Kate has always loved words. Through the years her mother and her sister encouraged her to write, but she did little until well after retirement. When her daughter asked for stories of her life, Kate began writing memoirs. She finds that writing about her experiences helps her remember the good times while gaining perspective on the bad times.
Kate finds that writing a memoir is a bit like unraveling a ball of yarn – as she tugs on a memory, more and more connected memories pull out, some long forgotten or suppressed.
Her first stories were of her years riding motorcycles, collected in “Life on Two Wheels.” She then wrote a book-length memoir of being born transgender 20 years before the word existed, published in “In Between, a Memoir,” which led to the movie “Strictly for the Birds.” Her latest is a collection of the short stories she wrote participating in the Tuesday Authors here at Rose Villa, in “Windows Into a Life.” She also writes an occasional travel blog on TravelsWithKate.com. All of Kate’s books are available to check out from the Rose Villa Library.
Kate finds the Tuesday Authors a wonderful outlet. The visual, rather than written, prompts give her more range to explore. And hearing others’ stories enlivens her own writing.
The Bar in the Middle of Nowhere is one of Kate’s short stories. It starts out like this…
“It’s funny how the memory of a place will stick with you. Perhaps it was what happened there. Or perhaps it was the place itself. But it could also have been your situation – your feelings at the time, or where you were on your life’s journey. Perhaps you don’t remember it well, but it stays with you, in your memory or in your heart.”
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