The price is right for Karin Tanabe...plus a book giveaway

Almost 13 years ago my mom gave me her mom's cedar chest. I always knew I'd get it one day as an inheritance, however my mom decided she didn't want to wait until then.  She wanted me to inherit it while she was alive so she could see me enjoy it.  I appreciated my mom doing this for me.  I had spent many years as a child admiring this piece of furniture and its history.

Today, we talk to Karin Tanabe whose latest novel, The Price of Inheritance, focuses on the history of an item and the impact it has on someone who isn't necessarily the one who was next in line to get it.

Karin is a graduate of Vassar College and currently resides in Washington, D.C. with her husband Craig.  She's a former reporter for Politico  and made frequent appearances as a celebrity and politics expert on television, including on Entertainment Tonight, Inside Edition, and CNN.

To celebrate the recent publication of The Price of Inheritance, thanks to Karin we have THREE copies to give away to readers located in the US.

You can find Karin at her website, Facebook and Twitter.

What are the top three things that make writing difficult for you?
1) Social Media. I love it, don’t get me wrong, but man oh man does it become my black hole of procrastination. “Ou! New friend request. Oh look! She had a baby. It’s so cute. There’s a video of him eating macaroni through his nose! Wait, is my ex-boyfriend on Instagram? Is he married?!” You know how it goes.

2) Reading a book that is insanely good. I absolutely love to read a great book. I’m sure every reader here does! But there are certain ones that you finish and you’re like, “Wow! I could never ever pen anything this good. Might as well stop trying.” Sometimes I can get intimidated and that will slow my writing down.

3) FOMO, better known as Fear Of Missing Out. All the writers out there know that the hardest part of writing a book is writing a book. There are a lot of days where I have to hide in my cave of loneliness and become one with my writing, but I know my husband or friends are out doing something super fun. I’ll sneak glances at the aforementioned social media and just get jeal-ous. “Look at them drinking! Wine! And laughing! And I’m alone in my pajamas and I’ll probably get one million varicose veins from being glued to this chair, and this computer is making me blind and just…wah!!” And I’ll forever complain about it, but it’s still totally worth it to me. Because they get hangovers and I get a book!

On average, how long do you write each day?
I’m pretty good with my word count discipline. When I have a project, I keep a very strict 10,000 words a week rule. Ideally that means 2,000 words every weekday with weekends off, but sometimes I will goof around on a day and be like, “I work from home! I’m driving to the beach, getting tan and eating all the things!” and then I get stuck writing 5,000 words in one day.

Where is your favorite place to write and why that location?
I do a lot of writing in my bed (Don’t judge! Edith Wharton did too), but I also love to write in the Kogod Courtyard at The National Portrait Gallery. It’s such a gorgeous space, there is wifi, a cafeteria, empty tables, and if you’re a good enough sleuth, even power outlets. Plus, you can procrastinate by going to look at masterpieces. My favorites are the portraits of writers. F. Scott Fitzgerald, Maya Angelou, Henry James, Louisa May Alcott—all chilling in those halls.

What do you consider your greatest asset?
Since we are talking about writing, I will say that my best assets for writing are discipline and passion. Whoops that’s two. Clearly my asset isn’t humility! I am pretty decent at getting the job done. I think the grind of writing isn’t for a lot of people, but I enjoy the journey and I can sequester myself with my computer every day and still manage to be pretty sane. And then there’s passion. I just straight up love the written word.

My dream vacation would be to:
Go off the grid in France! I am a huge Francophile. As in I would like to name my firstborn child France, but my husband will have none of it. So I would have to say an entire month in Provence with magical money for me to spend and lots of theatre, museums, shopping and endless rosé to drink. And truffles. Copious amounts discovered by one of those enterprising pigs.


If I were ruler of the world, I would:
Abdicate and go back to writing books. After I cured AIDS/Cancer/Famine/Ebola/Illiteracy and all those other pesky things, of course.

Thanks to Karin for visiting us and sharing her book with our readers!

~Introduction and interview by Tracey Meyers

How to win:  Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

a Rafflecopter giveaway



US only. Giveaway ends August 24th at midnight EST.