Search and Rescue Day Blitz Day 2: Coffee With Katie Ruggle

Apr 4, 2016 | April 2016, Blog, Coffee With, Katie Ruggle

Rae: First, if we were meeting at a coffee shop I’d be drinking a Latte with Coconut Milk 🙂 What would you order?
Katie: A chai latte, please! I’m definitely a tea drinker, since any amount of caffeine makes my heart race, and I talk very fast (more so than usual, even :-)).

Rae: Thanks so much for hanging out with me today.
Katie: Thank you for having me! I love your reviews, and I’m so happy to be here.

Rae: Thank you for your kind words. I am thrilled that everyone will soon be able to discover the men and women from your Rocky Mountain Search and Rescue series. I am in love with your characters and can’t wait to see what mischief they get into.
Katie: I’m so glad you’re enjoying the series! It’s so scary letting the characters out into the world—I worry that no one will like them. It’s a little like letting your kindergartner get on the bus that first day of school, I imagine.

Rae: I think readers will rejoice knowing that they are investing in a series where each book will be released every two months or so – music to our ears! Are there any plans for books beyond the fourth one?
Katie: Even though I was cursing the packed release schedule while doing edits, I’m really glad they will be coming out so close together. I know the pain of reading the first in a series, falling in love with it, and then having to wait forever for the next one.

Although I don’t have any plans for a fifth Search and Rescue book at this time, it’s not an impossibility (or even an improbability). Also, there might’ve been some discussion about a future spin-off series, but you didn’t hear that from me. 😉

Rae: I must give thanks to your cover designers – LOVE them! Yup, sexy and edgy – makes you want to dive in with them 😉
Katie: Agreed! I love them, as well. Sourcebooks’ art department, the photographers, the models—everyone involved did an awesome job.

Rae: For those who have not read On His Watch they need to run over to their e-retailer and download it now, while it’s free! The first book in the series will be here in hours, the release day is tomorrow! Congrats.  What was your biggest obstacle while writing this series? Were there any challenges while writing the books?
Katie: Thank you! I’m equal parts thrilled and terrified about the (quickly!) approaching release of Hold Your Breath. Although writing the rough drafts was a relatively smooth process, with only minimal head-to-desk thumping, the biggest obstacle presented itself during edits—my schedule! I’m currently working the 10pm to 6am shift at a bakery. When I get home, I take the dogs for a run and then settle in to write or edit or do whatever else needs doing (while trying to resist the lure of Facebook. Darn those cute cat videos that keep me from working!). At 1pm (or 2pm or 3pm), I head to bed. As much as I like baking bread for many people, my dream is to write full-time eventually. Until then, I grab sleep when I can get it.

Rae: I am fascinated that you lived “off the grid” for a while – how long? What, if anything, did you miss most from modern civilization? How close was your nearest neighbor?
Katie: I lived in the Rockies for three-plus years. It honestly wasn’t as rough as it sounds—I had internet (okay, so it was satellite internet and only a baby-step faster than dial-up, but still…internet). After I was snowed in with a nonfunctioning wind turbine and propane generator and no clue how to fix either of them, I decided that a Plan B was necessary (as were Plans C-ZZ), so I had plenty of power after that. Living off-grid was mostly a matter of changing habits: charging all my electronics during the day while the sun was shining (gotta love that solar power), not using anything heat-producing (energy-suckers!) at night, and just being aware of electrical use.

I missed fresh produce the most—if I couldn’t make the thirteen-mile trip to the grocery store (which happened often), then I was stuck with frozen and canned vegetables and fruit. I’m not sure how far away they were in terms of mileage, but I could just manage to see my closest neighbors’ house from my driveway (I had thirty-nine acres). They were the best neighbors ever. About a year after I moved into my mountain home, they sent me a letter. Expecting to find a complaint about my dogs’ barking or something equally unappealing, I reluctantly opened it, only to find that they were very sweetly introducing themselves and offering to be my “Plan B” if anything was to go wrong (it was like they somehow knew how much I loved back-up plans). Although I rarely saw them except to wave as our pickups passed on the road, I always knew they were there and willing to help. It was reassuring in a place where the average emergency-response time was close to twenty minutes.

Rae: What inspired you to get your ice-rescue certification?
Katie: Honestly, it was less an inspiration and more of me stumbling into it. The fire department where I was volunteering at the time offered the course, and I thought, “That sounds interesting and kind of fun.” It was both, but also humbling…very, very humbling. Trying to “save” someone while dealing with the drysuit and the effects of the cold water was much harder than I expected. Let me just say that Lou’s first attempt was stellar compared to mine.

