Kat is ready to tell her story: coming of age at the dawn of the internet era.
You did this.
Autumn 2002. You were with me in Mountain View, CA when I wrote the inciting incident of what would become my novel.
You were there.
Autumn 2004. You sat with me in the Harlem/Morningside Heights’ Café Amrita on 110th St & Frederick Douglass Circle as I finished the first 100-page draft of the manuscript.
You were there.
Winter 2005 thru summer 2006. You were a distant dream, dear reader. I stopped writing as my life crashed down around me in Sunnyvale, Willow Glen, & Campbell, CA. But you were there.
You were there.
Autumn 2006 thru summer 2010. You travelled with me throughout South Korea, where I completed the first full draft of the manuscript.
You were there.
Winter 2011 thru spring 2017. I almost lost you again, reader. Settling in northern Illinois, working several jobs, cooking for Nic through grad school, my own (money) career pursuits left no time for writing.
But you were still there.
Summer 2017 thru summer 2019. You kept me company as I carved out time to start writing again during marathon weekend sessions in Houston, TX.
You were there.
Autumn 2019 thru winter 2021. You were waiting for me in this Des Moines home office every morning as I drafted, tinkered with, and tweaked the manuscript (one hour a day before work, four to eight hours on the weekends).
You were there.
Because you were there all along, Kat is now here. Ready to tell her story.
nick holmberg 
Good going, Nick. Now that you are a published author, are you starting another novel?
Heya, Uncle. Thanks! I hope you get something out of The Emergent.
Yes. One is already in the works, though I haven’t worked on it in almost a year. It’s a novella tentatively titled Variations on a Plague. I’m trying my hand at dark humor. In an ideal world, I will have the first full draft done before the end of the year.
It’s been an honor to watch your journey, Nick! You’ve done it! I’m so proud! ☺️
Thanks, Erin! Glad to have you on my side! Looking forward to chatting about it with you someday.