CS4W: Welcome, Christina! Thank you for joining us. Please tell us about your book, Writer Mama, How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids.
Writer Mama is an instructional how-to book for beginning nonfiction writers, who are moms. The book shows how women can launch a successful and productive writing career while taking care of the kids. Busy writers, who aren’t parents, will appreciate the baby-step approach for applying writing skills to nonfiction markets. I am continually amazed and humbled by the positive reception the book continues to get. The high point of any day is a personal note from a reader saying how much she appreciates the book and is helped by applying the tools to her writing-for-publication toolkit.
I’m also excited about my second book, also for Writer’s Digest Books, Get Known Before the Book Deal, Use Your Strengths to Grow an Author Platform. It hits the shelves in October 2008.
CS4W: How did the idea for Writer Mama come to you?
The actual inspiration for Writer Mama happened over breakfast with two published authors. One of the authors, Elaura Niles, who wrote Some Writers Deserve to Starve (Writer’s Digest Books 2005), suggested I pitch a writing book for parents to her editor, Jane Friedman, at Writer’s Digest Books. The idea kept evolving and eventually became Writer Mama.
Writer Mama was a natural book for me to write because I had a sincere desire to help moms overcome the challenges of writing for publication. For many years, the stepping-stones from practicing writer to published writer didn’t exactly go in a straight line for me; however, after my daughter was born, I experienced a renewed sense of commitment to my writing career.
Over the past seven years while teaching writing workshops, I had noticed that moms especially had difficulties completing coursework. I wanted to write a practical, helpful book that could be used as a tool for writing success, not just another writing inspiration book. That book is Writer Mama.
CS4W: How long did it take to complete Writer Mama? What was the publishing process like?
It took fourteen months, not counting the time I spent developing the idea, pitching it, and writing the fifty-page proposal. The publishing process for any first-time author is grueling and my experience was no different. But that was mostly pressure I was putting on myself to do the best job possible.
CS4W: I love the format of the book. Please share with us how you decided on the layout and the little extras sprinkled throughout.
Thank you. The format was not easy or pre-planned but rather was discovered over a challenging, fourteen-month road that led to the final format. My intention was to write the best book I could write and that’s what kept me hanging in there until I got to something we all knew succeeded.
The structure of the book was specifically created with the mom writer in mind. I break the process of writing for publication down into babysteps so any busy mom can succeed. Each chapter is followed by an exercise based on material recently covered, so moms can work alone or use the book in a group. Each chapter has several sidebars that address lifestyle challenges busy mom writers face, like whether or not to use childcare, how to find the time you don’t have, and how to negotiate better with your husband and family members to be more productive.
I actually used fiction-writing techniques to create Writer Mama and, hopefully, to make it a more engaging read. Like most writers, I did tons of drafts and I wrote innumerable pages that didn’t make the cut. I found the shape and structure of the book as I went along in collaboration with my editors.
CS4W: My children are older now, but I wish I had this book when they were younger. What are your top three tips to encourage moms to stay focused and not give up on their writing dreams?
1. Writing careers are a process, not an overnight occurrence.
Remember this and you will be so much saner along the way. I don’t like it when I hear from a mom, who thinks, “I’ve got overdue bills, tell me what to write so I can pay them.” That’s not a firm foundation to build a writing career on. Writing careers don’t tend to respond well to that kind of urgency. It’s also great if your career can be an organic process not adhering too tightly to someone else’s design or formula, which also takes time and nurturing.
2. The best people for your career are writing mentors.
See those folks who are already doing what you would like to be doing? Pick and choose from what they do specifically and add it to your dream career composite-in-progress. I know a woman who had never written before, yet landed a book deal at a writing conference last year by leveraging her personal and professional experience with everything she could learn from a daily newspaper columnist. I have had terrific mentors who are working writer mamas, like Kelly James-Enger and Wendy Burt, who have taught me a ton over the years. Mentors make all the difference.
3. If you want a writing career, claim it!
Successful writer mamas have a quality of queenliness about them. They set their priorities and push themselves to be better than they were yesterday. They are anything but complacent. If you want a writing career but don’t claim it, it’s hard to gain momentum. Sure, you can succeed in the long run if you stick with anything long enough, but why not just go ahead and claim your career now? Then you can start taking proactive steps to bring your goals to fruition.
CS4W: It seems fairly easy to get your work published on the Internet, but in your opinion, how hard is it for an unpublished writer to get a magazine to accept an article? Can a writer use Internet articles as clips when submitting to a print publication?
Can you use an Internet article as a clip? That depends. Was the article well written in the first place? Was it well edited? And is the publication widely respected for their editorial content? Those are three considerations to take into account before showing an Internet clip to an editor at a traditional publication.
It’s actually not that hard to get published in print, but writers need to learn some basic skills first. Most of the skills from other fields are not directly transferable to writing for publication, a truth that often dismays new writers. But the good news is that by learning to develop new skills and honing more specialized skills over time, you actually increase your odds of writing career success in the long run.
The truth behind the careers of successful, profitable writers is that they are thoughtful, strategic and make the most of what the writer has to offer in direct proportion to the needs of editors. Whenever a writer succeeds using the latest Internet technologies, I can always see the same principles of writing success shining through: Thoughtfulness + informed strategies + consistent effort = writing success. It’s not a new gimmick; it’s just good, old-fashioned work ethics and common sense.
