Guest Fox: Katheryn Ragle

Welcome Katheryn Ragle to Hound Day

By Jeff Salter

Before I finally MET my Guest Fox (Katheryn Ragle) in person, I kept seeing her name all over town. She was teaching a class here, reading her work there, show-casing other authors yonder. Katheryn was all over the place doing just about everything you can do with writing and publishing… except inking the presses and binding the books. Having spent a three-decade career in librarianship, I love to see people propagating literature!

So I was delighted to finally meet Katheryn — guess it was at the library for one of their annual author events. Anyhow, I was delighted to finally meet the person whose energy and enthusiasm for writing and publishing was in every corner of this county. And it’s certainly a pleasure to welcome her to Hound Day at 4F1H to say a few words and let us see her newest title.

 

Author Questionare: Katheryn Ragle

1. Have you ever encountered people who seem unable / unwilling to comprehend that writing is something you are driven to do?

KR: I’ve had a love of writing for most of my life. My father never took me seriously until he visited my first book signing and then he told me how proud he was. My mother was always a supporter of my writing. My husband doesn’t understand what compels me to be an author or a publisher but he tries to support me because he knows it makes me happy.

2. If you were not a writer, can you imagine what else you might do to express the creativity within you?

KR: I would probably paint, draw or do crafts. I have done some of each but my love for writing is front and foremost. I also love the Lord Jesus Christ and have put out church bulletins, newspapers, even coordinated plays. I love play writings and now I’m taking screen writings seriously as a future adventure.

3. If sales (money) and critics (reviews) were immaterial to you, what genre and length would you write?

KR: I love writing short stories and novels both. A lot of authors are doing short story sequels which I would love to get in to. I just love writing what comes to heart and being able to write creatively no matter the size of the story. That is the reason I began Gibson-Ragle Publishing Co. to help others get their creative words out there. Everyone has a story to tell.

4. Give us at least one example of someone who has contacted you and expressed how much your writing meant to them.

KR: I have had several people contact me and express how much they liked my writings because they were easy reads and reality based. A special one they like is Dance at Midnight, because it’s based on a 1950’s mining town. My grandfather was a coal miner. Dance at Midnight is a romance and the location hits close to home for readers around Kentucky. People want to identify themselves in a book.

5. Tell us about your decision to start your own publishing house. How many titles have you released? How many authors are involved? What are the different genres represented?

KR: I started my publishing company, Gibson-Ragle Publishing Co. after I had my first book published by Maple Hill Publishing Co. I saw how many people of all ages wanted their word out there and I felt led by God to help them be published. The business has been in operation almost three years and now I have twelve authors and a wide range of books being published. Currently there are 28 titles released. They range from romance, mystery thrillers, children’s genre, Christian and poetry to self-help books. I am always looking for new genre of any type. We want a wide variety of books for our customers. I have new authors joining the company all the time. I have also achieved several stores that their books are available for sale in besides their being on Amazon and Kindle. They are also available through Ingram.
I have continued on to become a Publishing Agent helping many others to get their books out there. I take their books to places they can’t go to and help them with their sales and distribution.
I also want to help children get their books published, the way they see things; whatever their age might be. They need supportive people behind them to develop their talents. There are so many out there that can’t believe in a true talent because there’s no one to believe in them.

6. In the interviews& blog questions you’ve handled over the years, what is one writing question which you’ve WISHED had been asked of you… but never has been asked?

KR: When you teach writing classes what is meant by “finding your inner self”?

7. What’s your answer to # 6 above?

KR: Finding your inner self is that child person in you that had all your dreams and ambitions that were laid aside to raise children, do a job, etc. Finding your inner self is the first step to awakening the real you and writing about it. You must treat yourself like an author to be an author. You must find YOU to become the person God has purposefully molded you to be.
Writing is the most therapeutic mental exercise you can ever do. It involves self-evaluation along with facing your dark places as well as the light and putting them down on paper. Once they are on paper you have released them and can finally heal your inner self. Your imagination is free to run wild in whatever direction you want to write about.
Several of my authors are in a healing process of the mind after writing their books, for that I am thankful to God for his help.

Other Thoughts by Katheryn:

I have had people read The Trinket Box and want another sequel to it along with Dance at Midnight. I thought I would always be a romance writer but I found out by surprise that I loved doing mystery thrillers. The Trinket Box came to me faster than I could write the words down; it’s that feeling of adrenaline pumping through you, that breathless feeling of wonder that makes authors.

This is what prompted me to write Secrets of Winston’s Mountain. And then to aspire to write The Bad Man, my first paranormal thriller that I call my “compare to Stephen King” novel. I wanted an extra scary cover for this book and have had people look at it and say that looks to scary to read, it would give me nightmares. Everything in a book is graded on a wonderful cover and synopsis.

My children’s books have been readily accepted. Dinky the Squirrel is a number one seller along with the matching coloring book. The stories based on a baby squirrel that my husband found and brought in. We raised it with a bottle and we fell in love with it. I try to explain to children how hard it is for parents and their grandparents to give up their children and let them leave the nest.

I wrote Mik the Marmoset to help children that have been bullied at school. It’s a wonderful story of a tiny monkey that helps a young boy named Spencer to go from private school to a public school.

Author Bio

Katheryn Ragle, mother, grandmother, teacher, author and publisher. Katheryn is an author of eight published books and owner of Gibson-Ragle Publishing Co. She is also a residential writing teacher at Carnegie Community Arts Center.

For three years she has taught Creative Writing Classes at Carnegie, published 28 books of different genres for 12 other authors. She has traveled all over Kentucky and into Indiana and Ohio signing books and inspiring people to write their own stories.

You can find her books on Amazon and Kindle and in these Kentucky locations: Yellow Umbrella gift shop at the Carnegie Community Art Center in Somerset, CD Book Exchange in Somerset, Hasting’s Book Store in Richmond, Dog Eared Book Store in Campbellsville, Renfro Valley Music Hall of Fame in Mt. Vernon.

Katheryn loves children, drawing, camping and of course writing. Her newest paranormal thriller, ‘The Bad Man’, is now on sale.

Contacts:

newstartministries00@yahoo.com

www.gibsonraglepublishing.weebly.com

www.facebook.com/kathyragle

www.katherynragle.org

Books

Dance at Midnight
The Trinket Box
Secrets of Winston’s Mountain
Dinky the Squirrel and Coloring Book
Come Sail Away
The Bad Man
Mik the Marmoset

Question:
How do YOU find your “inner self”?

[JLS # 257]