel and find myself diverted by domestic activities, many of which I genuinely enjoy, I panic that I will never write another word.
book campaign cover crafted impact marketing maybe year
With a hardcover, you get two chances, a year apart, for the book to make an impact - often with a new cover featuring artfully crafted snippets of reviews, a new marketing campaign and maybe even a new publisher.
mind moments disappear
Time constricts and flattens, you know. It's not evenly weighted. Certain moments linger in the mind and others disappear.
dream play decision
When something terrible happens, a lifetime of small events and unremarkable decisions, of unresolved anger, and unexplored fears begins to play itself out in ways you least expect. You've been going along from one day to the next, not realizing that all those disparate words and gestures were adding up to something, a conclusion, you didn't anticipate. And later, when you begin to retrace your steps you see that you will need to reach back further than you could have imagined, beyond words and thoughts and even dreams, perhaps to make sense of what happened.
broken-inside expression empathy
She knows too well what it's like to tamp down your natural inclinations, to force a smile when you feel numb....The expression of emotion does not come naturally, so yo learn to fake it. To pretend. To display an empathy you don't really feel. And so it is that you learn to pass, if you're lucky, to look like everyone else, even though you're broken inside.
trying be-kind assumption
I like the assumption that everyone is trying his best, and we should all just be kind to each other.
broken-inside looks lucky
And so it is that you learn how to pass, if you're lucky, to look like everyone else, even though you're broken inside.
few hats humans needles orbit suddenly sweaters wear yarn
For a few years, skeins of yarn piled up in baskets around the house. There weren't enough humans in my mother's orbit to wear all the scarves and sweaters and hats she knitted. And then, as suddenly as she started, she lost interest, leaving needles still entwined in half-finished fragments.
few human orphan riders simply surprised surprising trait whether
The most surprising thing, honestly, is that so few Americans know about the orphan trains. I was also surprised at the resilience and fortitude of the riders I met, their pragmatism and grace. I don't know whether this is a Midwestern trait or simply a human one.
funny inspire parents sisters sustain three
My parents are a bedrock. And I have three complex, strong, and funny sisters who inspire and sustain me.
death paperback understood
For years I'd understood that publishing in paperback was the kiss of death.
observing work
I often work and write in coffee shops, observing the baristas and eavesdropping on interesting conversations.