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Interview with Christina Katz
How did you get your start as a writer?
Like many writers, I knew from a young age, I’d say about ten years old, that I wanted to write. For many years, the stepping-stones from writing to publishing success didn’t exactly go in a straight line; however, after my daughter was born, I experienced a renewed sense of commitment to my career.
It might seem like an odd time to recommit. I mean, here I was caring for an infant, my husband had gone back to school, and we had been married for only two years, but I simply felt like I owed it to my daughter to pursue a career that is meaningful to me, so gradually, over the years, as my daughter has grown, my writing career has grown steadily, too.
Tell us how you landed on "Good Morning America," and what that was like.
I received an e-mail from a GMA producer at 5:30 a.m. one morning that took me completely by surprise. The timing was terrible. We had just moved to a new town. My daughter was two and a half, my husband was about to start a public school teaching job, and we didn’t know a soul.
I thought the e-mail was spam, so I turned off the computer and went to do the dishes. The phone rang about five minutes later and it was the producer saying the show needed an expert on the topic “Making Time For You” for moms at back-to-school time. I’d written an article called “The Art of Making Time for Yourself” for Bluesuitmom.com in 2000 (this was 2004). And apparently women are still reading it because when one of the producer’s assistants Googled the topic, my article came up in the number one spot.
I wasn’t sure what to do because I was concerned about my daughter. I didn’t have a babysitter or any family living nearby. Over the phone, some mom friends said, “I wouldn’t go.” The producer said, “I’ll be happy to watch your daughter while you’re on the air.” But we ended up asking my husband’s aunt to drive up from New Jersey instead. I decided I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be interviewed by Diane Sawyer.
The producer was thinking of bringing Samantha onto the set to get a shot of her at the end of the show. And though she was a trooper the entire trip, she had one meltdown and that was as soon as I sat down next to Diane, live, on the set. Millions of people heard her bawling in the background as she was scooped up and carried out of the room by Aunt Barbara. So she didn’t get to be on TV, but my husband didn’t miss the segment because he made his new class watch it on their first day of school.
I have always enjoyed connecting with and encouraging other women. If you feel called to write and you recognize that when you become a mother, it’s a good idea to start taking baby steps in that direction without losing your balance. My book is for moms who feel called to write and want to give it a try and see what they can accomplish-- and make some money, too.
Writer Mama is an incredibly practical book because moms have to be practical. What I can do for moms, thanks to years of experience as a writing instructor, is break the steps down, explain them, and lower the jumps to shorten the distance between being unpublished and getting published. So instead of aiming for a higher degree of difficulty -- which writing books suggest when they start writers with query writing -- my book says start low and build your way up one small success after another. That’s how you create steady, lasting success.
The last part of your question makes me laugh. Careers in the arts in America are challenging for everyone, not just moms. That’s just the reality. However, I do believe that moms have an edge. For one thing, motherhood grounds you. It makes your more practical and determined. It compels you to find your voice and be authentic because your kids see right through you (very much like editors and readers!).
So do moms have advantages over other writers? Definitely. Do we also have specific and unique challenges to address because we are mothers? Yes, we have those, too. I discuss this teeter-totter throughout the book while pointing out how to think like a successful writer, where to put your precious energy, and how to help your career evolve to the next level. Based on what I’ve learned from my own experience, my research, my students, and from studying and interviewing successful mom writers, I can save moms who want to write a lot of frustration and time.
Are you able to keep up a writing routine, or do you pretty much have to play it by ear?
I have had an evolving routine, in which I have expanded my writing time gradually over the years. My daughter starts preschool this fall, which is really exciting. But until she was two and a half, she hardly left my side. We had a college student come in to watch her or take her out for a walk while I quickly jammed on my work in the early years. I also kept my computer in living room, so I could access it while she played nearby. Those were the days of split attention.
After we moved and my husband started working full-time, I reluctantly started her in part-time childcare out of a provider’s home, which has turned out to be a huge blessing for me, for her, and for my career. I have been fortunate to be able to adjust the amount of time she spends there to the number of hours I need to work. And since my book deal, my husband has been very supportive, going way above and beyond the call of duty. I don’t feel guilty because I have supported him as a teacher, actor, and theater director, which are all fairly demanding jobs, as well. Not to mention throughout the three and a half years he was in graduate school.
I don’t want to sound like I’m keeping score, but I think that moms who feel guilty about asking for support to launch a writing career might want to think about what they have given to others in the past and then just sling that guilt into the ol’ garbage can where it belongs.
Samantha starts preschool this fall, which is not only exciting, but means her schedule will be changing once again. That’s just motherhood. You get used to it. You become more flexible than you ever thought you could be. And then as a writer, sometimes you have to draw the line and say, “I need to be undisturbed for (this many) hours.” That’s just being a writer mama.
Do you ever try to involve your daughter in your writing? What does she think of Mommy's job?
It’s all connected, though indirectly, for me. When I pick my daughter up in the afternoon, she says, “How was your work today, Mommy?”
And I say, “Great. And how was playing at Belinda’s house?”
And she says, “Really good, Mom.”
