KATHERINE TURNER AUTHOR
Katherine Turner hales from Haymarket, Virginia in the US. Katherine, I've read your book "Finding Annie" and found it to be a beautiful piece of women's fiction that had deeper emotional layering than most, as such I have recommended to quite a few people. I chose you for this first edition's theme of "believe" because I have read on your blog that you have overcome a lot of early belief systems in order to become where you are today. Can you give us a bit of background?
Katherine: So my early childhood was riddled with neglect and abuse until I landed in a more stable environment. When I was eight along with my sister, we were placed in the foster care of a wonderful woman who then raised us and fortunately we never had to move to another foster home. I struggled emotionally during my childhood and teen years and found myself perpetuating a downward spiral of self destruction into my late teens and early twenties. I was lucky enough to encounter a situation that allowed me to step back, see what I was doing to my life and begin to take steps to change. I went back to college, attained my degree in accounting and my CPA. I currently still work in accounting during the day but I write whenever I get the chance around going to work and raising my two daughters.
"I have found a way to incorporate my passion into my life and that, to me is success"
What Inspires you? I spent my younger years suppressing my childhood and pretending to myself that it didn't happen. That it had no impact on me, however after my eldest daughter was born I realized that my past was haunting me more than I cared to admit. I was motivated to take responsibility and do something about that because I didn't want to unintentionally pass my trauma onto my children. The day I had that realization, I began the difficult journey to unearth everything I could that was hidden in the shadows. As I began to unpack and process my past, my life long love affair with writing returned. I decided to use my writing to craft realistically flawed characters - like me - to let others who had been through the types of experiences I had, know that they weren't alone. I also wanted to shed some light on the reality of living as an adult with a traumatic past and show the truth of what that looks and feels like. I see this with your book Annie and I think her character's complex nature was refreshing and very true to life. So now you are a published author is this what success looks like to you? How do you define success? I believe success is spending time on things that you find fulfilling. The activities that matter to you. Writing is a part of who I am and I have always been passionate about helping people and trying to reset the way people see each other. We all need compassion and understanding. While I may not be able to leave my day job to do this full time yet, just the hour or two per day that I get to spend on writing books and blog posts that help others has bought me more fulfillment than anything else I have done..