[The Stage is on Fire] is a page-turner in which, much like life, there are no easy answers and yet each step of the journey yields insight and hope. This work of heart must not be missed!
Melanie Faith
Creative Writing Teacher, Essayist & Poet.
Katie Steedly’s first-person piece [The Unspeakable Gift] is a riveting retelling of her participation in a National Institutes of Health study that aided her quest to come to grips with her life of living with a rare genetic disorder. Her writing is superb.
The Society of Professional Journalists
In recognition of receiving the Dateline Award for the Washingtonian Magazine essay, The Unspeakable Gift.
I thank you … It is the authenticity of your “class notes”; and it is the delicacy and skill with which you present the nuances of classroom life and the actuality of your students’ and fellow teachers’ lives.
Maxine Greene
Philosopher and Education Scholar
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On My Way to 800 Tries
Well you know, the first 800 book proposals I sent out got rejected. 800 in a row. What I discovered was I was not very good at telling my story. I was not very good at understanding my customer. I was not very good at realizing that I needed to become a partner in an industry that did not like people who were acting the way I was acting. Once I learned those things, which took a couple years, I stopped getting rejection letters. If I had not exposed myself to failure I would still be an idiot.
Seth Godin
Failure feels like walking across hot coals while gargling rocks. Failure feels like you want to kick every cliche about the value of failure in the shins. Failure feels like when your first grade teacher wrote “talk, talk, talk” in the behavior section of your report card. Failure feels like the curtain catching on fire during a production you directed as a high school drama teacher. Failure feels like a script that runs through your mind that says you could/should have worked harder, planned better, done more, been smarter. Failure feeds the “I am total a fraud” beast. I have experienced a lot of failure. I have written about all kinds of failure. The concept of failure is woven through the fabric of my writing, threaded with strands of redemption, resilience, hope, and strength. I believe with all my heart that creativity, innovation and invention are driven by failure, but failure still hurts.
About Katie
Born in Louisville. Live in Atlanta. Curious by nature. Researcher by education. Writer by practice. Grateful heart by desire.
Buy the Book!
The Stage Is On Fire, a memoir about hope and change, reasons for voyaging, and dreams burning down can be purchased on Amazon.
