January 5, 2010

Greetings:

Welcome to the Kapri Books website! There are so many other sites you could be visiting right now and you chose mine. Thanks so much for that. My name is Katrina L. Burchett and here is my story…..

I wrote Choices years ago and sent queries to quite a few publishers, trying to get it published. Most of them seemed to like the story, but had their reasons for responding with a rejection letter. I put the manuscript away for months and months and months at a time, discouraged by the rejections, but I had a vision of a published novel that I could not shake. I had a story in my heart I put down on paper and I did not want to give up on it. I like my characters and I wanted people to know about them, so, like many others before me, I stepped out and published my first novel. Kapri Books, an Independent Publishing Company, is named after my teenage niece. My plan is to begin with three books (the Choices trilogy sounds good) written by myself and then, Lord willing, Kapri Books will publish works of aspiring authors who desire to write quality fiction for teenagers.

It is my desire to use the talent God gave me to make a difference in the lives of teens. Yes, when you read my books there will be a mention of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. My heavenly Father has done so much for me and I will not exclude Him from my writing, but please know that I would never preach at, talk down to or condemn anyone in any way. In my stories, some characters will be Christians and some will not. Christian characters will never be perfect; they will mess up just like Christians do in the real world. Also, there is a bit of profanity in this first book, because, yes, young people do use bad language. For that reason and because of some of the other content, I did not label Choices Young Adult Christian Fiction. Others have tagged it as such, though, and that's just fine with me. Still, others have tagged it as Urban Fiction and Chick Lit.

So, okay... with all of the sexually active teen and teen pregnancy statistics, I wanted to go deeper than the percentages. I know from experience that it's not always about hormones, so for my first novel I wrote a story exploring reasons why some young people are choosing to engage in premarital sex. Shauntice, Angel, Bridgette, LaKeeta, and Hope are five girls dealing with different circumstances resulting in five very different choices.

Like life experiences, Choices, teaches important lessons. It is a story that takes place in the City of York, Pennsylvania where I grew up. It tackles the issue of teen sex as well as teen pregnancy, domestic violence, parent/teen relationships, boyfriend problems, and acquaintance rape (this is the "other content" I was referring to earlier; the scene is vivid). Yes, these teens are facing difficult situations, and through it all there is emotional and spiritual growth. And although the protagonists in this story are African-American, I believe teens of all races will find a character they can relate to.

It is my hope that Choices will not only entertain, but will motivate readers to examine themselves, their lives and the choices they make. You see, I've made choices I regret . Although I've stopped dwelling on those mistakes long ago, I'm reaching out to teens with my writing because I'm really hoping to help readers to not make my mistakes. Now, here’s the most important part: If there’s something that needs to be changed – something in your life that could be better – every moment is a chance to begin again. Please never ever forget that.

Choices is fiction for mature readers. Teens and adults, female and male, have enjoyed the story and I believe you will as well. If you decide to purchase a copy, I thank you very much for your support. I hope you e-mail me when you've finished reading the book, because I love to hear from readers. Just a few have contacted me so far and each email was encouraging and uplifting. Finding out how much someone enjoyed my story helps me to know my work is not in vain and that's something I can hold on to whenever I begin to doubt. So thanks to those who have shared their thoughts about Choices with me.

Please don’t let this be your last visit to the Kapri Books site. If you've been here before, you've probably noticed an announcement for an upcoming contest. Regrettably, that contest has been postponed, but I haven't forgotten about it. It will be held at a later date, yet to be determined, and all I'll say right now is - to qualify to win questions about the story will have to be answered correctly. I'm really looking forward to blessing one of my readers with an 8GB iPod Nano! Be sure to check back again, because I'm really hoping to have the contest this year and you never know what else will be added to the site. Oh, don't forget to check out the music videos before you leave.

Be Blessed!