As soon as she could put words together, Samantha could say, “My daddy’s a teacher and my mommy’s a writer.” That’s normal for her and for us. It’s just what we do and who we are. Kids adjust to whatever “normal” is.
What's been your favorite assignment so far?
Well, definitely working on Writer Mama has been both a dream come true and the most challenging thing I’ve ever done. But I can feel that every step I’ve taken in the past as a writer, writing instructor, and editor supports what I am doing today. It’s a great feeling to experience the fruition of a career goal you have been striving for so many years. It wasn’t like a little bird flew out of the clouds and said, “Hey, you wanna be an author?”
I also love speaking because inspiring people while being real and addressing the challenges that writers deal with on a day-to-day basis fires me up. I like to be alone and write and I like to get out and connect with other writers. I’m just wired that way.
Your next course with us is "Writing and Publishing the Short Stuff (Especially for Moms!)." (Click here to read about this class.) I'm glad to see that, because I think that writers often don't see beyond feature stories. What kinds of opportunities are there for people who write shorter material?
Well, in a recent analysis I did of Parenting Magazine, I ripped the magazine apart so I could clearly understand how many opportunities were hiding in there for freelancers. What I discovered is that there are a lot more opportunities in just one issue than you would think. It’s kind of like developing Freelance-ray Vision. And if you want to get paid to write, you have to be able to see that way. I teach moms how to do that in my book.
I discovered five short articles in the front of the book and twenty-three really short pieces (fillers) in the back of the book, not to mention four feature-length articles in the middle, all by freelancers.
So where are the opportunities for new writers? Not in those four features, that’s for sure. Those openings are already coveted by experienced freelancers and I don’t care how good your ideas are or how talented of a writer you are, your chances of breaking in there are beyond slim. Talented writers are, in my experience, everywhere. Homes are full of intelligent, educated moms who choose to stay home with their children.
It isn’t talent that sets you apart from the crowd. It’s professionalism, appropriateness of your ideas, conscientiousness, and follow-through. In the beginning of a writing career, knowing how to write those features is too many leaps, too high in the air.
But when you aim for the short stuff, the odds are in your favor, in this case 28-4. So, really, it’s common sense. But what prevents most writers from going for the shorter, simpler pieces when they are beginners in a competitive industry? I’ll let individuals answer that question for themselves.
For moms with young children, writing and submitting short stuff is a big enough challenge. It’s that or, most likely, submit nothing at all.
Can the short stuff pay well?
I always hesitate to talk about money because I don’t want people to get the idea that I’m saying, “Read my book and make thousands of dollars writing!” Because I don’t respect that kind of sales pitch. If you read my book all the way through and then put it down (I hope while exclaiming, “That was great!”) and then DO NOTHING (meaning apply none of what I’ve offered in the book), then nothing will pay.
However, if you read the book and apply the exercises and strategies in the book, I would say that you will AT MINIMUM discover:
a. Where your strengths are as a writer b. What you both like and want to write c. How to identify the most viable cards in your professional writer deck d. And how to play those cards in a way that can put money in your bank account
How much? Where it comes from? What you do with the money? Will you get paid WELL? I’m not touching any of that. (Although, I do suggest that moms reinvest what they earn back into their businesses in the early stages of their careers, just like any entrepreneur would.)
What three tips would you like to pass along to writer moms?
These would be my top picks:
Writing careers are a process, not an overnight occurrence
Remember this and you will be so much saner along the way. It’s also great if it can be an organic process and not adhering too tightly to someone else’s design or formula.
The best people for your writing career are 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.
If you want a writing career, claim it!
Successful writer mamas have a quality of queenliness about them. They set their priorities. They 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. Of course, you can succeed in the long run, if you stick with anything long enough. But why not just go ahead and claim your dream career? Then you can start taking steps.
Anything else you'd like to add?
Ultimately, I think any mom who has thought about writing will appreciate Writer Mama, How To Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids. I know I appreciate it and I wrote it. Sometimes, it’s just good to get back to basics.
Visit http://www.absoluteclasses.com/Katz/short_stuff.htm to sign up for Christina’s next online class for writing moms.
Jenna Glatzer is the editor-in-chief of AbsoluteWrite.com and the author of 16 books. Her latest book for writers is The Street-Smart Writer: Self-Defense Against Sharks and Scams in the Writing World.
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Text on this site Copyright © 1998-2007
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Christina
Katz is the author of Writer Mama, How To Raise A Writing Career Alongside
Your Kids (February, 2007, Writer’s Digest Books). She has been doing just
that for the past four and a half years and has published more than 200 articles
in magazines, newspapers, and online publications. She teaches eight nonfiction
writing classes a year and is publisher and editor of the online monthly zine,
Writers On The Rise, voted by Writer’s Digest as one of the “101 Top Web Sites”
for writers. Christina is a graduate of Dartmouth College and has an MFA in
Fiction from Columbia College, Chicago. Visit 
You're
finishing up a book, Writer Mama, for Writer's Digest Books right now,
and you teach classes specifically for moms who write. What is it about this
audience that you like? Do you think writing is a particularly well-suited
career for moms?
