[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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Weekly Wide Awake: Words of the Year
“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
― T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets
And next year’s words await another voice.”
I have chosen words of the year for more than ten years. Each year, I look within and think about my I am, my why, my not yet, my joy, my light, my fire. My words do not necessarily represent another voice, but rather the voice I am excavating, finding, and learning. The trembling voice that speaks truth. The expansive voice that holds it all. The still small voice that knows. Last year’s language folds into this year’s language as wisdom and understanding. Last year’s language — words taken together — becomes today’s vision. Last year’s language becomes today’s words rooted in love.
My commitment to having a word of the year continues. My word of the year for 2023 was voice. Presence is my word of the year for 2024. I am getting a jump start on presence by revamping Weekly Wide-Awake. Starting this week, Weekly Wide-Awake will be a weekly update on my day-to-day effort to live a wide-awake life. I will reflect on my attempt to pay attention, be amazed, and talk about it. I will chronicle gratitude, curiosity, and growth. The purpose will be clear — to move the motion of my words to action. It will help me figure things out — word by word, step by step, action by action.
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.
