{"id":3163,"date":"2026-04-10T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.katjarestovic.com\/?p=3163"},"modified":"2026-03-13T11:53:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T10:53:22","slug":"my-hairdresser-doesnt-want-to-read-my-novel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.katjarestovic.com\/en\/coffee2go\/my-hairdresser-doesnt-want-to-read-my-novel\/","title":{"rendered":"My Hairdresser Doesn\u2019t Want to Read My Novel – She\u2019d Rather Write Her Own"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I spent a long time thinking about and preparing this promotion around my novel Gates of Redemption, as well as my new website, podcast, and of course this Coffee2go blog you\u2019re reading. One evening in early November, I organised a small working meeting at my place, with a bite to eat, and invited Biba and Sandi \u2014 a wonderful married couple who do my web design. And that evening, they said to me:
\u201cKatja, do you realise it\u2019s been thirteen years since we worked on your website?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thirteen. One tends to think it was just yesterday. Of course, we refreshed it regularly, added texts and photos, announcements\u2026 but still \u2014 thirteen years pass in the blink of an eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve had social media all these years, and I know very well how it works. I also have my wonderful, talented assistant Ana, who has been with me for a long time and is now taking care of all of this as well. I\u2019ve always had \u2014 let\u2019s call it that \u2014 a certain resistance to all of it. But even my publisher Neven says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKatja, it\u2019s important. Current. Necessary. Inevitable. You need it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time, I felt that importance too, and I said to myself: \u201cOK. Let\u2019s do it \u2014 but in a different way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, over the past few months, I\u2019ve been actively researching everything: what people read, what they click on, what keeps them engaged for longer than three seconds. That kind of content often reminds me of the \u201cfriendship notebooks\u201d we had in primary school \u2014 I made them weekly, just so I could write special questions and give them to someone I liked. Yes, that was my adrenaline.<\/p>\n\n\n

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I ask myself the same about this blog \u2014 will it interest anyone at all, do people have time for anything that lasts longer than five seconds? What are they even looking for?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more I analysed, the more one thing became clear: for me, this is a tool, and that\u2019s how I\u2019ll use it. I started honestly, without filters or cheap tricks. And that\u2019s how I\u2019ll continue. Whatever happens \u2014 happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My goal and motivation are simple: that my novels \u2014 in this case Gates of Redemption \u2014 reach someone to whom they matter. Just that. And that\u2019s why I come to the question: do we read at all?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll explain why I ask. Every manuscript has its beta readers \u2014 people who read it first and can give the author useful guidance: whether the plot is clear, whether some parts are too long, and so on. It\u2019s a huge help, and I was very lucky. Anka Poropat (from the readers\u2019 club), a wonderful woman, and my sister \u2014 a passionate yet objective reader \u2014 were excellent. They saved me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because, believe it or not, more than thirty people turned me down. Friends and close acquaintances. Their reasons were simple and everyday ones: \u201cSorry, I don\u2019t even have time to watch my favourite series\u201d; \u201cI have too much work\u201d; \u201cUntil New Year\u2019s I can barely breathe from work\u201d; \u201cI\u2019m on a business trip\u201d; \u201cI\u2019m drowning in deadlines\u201d; \u201cThe kids exhaust me\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And honestly \u2014 I understand them. A day passes like a whirlwind. Night comes, one or two in the morning arrives, and I catch myself sitting there asking: \u201cDid this day even exist?\u201d The only time I can really do anything is at night, because during the day\u2026 phones, emails, people, messages, questions, apps that supposedly make life easier but actually bury you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course we don\u2019t have time to read when the day chews us up and spits us out \u2014 but then, does writing even make sense?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything has become instant and superficial. Everyone thinks they can do everything. We\u2019re educated, instructed, bombarded. Online schools, online love, recipes for everything \u2014 from cooking to mental disorders and therapy. We\u2019ve all become bipolar \u2014 if you don\u2019t have likes and followers, you don\u2019t exist. And even if you pay for extra likes and followers \u2014 it\u2019s still nothing. There\u2019s no private fulfilment or satisfaction in that. An empty hole always remains an empty hole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And profit \u2014 of any kind \u2014 achieved in that viral way has practically become the only officially accepted PR and marketing model. Yes, times have changed, and that\u2019s fine. But what has also changed is that much of what is valuable and high-quality has become irrelevant. And that \u201canyone can do it.\u201d Well \u2014 not quite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a few anecdotes about all of this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ANECDOTES \u2014 about writing, people, and expectations<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