CS4W: In addition to Writer Mama, you’ve written over 200 articles for various publications. Please tell us how your writing career began.
Like many writers, I knew from a young age, I’d say about ten years old, that I wanted to write. I committed to becoming a professional writer when I shelled out the dough to pay for the M.F.A. program in fiction at Columbia College, Chicago, at age 24. That was the first time I felt the “great determination” in my gut that Natalie Goldberg writes about. I just said, “This is what I want to do and I’m doing it.”
My M.F.A. gave me a good foundation of writing skills but not much in the way of marketing and business skills. So for years, I was writing without any earnings to show for it. That made paying back my student loan a bit of a challenge. Eventually I realized that my pie-in-the-sky writing dream needed to come down and get its feet on the ground as a career. I surrendered into the idea of myself as a working writer and started having more success. I condensed the best of the career skills I’ve learned into Writer Mama along with advice from other successful writers in hopes of making the learning curve a little less steep for others.
CS4W: You’re also a teacher. Where do you teach? Do you offer online writing classes? If yes, where can our readers learn more about them?
I have developed five classes over the past seven years that specifically address the needs and challenges of writing nonfiction for publication in today’s rapidly changing marketplace. My classes take place over e-mail and are contexts for me to share what I’ve learned with folks who are willing to invest time, energy and effort over the course of six weeks.
I teach Writing and Publishing the Short Stuff (Especially for Moms), Targeting Your Best Writing Markets, Pitching Practice—Write Six Queries in Six Weeks, Platform Building Basics for Writers and Craft a Saleable Nonfiction Book Proposal. Information on upcoming classes is always available at: http://writersontherise.com.hosting.domaindirect.com/classes.html
Everyone wants to teach online these days but I offer the equivalent of training and coaching combined with a classroom experience and I do it all using e-mail so anyone, who is willing to work for six weeks, can participate and walk away with legitimate skills. I’m proud of the work I do with fellow writers. It’s as gratifying to see my students succeed as to succeed myself.
I also offer free tips, inspiration, and advice in The Writer Mama Riffs blog, with six other mom writers. Readers can RSS subscribe or have new posts delivered to their inbox in e-zine form at: http://thewritermama.wordpress.com/
For a general audience of writers, along with nine other terrific nonfiction writers, I offer free monthly writing-career-building inspiration, insight, and ideas in a column that appears in Writers on the Rise. Readers can RSS subscribe or have posts delivered to their inbox as an e-zine at: http://writersontherise.wordpress.com/
My second book slated for October 2008 is Get Known Before the Book Deal, Use Your Strengths to Grow an Author Platform. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this book. It’s going to do for platform development what Writer Mama has done for freelancing, which is to make the whole thing a lot less mysterious and a lot more doable.
CS4W: You have a beautiful daughter and an insane schedule! How do you balance family and your writing career?
I find it challenging to balance motherhood and writing, just like any working mom. Plus both roles continually evolve, so everything is always changing, constantly needing reevaluation and re-visioning. I remind myself that p erfection is unattainable. My husband and I are both especially busy during the school year because we’re both teachers. He’s a high school English teacher and Drama director and I teach writing workshops and travel to speak at writing conferences, so things can get pretty nutty around here when he has a show opening and I’m starting a round of classes.
I just try to keep up with myself and that seems to work. When my back is up against the wall, I ask for help and usually get it. The latest kind of help I’m looking for falls into the category of mother’s helper because I’m getting weary of all the dirty laundry. I get tired of housework, but I never tire of what I do for a living or spending quality time with my family.
I say it to my mom students all the time when their kids come down with the flu or their husbands take off on business trips: Just do the best you can. It’s good enough. Besides, it’s all you can do.
CS4W: Before we part, what writing advice would you like to share with our readers?
Every writer needs to find a source of motivation that can compel him or her through the highs and lows of the writing life. I found mine when my daughter was born, despite earlier attempts to find it sooner. What’s yours? When you know what yours is the rigors of writing well and the challenges of writing for publication are just things you plan to master in order to achieve your goals.
I hope you find your “Great determination” and aren’t afraid to use it.
CS4W: Thank you, Christina! We appreciate you taking the time to be with us!
Christina Katz balances writing with motherhood in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon. She has written over two hundred articles for magazines, newspapers, and online publications and has appeared on Good Morning America. Christina is editor and publisher of the online zines Writers on the Rise and The Writer Mama. She teaches and speaks at bookstores, MFA programs, writing associations, and writing conferences around the country (view upcoming events).
Writer Mama, How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids(Writer's Digest Books, March 2007)
www.thewritermama.wordpress.com
www.thewritermama.com
Get Known Before the Book Deal, Use Your Strengths to Grow an Author Platform(Writer's Digest Books, October 2008)
www.getknownbeforethebookdeal.wordpress.com
Writers on the Rise E-zine
www.writersontherise.wordpress.com
www.writersontherise.com
Writing-for-publication classes: http://writersontherise.com/classes.html
The Northwest Author Series
Hosted by Christina Katz in Wilsonville, Oregon
Sponsored by the Wilsonville Public Library and the Wilsonville Arts and Culture Council
