Kristin Wolden Nitz

Author: Kristin Wolden Nitz

  • Al-Ahzar Park

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    Kristin Wolden Nitz
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    While I didn’t set a scene at Al-Ahzar Park, my characters visited it between the ending of one chapter and the beginning of another.   It also came up in conversation a number of times for various reasons.  So of course, I had to go.   Several supporting characters in my novel belong to the same ex-pat family.   While…

  • Kentucky Bluegrass Master List: Music to my Ears!

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    Kristin Wolden Nitz
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    I found out yesterday that Saving the Griffin made it onto the  Kentucky Bluegrass Awards Master List for grades 3-5!  This is Kentucky’s children’s choice award program.   Students will vote for their favorites next Spring. It’s so exciting to know that my book will be in a really high percentage of public and elementary school…

  • Like a Jane Austin Novel with Less Clothes….

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    Kristin Wolden Nitz
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    I can certainly understand why Terry Pratchett’s novel NATION won so many awards and received so much critical acclaim.  It’s set in a parallel world to ours that has enough changes that he can do what he likes with certain elements of history including a flu epidemic making one of his young characters second in…

  • At the Khan al-Khalili

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    Kristin Wolden Nitz
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    Egypt has over 5000 years of recorded history.  Often, people concentrate on the days of the pharoahs from Menes (Narmer) to the suicide of Cleopatra VII.  But Egypt continued to play its part in world history even though it wound up being ruled by a series of invaders: Romans, Arabs, Fatimids, Mumluks, Ottomans, French and English.…

  • Abusir is Closed

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    Kristin Wolden Nitz
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    Abusir is not one of the classic, must-see sights of Egypt. As one of my characters observes,  “No one says ‘I want to see Abusir before I die.”  The pyramids there are 100 years younger than those in Giza, but in much worse condition. I can just hear some Ancient Egyptian bean-counter saying over 4600 years…

  • My Characters Made Me Do It!

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    Kristin Wolden Nitz
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    In every other project that I’ve done up until MARK OF THE SCARAB, I experienced things before I created characters.  In fact, on my website, there’s an article about how I wasn’t able to write about Merano, Italy until I got to know it. My friend Jeanie Ransom said something like the following: “You’re living in…

  • Dirt Piles and Pyramids

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    Kristin Wolden Nitz
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    I was mowing my lawn one day when I found myself thinking about how I might be able to deduct a visit to see my sister on my taxes.  At the moment, I was thinking more in terms of trying to get a paid author visit to the school where she teaches, the Cairo American…

  • My Griffin

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    Kristin Wolden Nitz
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    How much is that griffin in the window  It had been a long day in Siena. My family and I were walking along the Via Terme back to the Blue SITA buses when I saw him in the store window: a griffin clutching a ball. I stopped and stared. A larger version of this creature…

  • A Book Binge

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    Kristin Wolden Nitz
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    Claire Dunkel, the author of THE HOLLOW KINGDOM, once wrote that she never reads other people’s novels when she’s in the middle of writing one of her own books. This was years ago, and she very well may have changed her approach.  But I thought there was something to that.  I still do read, but…

  • Edit Using More Than Your Eyes

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    Kristin Wolden Nitz
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    Last week, I put the finishing touches on a middle grade novel and sent it off to my agent.   It had undergone one major revision and any number of minor ones.  Once I fixed various problems with setting, logic, characterization, and plotting, it was time for the line edit.  I don’t want my agent or…