Author Interview: Kathleen Pooler

The infectious smile of
Kathy Pooler

How does a young woman from a stable, loving family make wise career choices but so many wrong choices when it comes to love? Kathy must make a decision--face her self-defeating patterns and move on or repeat her mistakes. Her life and the lives of  her two children depend on those choices. 

Today, I'm interviewing Kathy Poohler about her newly released book!

Congratulations on the release of your memoir, Kathy. Can you summarize the premise of the book for us? 

Thank you Grace. It's a pleasure to be here. The main premise of my memoir, Ever Faithful to His Lead: My Journey Away from Emotional Abuse is: 

When we claim and honor the strength within, we are able to climb out of the abyss of poor decisions and go on to live peaceful and meaningful lives. Hope matters even when all may seem hopeless in the moment. 

I lived with guilt and shame for years over the self-defeating choices I made which led to two emotionally abusive marriages. I eventually walked away from these two marriages and found peace and healing through writing my memoir. Now, I hope to help others find their inner strength by sharing my hard-earned lessons. I want to share a message of hope, resilience and courage to those women (and men) who need to find their own inner strength, find freedom from abuse and begin living their lives on their own terms. 

Was there an ah-ha moment when you knew you needed to write your memoir or was it a gentle progression? 

Amazon

I would have to say it was a gentle progression in that I've had a desire to write my story since I was in my twenties. I've been journaling since high school. 

But I do recall a pivotal ah-ha moment after I finished cancer treatment in 1998 and began moving forward with my life. I looked around and realized not only what a blessing my life was--I had survived cancer--but that I was living a life of peace and joy. 

The moment occurred at my kitchen table while discussing my day at work with my husband Wayne. It was my first day back at work as a nurse practitioner after two years of chemotherapy, radiation and a stem-cell transplant for Non-Hodgskin's Lymphoma. My hair had come back in short, corkscrew curls hugging my scalp. I recall complaining about some minor annoyances in my day. Wayne sat across from me, silent and pensive as I prattled on. As I waited for his response he said, 

"You can't let the tadpoles and termites get you down when you just finished killing a grizzly bear."

That's brilliant, Kathy. Wayne sounds like a very smart man. What you'd been through really put things in perspective. Where and when do you do your best writing? 

I write something every day, whether it's a blog post, a story I can share on social media, a letter, a journal entry, or a manuscript. I do not have a specific routine, and, like everyone else, have to navigate around household/family/church obligations. I've been retired from a busy nursing career for about three years and tend to follow a schedule of getting into a "writing zone" four out of seven days from 1:00 to 5:00 PM. Sometimes I write on the weekends or sometimes I write in the evenings or in the wee hours. One thing I have discovered, if I don't write during the day, I tend to stay up late and write. The ideas swirling in my head won't let me sleep. And yes, there are times I have arisen in the middle of the night to tend to those voices in my head that demand to be written down.

When do I do my best writing? When I walk away from my computer and go for a walk in the garden to clear my head. Some of my most creative ideas occur when I'm away from my office. I keep a small notepad with me to use if I need to. I'll write on any available space--a used envelope, a napkin--for those fleeting ah-ha moments. 

This sounds pretty familiar. As much as we'd like to believe we'll remember that burst of insight, it's usually very fleeting. How can we purchase your book. 

Paperback and ebook editions are available on Amazon and other booksellers worldwide. It's also available on Open Book Press and my blog. 

Kathy is giving away a copy of her book to one lucky commenter! Wouldn't it be cool if this were you!