The Daily Times

For a homeschooling mom of three young boys and also the wife of a Marine to find time to write a novel is amazing.

For that mom and wife to get that book accepted and published by Harlequin, is altogether awesome.

That’s what happened to one of Maryville’s own, Karen Kirst. This graduate of Maryville High School and the University of Tennessee has spent the last six years in North Carolina, where her husband is stationed in the Marines. Back in 2001, Kirst said she decided to start writing a novel in hopes of getting it published. She submitted a couple of manuscripts to Harlequin and was turned down.

“At that time I put my writing aside to start a family,” Kirst explained. Then about two years ago, she decided it was time to pick up where she left off. With Harlequin, Kirst explained, you don’t need an agent to submit your work. You simply query your book and if they are interested, they will ask for the manuscript.

Belief in your work

Second time was the charm for Kirst, as she got a call last October from Harlequin, accepting her book. It’s called “The Reluctant Outlaw” and is the first of a series entitled Smoky Mountain Matches. This first is set in Gatlinburg and Cades Cove in the 1880s and tells the story of the O’Malley family.

The story begins as Evan Harrison joins a gang of ruthless outlaws to find out who killed his brother. Then as the gang tries to rob a mercantile, an innocent bystander, Juliana O’Malley, walks in, forcing the outlaws to take her hostage. The gang takes her deep into the mountains as Harrison become protector of this unwilling participant and puts himself in danger.

The right tools

For Kirst, writing a book didn’t seem like an insurmountable task, even with a busy home life. She said she was one of those children who always had her nose in a book as a child and who loved the challenges at the collegiate level.

“I have always been an avid reader,” she said. “My best childhood memories are of hanging out at the Blount County Library. I was one of those kids who always read the assigned book list at school.”

As a speech communication major at UT, Kirst said she had a lot of writing experience. It wasn’t creative writing, she said, but it did give her the confidence that she could tackle this project. “I think the volume of writing that I did helped me not be intimidated by the idea of writing a book,” this author explained.

There are still lots of ideas floating around in Kirst’s head, a good thing since she plans to write at least five or six romance novels in this series. Because she home schools her boys, she writes whenever time allows — 2 a.m. or on a lunch break. It’s a schedule she has become comfortable with.

Kirst and her family came to Maryville days ago when Hurricane Irene put her state on its East Coast map of destruction. Kirst’s parents, Richard and Dorothy Kirst, still reside here. She is still in town, spending time with family and friends while her husband has since returned to North Carolina. Their house, fortunately, wasn’t damaged.

Learning as she goes

This whole writing process has been amazing, this new author said. Because she sets her stories here in East Tennessee, she spent lot of time delving into history to make most of it accurate to the period. It is fiction, however, so some liberties have been taken.

“The Reluctant Outlaw” is now available online at places like http://amazon.com and http://barnesandnoble.com and http://eharlequin.com . It should also be stocked at Walmart and Kmart, Kirst said. The second in the series, entitled “The Bridal Swap,” is set to come out in March.

Kirst pointed out her series is part of the Harlequin Love Inspired category, which means there is a faith element to it. That also means it’s G-rated, she said.

Reviews for Kirst’s debut novel have been complimentary. While not everybody puts romance novels at the top of their reading list, this one has other elements going for it. It is more like a western novel with romance mixed in, Kirst said. There is definitely a lot of action.

This series is quite enough to keep Kirst busy for a while. She hasn’t taken on any more projects. It’s a foot in the door and she will see where it all takes her.

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