What, Why, How: Kathie Giorgio

What: 

I’m a writer and I have been for my entire life. I create short stories, novels, poetry, and essays. No matter what I’m writing, I tend to focus on social issues, often touching on subjects that need light and understanding shed on them. I also focus on the language, making sure my prose and poetry both are lyrical, sounding beautiful, even if they are about dark subjects. I create pieces that drive people to think and to consider, even if these are subjects that they don’t want to pay attention to. It sounds very egotistical to say that I create with the intention to change people’s lives and to change the world, but that’s exactly why I write. I create with compassion and a true desire to be of service.

Why: 

I write because I am totally enamored of words and their impact. Maybe it goes back to the old adage, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never harm me.” Any child knows that this is not true – that words can hurt just as much, if not more, than sticks and stones. And words can be uplifting too. Why not sculpt or paint or sing? Well, actually, I paint and I sing too! But the sense of reaching out and affecting someone comes most strongly to me when I’m writing. I think the heart of creation comes from the creator. What I feel when I’m writing is likely the same as what a true artist feels when she’s painting or a musician when she’s playing. It’s a feeling of outward flow – a giving back. I don’t feel that when I paint or when I sing – that’s just fun. Writing for me has purpose. My inspirations come from everywhere – sometimes it’s what’s happening in the news, or it’s overhearing a conversation, or observing something on the side of the road. There is no end to inspiration.  

How:

That question of how I stay motivated is a hard one, because I don’t know that I can say for sure. I feel at my absolute best when I’m writing. If I have a period where I’m just too busy to sit down and do it, I feel it. I become depressed, my body hurts, I just don’t feel well. When I’m writing, I feel like everything lines up for me. I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing. I’m being who I’m supposed to be. And I love it. I have always chosen this creative outlet – I’m told that before I could write, I told stories. Once I began to write, I traced the illustrations in my picture books and rewrote the stories the way I felt they should be written. It’s always been who I am. 

Bio: 

Kathie Giorgio is the critically acclaimed author of four novels, The Home For Wayward Clocks (2011), Learning To Tell (A Life)Time (2013), Rise From The River (2015), and In Grace’s Time (2017); two story collections, Enlarged Hearts (2012) and Oddities & Endings; The Collected Stories Of Kathie Giorgio (2016); a collection of essays, Today’s Moment Of Happiness Despite The News; A Year Of Spontaneous Essays (2018); and two poetry chapbooks, True Light Falls In Many Forms (2016) and When You Finally Said No (upcoming: February 2019).

Her fifth novel, If You Tame Me, was released September of 2019. Giorgio’s short stories and poems have appeared in countless literary magazines and anthologies. Her short story, Snapdragon, was performed on stage for the Stories On Stage series at Su Teatro theatre in Boulder, Colorado. She’s been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, the Write Well Award, the Million Writer Award, and for the Best of the Net Anthology. Her novel The Home For Wayward Clocks won the 2011 Outstanding Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Library Association. Her novel In Grace’s Time was runner-up in fiction in the 2017 Maxy Award and the second place winner of the 2017 Silver Pen Award For Literary Excellence.  Giorgio is the director/founder of AllWriters’ Workplace & Workshop.

She lives in Waukesha, Wisconsin, with her husband, mystery writer Michael Giorgio, her 18-year old daughter Olivia, who is writing her first novel, a neurotic dog named after Ursula LeGuin, a fat cat named Edgar Allen Paw, and a tiny cat named Muse. 

Links:

Author site
Studio site
Facebook
Twitter
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Amazon

Books:

In Grace’s Time and Today’s Moment Of Happiness Despite The News; A Year Of Spontaneous Essays (Black Rose Writing) and When You Finally Said No (Finishing Line Press) are available on Amazon

Purchase The Home For Wayward Clocks, Enlarged Hearts, Learning To Tell (A Life)Time, Rise From The River, Oddities And Endings, and True Light Falls In Many Forms, you can buy the books directly from the publisher, The Main Street Rag Publishing Company