One day, I went to the hairdresser \u2014 actually, to her assistant. I sat down, she was doing my hair, we chatted, as one does at the hairdresser\u2019s. At one point, she looked at me through the mirror and asked:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKatja, could you recommend something light to read?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was thrilled. We looked at each other and I said: \u201cI can bring you one of my earlier novels, for example Placida Curatto. Light reading \u2014 a bit of sex, a bit of drugs, a bit of rock\u2019n\u2019roll\u2026 more in the crime genre.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And she replied, completely calmly, casually, over the hairdryer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo need, thanks. I\u2019ll write my own novel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t expect that. For days I thought about that sentence \u2014 about how people really believe writing a novel is like making instant soup. But it isn\u2019t. And it can\u2019t be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another situation. I have a friend who decided \u2014 as he charmingly put it \u2014 to \u201cimitate me a little.\u201d I found it adorable. One day he calls me and says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKejt, I\u2019m going to write a novel about my life. You inspired me. I\u2019ll imitate you a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I told him: \u201cGreat honey. If it excites you \u2014 start. I\u2019ll help however I can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few days later, he called again. I asked how the writing was going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo-so. I wrote one page\u2026 but today I\u2019m not in the mood. Maybe I should set aside two hours a day for writing \u2014 what do you think?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was shocked. Office hours for writing? You can\u2019t order inspiration from four to six in the afternoon! When I write \u2014 I write day and night, for days, for hours. I don\u2019t stop. But yes, I agree \u2014 we\u2019re not all the same. And that\u2019s perfectly fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there\u2019s another friend who wanted me to write his book about love and sexual adventures \u2014 under his name, of course. He said many people would recognise themselves in it. It would help many who\u2019d been in his position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I agreed. Why not. I told him: \u201cThat\u2019s called ghostwriting. I could do it. But I\u2019d need at least three active months of research and writing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And he asked: \u201cHow much would that cost?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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I said: \u201cI think it would be fair for it to equal three monthly salaries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naturally \u2014 it was too expensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as I think about all of this, I often remember our gardener, who charged no less than a thousand euros for trimming the hedge around the house. A company we contacted afterwards asked for two thousand euros \u2014 for just a few hours of work. And so it goes, in circles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I write this, I catch myself turning the same questions over in my head: do people read, do they have time, do they have the will? Then I smile. Maybe it\u2019s actually much simpler. Those who love reading always find their way. Books, in the end, always find their people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all read differently. When I pick something up, for example, it has to grab me immediately \u2014 the first, second, third page. If it doesn\u2019t, I can\u2019t go on. The same applies to films. Music. People.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My sister reads everything, from beginning to end, regardless of her first impression. She says she wants a complete picture. I read quickly, diagonally, especially when deadlines are involved. But if I like something \u2014 then I simply devour it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I finished writing the first two novels of the trilogy \u2014 Gates of Redemption and The Secret Order \u2014 I was so high on adrenaline that I immediately had to write eight or nine short stories just to come back down to normal. That\u2019s my drug \u2014 words, thoughts, sentences. I love them so much that if someone uses incorrect punctuation, I react instantly. It\u2019s as if someone physically hits me. It hurts and cuts through my brain. All the sirens go off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever thought about punctuation? About words? About the speed of everything rushing past us\u2026 about reading? About that quiet sport we\u2019ve unconsciously pushed aside in our everyday rush? If you have \u2014 then you\u2019re my kind of people, and I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll see each other soon, at our next coffee-to-go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

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