Katherine Reay is a novelist who lives in Lake Forest.
Q. Where did you grow up?
A. I’m one of those rare people who don’t have an original home. The longest I lived anywhere is five years. I say I generally grew up in Georgia and Michigan.
Q. Do you come from a military family?
A. My father was in the military. My husband is not. As an adult, I’ve lived in Austin, London, Dublin, Austin again and Seattle.
Q. You used to work in marketing?
A. I worked at Proctor and Gamble and at Sears, right after the Sears catalog closed down. Then at the Field Museum in development and the University of Chicago, working in development. Then started the years of the great move. Then we returned to the Chicago area in 2014.
Q. You started a master’s degree at Northwestern University in theological studies. Why the move from marketing to theological studies?
A. In my mind, it wasn’t much of a jump at all. Northwestern had graduate programs in history and marketing. At the time, I decided to work on the quantifiable part of my brain. I have a love of writing and history. I tried to pursue that a little more.
Q. You earned a black belt in tae kwan do?
A. With my daughters, all three of us on the same day. My middle child wanted to take tae kwan do very badly. I decided if one did it, the others should. I took it as well and loved it.
Q. When did you start writing novels?
A. 2009. I was injured in a surgical mishap and a lot of things were taken away from me for a time. Samantha Moore, the heroine of my first novel, came to me fully formed.
Q. How challenging was it to find a publisher?
A. Forty-one agents turned me down. I finally wrote to this publisher I had met at a writer’s conference. They accepted it but offered no marketing, no advance and it would be an e-book bundled with other authors.
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Q. What did you do?
A. I opened up a newsletter from the writer’s conference. There was an article titled, “Why you need an agent.” I decided I needed an agent. I pulled 10 books from my shelves and three had the same agent. I called him and he said, “I won’t take you on but I will read your manuscript.” A week later he called back and said, “Forget what I said, I want to work with you.” We pitched Harper Collins and they purchased (my first book) a few weeks after that.
Q. What is the biggest challenge of being an author?
A. Probably self-doubt. There’s a certain vulnerability to writing.
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