An Interview with JK Keane, Author Behind ‘Mia, the Lost Kitten’

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I am very excited to share my interview with JK Keane, author of Mia is Lost, a children’s fiction book on animals and also her first book, published in January 2023, featuring beautiful illustrations and complex characters.

JK Keane, short for Jessica Karla Keane, was born in Germany but moved to the UK in 1997. She worked for almost 30 years as a vet in the UK before retiring in 2020 to follow her passion for writing and spend more time with her family. She lives with my husband in the UK in a county called Shropshire.

I hope you will enjoy this interview with Jessica!

Selected Reviews of Mia is Lost

“Our daughter (4 years old) avidly listens and loves asking questions about Mia and what she is going to do. An enjoyable read, highly recommend.” – Duncan Richards

“I thoroughly enjoyed this charming gem! As a child, I was fascinated with stories about animals, and this would have made it into my top five books along with my favourite collection of stories about a very talkative and imaginative hamster. I would recommend this book to any child around the age of six or above, or anyone with an interest in stories about nature and adventure. The plot was gripping throughout and the illustrations were delightful. I can’t wait to read the next instalment!” – Jo Leddington

“A lovely read for children and adults! I couldn’t put it down.” – Lorraine P.

What inspired you to become an author?

I always liked writing. German and English were my favorite subjects in school, but I also loved animals and decided at the age of four that I wanted to become a vet. Working long hours as a vet left little time for writing, but over the years the wish to write stories became stronger.

I started journaling and began to write stories for my granddaughters. One story they particularly liked involved a little black kitten called Mia and they kept pestering me to write more about her and her friends.

Please tell us more about the book in a few short sentences.

Mia is Lost follows the adventures of a little black kitten and her animal friends. It is a chapter book, aimed at 6-9 year-olds. Having worked for many years as a vet in the UK, I chose a black kitten as the main character as black cats sadly still struggle to find forever homes.

I hope that the Mia books will encourage more people to adopt black cats and that children will enjoy going on woodland adventures with their parents or grandparents to look for the forest animal characters.

As a family, we had great fun looking for Freddie the ever-hungry squirrel, nosy hedgehog Hugo, and the two kind deer Dina and Dancer.

Describe a typical writing day.

There is no such thing as a typical writing day. I try to write every day but haven’t got a strict routine.

My best writing time is in the mornings after breakfast, but if the weather is nice and the woods or the grandchildren are calling then I write later in the day after a hike or some gardening. I try to split my time between writing new stories and editing.

I am also part of a local writing group. We critique each other’s work and read our pieces out loud which has been a real eye-opener for me.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

I love being outdoors, hiking with my husband, spending time with the grandchildren, looking for birds, or going on little woodland adventures.

I also play a bit of golf with a lovely group of ladies, love reading books, and try to learn classical guitar (not very good).

What was the most challenging thing about writing this book?

Accepting that it would take a lot of time and effort to learn the skills required to become a writer didn’t come easy.

It took me three years to move from the initial short story I read to my grandchildren to a published book with illustrations. I soon realized that I needed to hone my writing skills especially as English is not my native language and writing a children’s book requires a very different skill set than writing a dissertation or a clinical report.

I enrolled in two creative writing courses, read all I could about writing, and joined a local writers’ group.

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Which part of the book is your favorite?

That is a hard question. I like so many bits. I love the passages where Mia meets Freddie the squirrel and Hugo the hedgehog for the first time.

If I had to choose one scene in the book then I would choose the scene where the forest animals and Mia’s cat friends decide that they will work together and mount a rescue mission for the lost kitten.

How do you develop your plot and characters?

I am more of a pantser than a plotter. I start with an idea but then the characters sort of take over and the story often evolves in a different direction. Walking helps, as I often think about the story and the characters and come up with ideas in my head.

The Mia book started as a short story about a cat that didn’t like being black and struggled to make friends.

What do you think makes a good story?

I like stories where I can get emotionally attached to the characters. I want to forget that I am reading and immerse myself in the book’s world. I often cry a little when I am reading and think that the author has done a good job if I have to reach for a tissue. A good story stays with the reader for a while and they struggle to let the characters go.

How do you do research for your books?

Mainly internet searches, but also through books and talking to experts. I like to go out into the woods and observe more closely, then write my impressions down when I am back home.

Tell us more about the publishing process behind the book. Have you reached out to anyone?

The publishing process was hard and proved a steep learning curve for me. I decided to self-publish and found a local firm that supports indie authors.

I had been very lucky that an artist friend of mine painted beautiful watercolor illustrations for the interior and the cover. I hired a professional copy editor and also paid for a cover design and professional formatting of the book.

With the help of my husband, I published the book on Amazon in January 2023.
Mia is Lost is available as an e-book and paperback and is currently free on Kindle Unlimited.

Spreading the word about the book is my newest challenge and not easy for a newbie without a big social media following. I am looking forward to doing some storytime events in my local area, reading from the book, and teaching facts about forest animals.

So far I haven’t had the opportunity to do podcasts or YouTube interviews but I hope that will change soon. I have done a couple of short videos thanks to the help of my Ukrainian guest and you can watch them on my FB page or Instagram.

What are some tools you used to write this book from start to end?

I like to write the first draft quite quickly, often initially on paper. Later, I write mostly on my computer as I find playing around and rewriting a first draft is where the real magic happens and I need to copy and paste, delete, and move things around a lot.

What authors inspired you into becoming an author yourself, if any?

I am showing my age here. I love books written by Astrid Lindgren, especially her collection of fairy tales and everything by E.B. White. My favourite is Charlotte’s Web; still makes me cry now. Michael Ende’s Neverending Story also left a lasting impression. I wanted to fly the dragon and ride the white horse. I wish I could write like Katherine Rundell. She is a current writer whose writing I admire greatly.

What are your future plans and where can our readers find you?

I have written two more books about kitten Mia and her forest friends and plan to publish the second book Mia Fights Back later this year!

I have also begun work on a novel about a middle-aged vet who quits her job and goes for a long walk, an adult fiction book partly inspired by my experiences as a German vet in the UK.

Readers can follow me on Amazon or sign up for my newsletter on my website.

If you want to follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter click the link here.

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Have you enjoyed this Q&A with JK Keane? Let me know in the comments below! ❤️