Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to my author friend Kathy Nickerson. As an avid reader, I am often looking for new authors to read. I imagine you are too. Kathy’s Glory Circle Sister series is one I wholeheartedly recommend.
I’ve read books 1-3 and now book 5 of the series (some more than once!). They are very entertaining, yet also carry wonderful messages about life. Kathy is featured several times on my writer’s blog TheMotivationalEditor.com.
Kathy Nickerson is an author, speaker, and eternal optimist. She writes from her home in rural Missouri where she lives with her country-doctor husband. They are the parents of four children, who grew up to become their best friends, and who have given them sixteen grandchildren so far. She is the author five novels including her newest release, The Reluctant Courtship of Madge DuPree, Book #5 in the Glory Circle Sister series.
What do you hope your readers draw from your books?
I hope readers finish one of my books and feel encouraged, especially in areas of faith, family, and friendship. I hope they find a new attitude or take a new action. One reader told me that after she finished Thirty Days to Glory, she reached out to help a gentleman who reminded her of Elmer in his alcoholic days. Another reader told me that after reading The Secret of Serendipity she discovered purpose for the next season in her life. Those are the things that keep me writing.
I think many of us are trying to discover how to build lasting relationships and how to create community, especially in these days of pandemic and unrest. Maybe a simple story about a bunch of church ladies and their friends can help us. I hope so.
Join Kathy for her launch party for The Reluctant Courtship of Madge DuPree on Nov. 5, at 6:30 Central time on www.facebook.com/kathynick.
Share a little bit about a day in the writing life of Kathy Nickerson.
After decades of writing while raising children and working jobs, I have semi-retired. What a blessing! I no longer sneak in twenty-minutes at the computer before work. I don’t have to write over my lunch hour. And I don’t miss Saturday fun because the edits are due. That kind of freedom sounds wonderful, but here is the bad news: I still have to discipline my art.
It is so easy to clean a closet instead of facing the page. So, I set up rituals or rhythms for my day. I start with self-care (exercise, breakfast, shower) and soul-care (Bible reading, journaling, prayer, pleasure-reading).
I have specific housekeeping tasks for the morning. Quick things that won’t distract me from the desk. Then, I check social media and respond to readers. I’ve been doing short video encouragements during the pandemic, so I record and post one of those.
Then I close my social media tabs. On a good day, I won’t check in again until lunch.
I write two local newspaper columns and a weekly devotional for our church, plus a weekly blog, an occasional newsletter, and various projects for a publishing group. I use the rest of the morning to work on one of those.
After lunch, I face my fiction. I write to a daily word count, but I am gentle with myself. For The Reluctant Courtship of Madge DuPree, my goal was 1000 words a day, but I often wrote more. My highest count was 6000 one day. I bragged about that to my husband, and he said, “Were any of them good?” Some were.
Right now, I’m working on a book for young readers. It is way out of my comfort zone, and I’m shooting for 500 words a day. I’m building a world as I go along, so it is much harder for me than writing about church ladies. They live in my natural habitat.
By mid-afternoon, I’ve done all I can do. I try to stop writing in a place that will make me want to pick up again tomorrow. Then I switch to another project and work on marketing, planning, outlining, brainstorming, or mundane office tasks. Those things will creep into my evenings and weekends, too. I don’t suppose that will ever change.
Reading back through this, I think I sound terribly efficient and productive. Confession: I am currently 2300 words behind for the week. My kitchen floor is sticky. I’m fighting the blues from pandemic isolation, and I have zero ideas for tomorrow’s video or column.
But Madge DuPree has been sent out into the world to be wooed by Elmer Grigsby. She claims she doesn’t like it, but readers will see through her in a second. Just thinking about Madge and Elmer will give me enough hope to go back to the computer tomorrow. The floors can wait.
Parting Thoughts
Kathy’s debut book, Thirty Days to Glory, is an award-winner. I laughed and cried as I read it. In The Secret of Serendipity I laughed out loud, envisioning every moment of Mrs. Kirk’s wild red-wagon ride down the hill. Absolutely hilarious! The Reluctant Courtship of Madge DuPree is available November 5th. Be sure to stop by the launch party that day, 6:30 Central, on her Facebook page.
Treat yourself to a great read this week and check out the Glory Circle Sister series.
You can learn more or connect with Kathy Nickerson at:
www.kathynick.com
www.facebook.com/kathynick
www.twitter.com/kathynick_
amazon.com/author/kathynickerson
Thanks so much for this opportunity to visit with your readers! And thanks for all the editorial advice you have contributed to the Glory Circle Sisters. You are one of us now.
Kathy, it’s been my pleasure! I hope to see you at your launch party on Thursday.