Once Upon a Girl is a collection of poetry and prose about reinventing myself when the life I thought I wanted ultimately fell apart. It’s about realizing that I could put the broken pieces of myself back together any way I wanted. And so can you.
Hello book lovers! Today is a day where I will be writing another author spotlight for a well-accomplished author whose work I have loved. As you know book lovers I love learning about authors and the inspiration behind their work, it fascinates me and adds to the depth of the book because the reader will be able to better understand it. That is how the author spotlights were created because I soon discovered that you lovely readers ALSO love learning about author’s, so I am excited to tell you a little bit more about author Katie Keridan whose book Once Upon a Girl moved me from beginning to end. I personally would recommend this book to all of those that love poetry but really the book can be read by anybody as it is flawlessly written and highly enjoyable. With today’s author spotlight for Katie Keridan, a biography of the author and an interview between us both will be shared, and I hope that you book lovers enjoy reading it! To kick this off here is an author bio about the wonderful Katie Keridan!
Katie Keridan has been writing ever since she was old enough to hold a pencil. Born in Texas, her early stories focused on growing up on a ranch, filled with characters drawn from the horses, dogs, and other animals she saw on a daily basis. While she wrote first and foremost as a way to express herself, Katie also won her first writing contest as a child. This is one of her fondest memories, as the essay she crafted about Hank the Cowdog won her a set of books autographed by author John R. Erickson. Katie was always fascinated with human behavior, which is probably why she enjoys creating characters so much, and she received her B.S. in Psychology from Texas A&M University. Although she’ll always have fond memories of her home state of Texas, something inside her knew she was destined to be a Californian, and she moved west to attend graduate school. She received her doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology from John F. Kennedy University, and when she’s not writing creatively, Katie is a pediatric neuropsychologist who diagnoses cognitive disorders in children. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, yoga, tarot cards, and being with people she loves. She enjoys the writing of so many authors but credits Garth Nix, C.S. Lewis, Bonnie Bryant, Thornton Burgess, and Beatrix Potter as being particularly formative influences.
Now, how wonderful does Katie Keridan sound?! The author is a truly exceptional writer and I hope that you lovely readers have a read of the author’s work because you will not regret it! Please see below an interview between us both, I hope that you enjoy the author’s answers to my questions, they are incredible and provide some great advice too!
Thank you for joining us today at Red Headed Book Lover! Please tell us more about yourself.
I’ve been writing ever since I was old enough to hold a pencil, and I’m so excited to have published my first book! I’m currently trying to figure out how to balance writing with my full-time “day job” that pays the bills (I’m a pediatric neuropsychologist who works with children with neurological conditions). I love traveling, yoga, tarot cards, kayaking, and spending time with the people I care about. I grew up on a ranch in Texas, and I’m a huge animal lover.
Could you please tell us readers about your book and what inspired you to write your book?
Once Upon a Girl is a collection of poetry and prose about reinventing myself when the life I thought I wanted ultimately fell apart. It’s about realizing that I could put the broken pieces of myself back together any way I wanted. And if I can do that, so can anyone else.
Writing has always been a safe haven for me. It’s a way to make sense of the things that happen to me at my own pace…I can unpack them, revisit them, imagine alternate outcomes, and ultimately, accept and learn from experiences. I wrote Once Upon a Girl to show others, especially women, that 1) there is always hope and 2) amazing things can happen when you take control of your own life.
What would your advice be for aspiring writers?
Write! Get your work out there. Get rejected, and learn how to bounce back and keep going. Find people who truly believe in you and support you and hold onto them with all your might. Don’t wait for the world to ask for your work – put it out there and show people what they didn’t even know they were missing.
In your opinion, what is the most important thing about a book?
Books have the power to change us. They might make us ask ourselves a single, simple question, or they might make us completely rethink our entire position on something. Growing up, books taught me that I wasn’t alone. It didn’t matter that the “people” I was relating to were fictional characters; what mattered was that I could relate to their struggles, their fears, their hopes, and their successes. That was one of the driving forces behind why I wrote Once Upon a Girl – to remind people that they are never truly alone.
What is your writing process like?
When I worked in an academic medical setting, I would see patients all day, take care of things at home, and then write from 10pm-midnight Monday through Friday. I would also write as much as I could on the weekends. Now that I have my own practice, my schedule is more flexible, and I’m trying to figure out where writing best fits into that. Sometimes I sit at the computer and write for a couple of hours early in the morning before I start seeing patients. Other times, I jot down things on my phone on and off throughout the day as I feel inspired. I haven’t hit on the perfect schedule yet, and I’m not sure there is such a thing. Life happens, and you have to be flexible. That being said, I do love a good cold, rainy day when I can turn off my phone, not check email, and write without interruption to my heart’s content.
Do you have a set schedule for writing, or do you only write when you feel inspired?
I try to write every day, even if it’s just jotting down some lines on my phone for use in a future poem. Sometimes the act of writing serves to inspire creativity, and I’m pleasantly surprised at what comes out. Other times, I may only have two lines of text to show for my hours of sitting in front of a computer. I prefer to write when I’m inspired, but inspiration often comes at the most inconvenient times, like when I need to write something for work or when I’m scheduled to see patients. If I can rearrange my schedule to accommodate inspiration, I will, but I also don’t wait for inspiration to strike before I start writing. Sometimes inspiration needs a little encouragement.
Do you read much and if so who are your favorite authors?
It’s so hard to balance reading time with writing time, and I tend to choose writing over reading. That being said, I feel like it’s important to read other people’s work…it sparks new ideas, exposes me to different styles of writing, and gives my brain a break from the act of creating. Garth Nix is one of my all-time favorite authors and has been since I was a child. I grew up loving Laura Ingalls Wilder, Bonnie Bryant, John R. Erikson, Thornton Burgess, and Beatrix Potter. More recently, I’ve been reading Neal Ascher and Wesley Chu for truly absorbing science fiction. A.G. Riddle has created some of the most well-rounded female characters I’ve read in a long time. And I’m waiting very impatiently for Patrick Rothfuss to publish the third book in the Kingkiller Chronicle series.
Lastly, when can we readers expect to read more wonderful books from you?
I definitely see a sequel to Once Upon a Girl in my future. Currently, I’m working on my first fantasy novel. It’s a coming-of-age story involving a female protagonist who learns to stand up for what she believes in, even when doing so means making very hard choices. At the same time, she also discovers that some of the things she believes in are not as infallible as she’s been told, and this will require change on her part. I hope to have it published by the end of the year and can’t wait for readers to take this new journey with me!
Its official book lovers, I am obsessed with Katie Keridan! If you have liked what you have read about the author and are interested in learning more about Katie Keridan, then please do have a browse of the links below and be sure to have a read of the preview too! You will not regret it.
Goodbye for now book lovers,
