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PROFILE An Interview with Christina Katz
Christina Katz knows what it’s like to be a mother and a writer. The author of Writer Mama: How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids,says most of her writing success came about after she became a wife and mother. The book, which came out in March 2007 and was published by Writer’s Digest Books, gives specific advice on developing a freelance writing career while raising children. There is now a Writer Mama blog and e-zine, as well. Katz, who has an English degree from Dartmouth College and an MFA from Columbia College, is not only a writer, but a teacher and sought-after public speaker. She says she sometimes struggles with a desire to do too much. She lives in the suburbs of Portland, OR with her family. MWLM: You are an accomplished journalist, writing instructor, wife and mother who has appeared on Good Morning America to explain how, with all those responsibilities, you make time for yourself. Tell us what you told Diane Sawyer – how do you make time for yourself? CK: “In answering this question, I realized how much things have changed since I was on Good Morning America in 2004. I used to be the mom who would dash off to the coffee shop for a little time to myself, and certainly, there is nothing wrong with that, especially for moms of very young children who crave and need a break. And I’m not saying that I don’t still love a good massage, or a walk with my family, or time to read or collage. But what makes me feel most satisfied these days is action, which usually means diving into my work. I’m in a vigorous phase of my career at a time when the popular culture says ‘slow down, don’t do so much, don’t multitask.’ I have so many engaging projects going on I don’t want to slow down! I want to dive in and be fully engaged. And that also means I have to be careful not to overdo it.” MWLM: What kind of response has your Writer Mama book received? What has surprised you about the reaction? Did you use other research/experience in addition to your own life experience in writing the book? CK: “There is as much to learn from other women writers in Writer Mama as what I’ve experienced over the past eight years as a publishing writer. Writers who have been mentors to me inspired entire chapters. Chapter Seven is inspired by Wendy Burt’s example. Chapters 12 and 20 are inspired by Kelly James-Enger’s example. I also conducted interviews, took polls, and carefully examined what makes successful mom writers tick, so I could expand my scope beyond my limited experience. “I spent a great deal of time deciding how the book would be structured. My editor, Jane Friedman, offered excellent suggestions and really pushed me to make the book as comprehensive as possible. Readers love the book. They say it’s a quick read, yet they return to it often as a reference. The single most gratifying thing for me is witnessing the positive results readers achieve when they apply the lessons in the book. The most surprising thing is when readers say, ‘This book isn’t just for moms, it’s helpful for any writer.’ That’s nice to hear.” MWLM: Do you have plans for another book or other kinds of writing? If so, tell us about it. What other current and future writing projects do you have? Do you keep a journal? CK: “I keep a journal, but I only turn to it when the writing isn’t going well. It’s been almost a year since I turned in the final manuscript of Writer Mama, and my creative pump is definitely primed and ready to pump out ideas for the next book. I didn’t take a year off by any means, but since I was doing so much presenting, I didn’t crank out as many words in 2007 as I did in 2006. My next book for Writer’s Digest Books will pick up where Writer Mama left off, only for a wider audience. The specifics are top secret until the book is officially announced in early 2008.” MWLM: How much of an impact do your writer friends have on your career and the quality of your work? How does motherhood impact your work? Obviously, it provided a theme for the Writer Mama book, blog and e-zine, but how does being a mom influence the way you write, the way you feel about writing? CK: “Being a mother has made me a much stronger person than who I used to be. The moment my daughter was born, I realized a universal truth, which is that we come into the world whole, not some kind of blank slate for outside influences to write our identity upon. For me, the first years of motherhood were a time to redirect my life and activate my professional power with more clarity than I’d had before. “I think a reality check is built into the process of becoming a mother for the first time because suddenly you’ve got this little pair of eyes looking up at you, asking you to be the best person you can be. The best choice of whom to be, in my opinion, is to be the person we already are. That’s the most integrated choice and therefore the most natural. “Today, there’s dialogue about being a mother and a writer springing up everywhere. I think that’s great, but we all have to be careful not to get so fixated in the place where the two come together that we don’t get our writing done. A certain amount of containment and time management is crucial for every writer. My writing friendships have formed or endured alongside my determination to succeed as a writer. I know a lot of publishing writers, and I’ve cultivated a win-win-win kind of community. I’d say that the people who have a biggest impact on the quality of my work are my editors, who are also usually my friends.” MWLM: How old is your daughter now, and how does she feel about your writing? What do you do to encourage a love of reading and writing in her? CK: “My daughter thinks it’s just as natural for me to be a writer as it is for her dad to be a director. She’s now 5 1/2 and is in kindergarten half-days. I love having her home with me, and of course, it’s challenging too sometimes, but that’s just life. Daddy puts on plays. Mommy writes books. Daddy has students. Mommy has students. My husband teaches at the high school. I teach via e-mail. “At the library recently, the storytime leader asked, ‘Does anyone here have a mother who wrote a book?’ “It took a second for the question to register, but suddenly Samantha’s hand shot up and she said, ‘I do. I do. My mom has a book.’ For all my daughter knows, all moms have books, which is great. “What’s been helpful at home when I’m working is learning how I can tie in what Samantha’s learning at school with what she’s doing here. A little bit of ‘homework’ is starting to come home in her backpack, which is great, because she’s all set up to work here in ‘our’ office. She has her own desk and her own computer, which is my old one. She can practice writing words, fill in worksheets, draw, color, or an endless stream of activities that I have on hand for her. I’ll also let her watch a video from the library or play a few games on PBS.org each day. It’s easy to establish a rhythm. Now after school and then lunch, she says, ‘Come on, mom. Let’s go to the office.’” MWLM: Is it more difficult to be a writer in today’s world where fewer people seem to be readers? Is the future for writers more online than in print? CK: “Certainly, ease with the online world is a boon to the modern-day writing career. I don’t think that I would have a writing career without the Internet. However, I don’t think books are going anywhere any time soon. And moms have to be careful not to be so absorbed online that we get out of balance. Books are a known and a trustworthy commodity. More than that, they can become longtime friends. My shelves are full of books that I will treasure forever. The Internet is much more like the Wild, Wild West. I view the intersection between what has been and what is, an exciting adventure, as much as anything else. “And I still expect that high quality concentrated effort and thoughtfulness have gone into any book I purchase. I don’t think anyone should settle for anything less. On the other hand, I think that the quality of writing online is going up and will only continue to go up as quantity creates an increased desire for quality. I know in my zines, Writers on the Rise and The Writer Mama, quality is my highest priority, even though my zines are totally free. That’s the beauty of the Internet.” MWLM: Are there times when, even for you, the balancing act between writing and motherhood just doesn’t work? If so, how do you get back on track? CK: “The only time when juggling work and motherhood gets out of balance is when I overdo it, which I am often tempted to do since becoming an author. Being an author, teacher and speaker, in addition to being a writer, can tip the scale to overload if I’m not vigilant. I’ve also shocked some media folks by having needs. I’ve said, ‘No thank you’ or ‘I can’t right now’ to exposure because my workload was at my limit. In Writer Mama, I share 17 ways to avoid writer mama burnout, but taking good care of ourselves in a sea of others’ needs is an ongoing challenge for mothers. Trying to be everything to everybody is usually at the root of burnout. As soon as we recognize this, things usually snap back into balance.” MWLM: Tell us about your educational background and career before you became a wife and mother. CK: “I think the message in my education is that it’s never too late. I switched from Sociology to an English Major very late at Dartmouth College. I finished my thesis for my MFA in fiction from Columbia College at the 11th hour. I started teaching writing-for-publication to adults at the age of 34. Besides writing, teaching was the first real career ‘click’ I’d ever experienced. So I combined my two favorite things into a career, and it just keeps growing. Teaching and writing have gone hand in hand for me, and fortunately, Writer’s Digest Books actively seeks authors who are also teachers. In retrospect, most of my education happened before I was a wife and mother, but most of my success has come since becoming a wife and mother.” MWLM: What’s the most important thing, if you had to pick out one thing, you’d tell moms who think they can’t write and be good mothers at the same time? CK: “I’d simply point out that the thought is a bunch of baloney. But instead of just blurting that out, I would probably be much more cagey and do what a good journalist does. I would follow my curiosity and then start asking questions. For example, the first thing I would want to know is when did the role of motherhood get so mixed up with the word ‘good’? “The combination of words seems to imply that we are being evaluated by an external authority figure instead of trusting, honoring and acting on our own instincts. Maybe in the process of exploring this idea as a writer, I could help others realize that the myth of ‘the good mother,’ is just that. A myth. “I think all moms could stand to ditch the unrealistic expectation of ‘the good mother’ in favor of a more reality-based truth that comes from the inside, not the outside.” MWLM: Anything else you’d like to share with us? CK: “I am a writer and a mother. I know hundreds of other moms who are too. If we can do it, why can’t you? Something I say in Writer Mama is that writing is a rhythm, not a formula. We need to stop looking for the secret formula and start diving into the action of what we can accomplish today in the time that we have, no matter how limited. That’s the only way of finding your rhythm; everything else is just preparing to act. Just for today, stop getting ready and just do what you can do to the best of your ability. It’s enough.” Jackie Papandrew is a freelance writer, wife, mother and coffee addict living in Florida. Her syndicated humor column, Airing My Dirty Laundry, tickles the funny bone with tales of troublesome teenagers, the agony of aging gums, laughing llamas and bizarre Blackberry behavior – and that’s just for starters. Her work appears regularly in a variety of publications, including the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Oklahoman and Hybrid Mom magazine, as well as on several Web sites. You can read more of her work at JackiePapandrew.com.
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