As a child, Caro Kinkead was told Dr. Seuss’ job was “writing books,” and decided she wanted to do that when she grew up – along with being a ballerina and an archeologist and about a dozen other things. A fear of snakes signaled the end of her ambition to find the next Tutankamon’s tomb, the dancing (and acting) didn’t quite pan out, but the love of writing remained, allowing her to enjoy those varied careers and more in her imagination. She can’t remember a time when she wasn’t writing something or the other and finished her first “novel” at the age of eight.
Born and raised in Houston, TX, Caro grew up in a family of readers, where she developed a love of science fiction and fantasy thanks to her father, and old movies and the art of costuming from her mother. She performed with local theater groups and attended the prestigious High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, majoring in drama to no one’s surprise. Nor was her family surprised when that training led her west to Los Angeles, following in the footsteps of so many before her in an attempt to discover fame and fortune – or at least a steady acting gig. Office work paid the bills most of the time, and her ambition slowly shifted from in front of the camera to the keyboard, and from scripts to prose. There are, however, a few fragments of an Oscar acceptance speech filed away. Just in case. She didn’t abandon acting entirely, participating for a decade in the Renaissance Pleasure Faire and enjoying costuming at local science fiction conventions.
For the past twenty years, she has participated in the November madness known as National Novel Writing Month, “winning” most of her attempts to write 50,000 words in 30 days while surviving Thanksgiving. For several years now, she has posted a quote and some thoughts each day of November fher fellow writers. These essays became the foundation for Surviving 30 Days of Literary Madness, a daybook of encouragement and support for those participating in NaNoWriMo.
When not at the keyboard working on the next installment in the Just a Touch of Scandal series, as well as some other projects not yet announced, she shares her home in the greater Los Angeles area with her husband and two cats, their book collection which has outgrown the shelves and more yarn than she’s willing to fess up to. A proud, life-long geek, her current obsessions, aside from knitting down the never-ending stash, are The Great British Bake-Off, classic films, British detectives, Chinese drama, comics in general and the Marvel Cinematic Universe in particular. Oh, and any book which catches her fancy.
