Katherin Nolte: On Making Space for Writing

Katherin Nolte received an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was a Truman Capote Fellow. Her fiction has appeared in dozens of publications and won multiple awards, but it was a late-night ER visit with her four children that inspired her to write Back to the Bright Before. An Ohio native, she currently lives with her family in Iowa. Learn more at katherinnolte.com.

In this post, Katherin discusses how reading to her children inspired her to write her debut middle-grade book, Back to the Bright Before, her process of writing entirely by hand, and more!

Name: Katherin Nolte
Literary agent: Kerry Sparks, Levine Greenberg Rostan
Book title: Back to the Bright Before
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Release date: May 30, 2023
Genre/category: Middle-Grade Fiction
Elevator pitch for the book: A magical adventure about two brave siblings determined to find a treasure that could save their family.

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One of my favorite things to do with my children is to read aloud to them. We always have a novel going, typically reading a chapter each day. On a whim, I picked up a copy of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane while waiting for a child to receive stitches at the hospital. I loved that book so much that it made me want to write a children’s novel of my own.

The actual writing of Back to the Bright Before was quick. It was October that I decided I wanted to attempt a children’s novel. I spent a few weeks plotting, then began to write in November. After working several hours a day, seven days a week, I had a completed manuscript in January.

I write by hand in a notebook, so after completing the first draft, I had to then type all the pages—my least favorite part!—and edit them. So, while the creation of the novel was relatively short, waiting for its publication has required much patience. It’s been two years since my editor first acquired Back to the Bright Before!

The idea for the book really didn’t change during the process. I was lucky this time—the story just seemed to flow from my pen.

Since this is my first novel, everything about the publishing process was a learning moment! Especially how slowly publishing moves, but also how illustrations are chosen, and covers are made, and the multiple editors who go over a manuscript to try and make sure it’s perfect.

Really, the biggest surprise was that I decided to write a children’s book at all. I’ve read probably hundreds of children’s novels, but never considered writing one because I thought I didn’t know how to do it. I’m so glad that I put that thought aside and decided to give it a try.

I hope they’ll be swept along on a fun, warm-hearted adventure. I hope they’ll fall in love with Pet, Simon, and their chicken and pony and root them on as they search for the hidden coin.

If you want to write, make space for it. That’s the main reason that I write by hand.

I have four children, and so life is busy, but, while working on Back to the Bright Before, I carried my writing notebook everywhere I went. Even on days when I couldn’t devote an uninterrupted two hours to writing, there was still 20 minutes in the morning, before breakfast, or 15 minutes before dinner, in the evening.

I’m not sure an entire novel could be written in such small pieces—and to be honest, I prefer to write for far longer stretches—but sometimes, you just have to use the time that the day gives you.

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