Rae: Wow, you’re skilled in Krav Maga, boxing and gymnastics – I know who I want with me when I need reinforcements 😉  I’ve always wanted to learn Krav Maga, but fear I wouldn’t be able to move after the first lesson. What would you suggest to anyone interested in learning?
Katie: Um…I wouldn’t exactly use the word “skilled.” The more classes I take, the more I realize how little I actually know. Krav Maga is awesome—you should try it! You’re right about it being a workout, but I like that it’s so practical. Instead of moving just for the sake of exercising, you’re also learning self-defense. To anyone interested in starting, I’d suggest ignoring your worries that it’ll be awkward and you’ll look dumb because you don’t know what you’re doing. Force yourself to go to that first class, and I bet there’ll be other raw beginners there. Plus, everyone’s concentrating on what they’re doing, so no one will even notice (much less mock) any dorky moves you might throw out there. A lot of places offer a free first class, as well as women-only courses. You’ll love it—it’s fun to feel like a bad-ass, even if you do limp home and fall face-first onto the couch afterward.

8 Tantalizing Tidbits:

1. What is your must read book and why? This is the Wonder by Tracey Ward, because it’s a sweet, simple, beautiful story.

2.What is one place that I should see if I visit your hometown? If you’d asked me a few months ago, when my hometown was Fairplay (aka South Park), Colorado, I would’ve answered the liquor store/taxidermy shop. I mean, you can’t beat that kind of one-stop shopping. When asked why the “liquor store” sign over the door was upside down, the owner answered, “It’s not upside down if you’re lying on the ground.”

Now that my address is a tiny Minnesota town (population 214), I’m not sure how to answer…I mean, all three bars on the same block-and-a-quarter making up the downtown seem like lovely places, but I don’t think I’m qualified to give can’t-miss recommendations yet. I’ve got a few years before I’ll achieve “local” status.

3. Castles or Beaches? Both. Is both an option? I visited Ireland for the first time a couple of years ago, and I fell in love with the castles. However, I’m a huge fan of SCUBA diving, and that works better somewhere with a beach (unless I do moat diving?).

4. What is one thing readers would be surprised to know about you. When I was small, I gave myself a new last name, and requested that I be called “Katie Ruggle Pittman.”

5. If you had an all expenses paid trip anywhere in the world for research, where would you go? Ack—so hard to choose. I want to go everywhere! I’m going to have to pick New Zealand, though.

6. What is your guilty pleasure? Tropical Skittles. Oh, and cookies.

7.  What are you afraid of? Ticks. Ugh. I’m fine with pretty much any other creepy-crawlies (I saw a huge spider in the hall at work the other day, and I said, “Hey, little dude,” and kept on walking), but ticks make my skin crawl.

8. Tats or No Tats? If tats, how many and what did you choose for your first one? No tats, only because I couldn’t decide on what I wanted. I also have a bit of a short attention span (“Squirrel!”), so I was worried that I’d get tired of it or, even worse, start to hate it.

Rae: Thanks again for hanging out! Time for another Latte 🙂 Happy Reading Dear Readers. Happy Writing Katie!

Katie: Thank you Rae! This has been fun. I can’t wait to see your review of Hold Your Breath!

Rae: Readers be sure to come back tomorrow for my review of Hold Your Breath and another chance at a fabulous giveaway.

*****GIVEAWAY CLOSED*****

Sourcebooks Casablanca is giving away
ONE print copy of Hold Your Breath to a lucky reader at the end
of this Blitz!

For a chance to win, answer the following question:

Would you ever be willing to live “off the grid” and if so, where would you go? 

At the end of the blitz all names from each daily post will be pooled together and a winner will be randomly selected by Books I Love A Latte on 4/6/16. This giveaway is exclusive to BILA and not a blog-wide giveaway.

Once posted the winner will have 24 hours to comment or another name will be drawn.

* Note: contest open to US & Canada residents only.*

Author Info:

A fan of the old adage “write what you know”, Katie Ruggle lived in an off-grid, solar- and wind-powered house in the Rocky Mountains until her family lured her back to Minnesota. When she’s not writing, Katie rides horses, shoots guns (not while riding, although that would be awesome), cross-country skis (badly) and travels to warm places where she can scuba dive. A graduate of the Police Academy, Katie received her ice-rescue certification and can attest that the reservoirs in the Colorado mountains really are that cold. A fan of anything that makes her feel like a bad-ass, she has trained in Krav Maga, boxing and gymnastics.