The Rising of Christina Katz

     While I’ve been writing about sustainability, I’ve had the pleasure of watching Christina Katz, publisher of Writers on the Rise, build an amazing writing career. When I first met her, Christina was new to Portland and offering an online writing class which I took.The class was helpful and she was a very supportive teacher, but Christina went further.
     She made sure that her students met one another online or in person if possible. At Willamette Writers meetings and at the conferences she continued to bring her students together, helping us form supportive writing friendships and introducing us to more experienced writers. She also modeled an effective style of connectivity at the conference that I’ve yet to manage to emulate. Her generous nurturing of beginning writers goes far beyond the classes, newsletters, and books she writers.
     If you think of writers forming a continuum, from those yet to write much to those with a big name and multiple books, Christina clearly aimed herself up that continuum, but built relationships both with those more experienced, who could mentor her through her first pitch and first book contract, and with those just getting started. She reached out to those beginning their careers, helping us to move as far and fast as we chose to.
     For herself, she had a plan and has worked hard and smart to build a reputation as an excellent writing teacher; she has quite a web presence, newsletters, and two books out, plus she has spoken at many conferences. She is a dynamo of hard work, enacting a “we’re all in this together” kind of networking with other writers.
     I’m grateful to have met her, and am inspired by her success and that of several of her students. Book contracts, websites, speaking engagements, and newsletters are cropping up, former students are building their own writing careers, and success is fostering more success. Writers are definitely on the rise. Thanks, Christina. Her website is http://www.christinakatz.com/