Local author, wife, and proud mother Katie McKnight, 44, recently published her debut novel, Secrets Revealed, a suspenseful romance drama that has been a top seller for her publisher.
Secrets Revealed tells the exciting story of Broadway actress Melanie O’Shaughnessy and her new heartthrob Hollywood husband Ryan Carlisle. “Melanie has been keeping a secret for ten years and now someone from her past returns and threatens to reveal the secret,” explained McKnight. “She fears a public scandal but what she doesn’t realize is that someone near to her is masterminding a plan for murder. What she should really be fearful for is her life.”
McKnight’s Long Island roots inspired her to set some parts of the novel in Brookville and Rockville Centre. The book also takes place in Manhattan as well as Pennsylvania.
“My publisher has been very pleased with how the book has been doing,” said McKnight. “I was thrilled when I found out that it has remained at the number six spot on Eternal Press’s best seller list for the past three months.”
McKnight explained how she got her start at writing: “When I was 22 years old, my husband developed a hole in his heart. He needed to undergo open heart surgery. I was a young bride at the time and it was a very scary time in my life. I had a difficult time dealing with the situation so I started writing my feelings down in a notebook to help me cope. Thankfully my husband fully recuperated.” McKnight continued to write after her husband’s recovery and her talents progressed into short stories and eventually into full-fledged novels.
One reader named Donna Riccardi wrote her review of Secrets Revealed on amazon.com and said the novel was “A sweet, well written, love story with a twist…I recommend this book and will follow the author for new releases.”
With such an exceptional response to McKnight’s first endeavor as a professional writer it is no surprise that she is already working on her next yet-to-be-titled literary hit. “Right now I am working on a story about a woman whose husband gets into an accident,” explained McKnight. “While he is in the hospital she discovers that everything about their marriage has been a lie. Even though his wife tries to move on, she keeps getting dragged into his web of lies.”
Aside from writing novels, McKnight is also an anti-bullying advocate at Howitt Middle School where she works as an aide. She became motivated to find ways of building friendship between students after one disheartening incident she witnessed. “A student had brought in a picture of their new dog and they were excitedly showing everyone when another student said ‘That’s the ugliest dog I have ever seen.’ I thought to myself, why did that student have to say that? It was very unnecessary and clearly hurt the other student’s feelings.”
While brainstorming solutions to combat bullying, McKnight and another aide thought up the idea to incorporate music and trivia games into the students’ lunch period. “We pose a question to the children every day and the kids work together and try to figure it out,” explained McKnight. “If the kids get it right they win a prize. We also play music for them and they have a great time. The children start singing along to the lyrics and they really just interact in a positive way.”
When posed with the question of what she loves most about the writing process, McKnight told the Farmingdale Observer “Writing tears me from the real world and drops me into the lives of the people living in my imagination.”
McKnight studied at Queens College and Piedmont Community College. She is a member of the Farmingdale Writer’s Group and the Long Island Writer’s Guild. She lives happily with her husband and three sons in Farmingdale.
Secrets Revealed is available in paperback and e-form at www.eternalpress.biz, www.amazon.com, and at Barnes & Noble. For more information about McKnight visit www.Katie-McKnight-author.com or www.writergirlkatie.wordpress.com.
On May 20, McKnight will be at the Farmingdale Public Library at 7 p.m. to talk about Secrets Revealed.
