WRITING JOURNEY

About the Author

It's never too late to start writing.

SIXTY-EIGHT and NEWLY RETIRED, I decided to get serious about writing. Two years later, after receiving feedback from both professionals and friends, I SWALLOWED HARD AND WINCED. THEN I HIT THE DELETE KEY  AND REFOCUSED MY THOUGHTS. Years later, my re-write completed, I had to face the next hurdle: publishing. Before tackling it, I not only had to learn how to navigate the Internet, but I also had to learn how to create a PDF, which wasn’t as easy to do then as it is today.  

Fast-forward eight years. I spent six weeks teaching an author friend how to format her book. As we wrapped up our last session, she said, “MARY, YOU HAVE TO WRITE A BOOK ON FORMATTING.”  – “Me? No. There’s nothing I hate more than reading how-to books. So, no way am I going to write one.” – She persisted. I gave in. As I wrote, I did it my way, with sass. A year later she dialed my number. “Mary,  Formatting Your Fantastic Book came in the mail yesterday, and I stayed up past midnight reading it. I COULDN’T PUT IT DOWN.” 

Early in my counseling career, a young mother opened my eyes to a nonconscious ideology: Santa has always been depicted as White. Create an all-race inclusive Santa? Would I dare? Yes. In my 3-part fiction series, WON’T TELL (filled with romance, mystery, and trickery), I pull Santa into Twenty-first Century diversity by having him wake up on his birthday each year with more or less melanin (skin pigment). THE PROBLEM IS . . . HIS FEAR OF NON-ACCEPTANCE KEEPS HIM FROM LETTING THE WORLD KNOW HE IS ANYTHING BUT WHITE. 

To encourage reading interest, I purposely limited words-per-page in my three rhyming parodies, and I made those words dance across the pages. Influenced by Dr. Seuss, I decided to do for middle-school youth what he did for younger children. MAKE READING FUN. Bully Jake and Grace’s Fate and Hats Off to Mr. Boar showcase a class of sixth- and seventh-grade students ACTING-OUT UNDER THE TUTELAGE OF AN INEFFECTIVE TEACHER. In My Mind Is Totally Mine, a young girl struggles to overcome obstacles of poverty and abuse as she works to RISE ABOVE POVERTY AND ABUSE.

Moving from foster home to foster home and undergoing numerous surgeries, Forrest, at age eight, arrives at his next home with Only A Shoebox to His Name. After each successive surgery, this farm family welcomes him back despite his angry moments. In adulthood HIS LIFE FALLS WITHIN THE NORM EXCEPT FOR ONE DARK SECRET.

ORNERY CHILDREN ARE FUN TO WRITE ABOUT, especially when they have high moral standards. And that, Gutsy Little Eddie does.

Child abuse, bullying, and racism . . . True Colors, a memoir, touches on all three and also highlights SMALL ACTS OF ACCEPTANCE.

I DON’T CLAIM TO BE A FAMOUS AUTHOR —probably never will be. I just hope readers gain some insight from my writing.

Mary Korte

NO. I DON'T WRITE science fiction, mystery, or true romance, although romance, the lasting kind, has slipped into a few of my books. I draw from the horrors of my past, focus on social issues, and meld fiction with reality. I create believable characters who cope with life's tribulations. I LIKE KEEPING READERS GUESSING AS TO WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT.,