“Julie!” the warm, southwestern twang of author Kathleen Rodgers’ voice bursts through my phone speaker. “I just had to call you. CONGRATULATIONS!”

The emphasis on that last word is crystal clear across our digitized line. 

Every writer hopes to find another writer who serves as a trusted friend and mentor. Someone who not only guides you through the forest of trees, but also lifts you up to see the vista beyond.

Kathleen is one of those people for me.

Her congratulatory call that day was for my book being named a finalist in the Military Writers Society of America annual book awards; an organization of which Kathleen has been a member for many years.

Moments before, I had sent her a quick text to tell her the news. Her immediate return call shocked and touched me.

She was on a trip—a personal vacation! She could’ve texted, a perfectly acceptable thing to do, but she didn’t. Rather, she interrupted her private time and called.

The gesture brought me to tears. A fellow writer sharing in the celebration. A friend living up to the definition of the word.

Kathleen is that kind of amazing.

If you don’t know who Kathleen Rodgers is, you should.

Born in New Mexico, an aspiring storyteller from the start, Kathleen fell in love with and married an Air Force pilot.

She merged her dreams of becoming an author with the reality of being a military spouse, starting out by writing nonfiction pieces for magazines and newspapers, then returning to her first passion—fiction.

Kathleen’s novels explore the human experience, often colored by the military world and her beloved southwest roots. They are delightful, engaging, and thought-provoking. Her debut novel, The Final Salute, won the Military Writers Society of America’s silver medal in 2009, and since then the accolades have just kept coming.

The Flying Cutterbucks, released in 2020, has been honored with three awards. Her upcoming fifth novel, Llano County Mermaid Club, has just been acquired for publication by the University of New Mexico Press and will be hitting bookstores sometime in late 2024 or early 2025.

I could go on and on about Kathleen, but a thousand words of mine couldn’t possibly do her justice, so I’d rather let her answers to my thirteen questions speak for themselves.

Why do you write?

My mother gave me a bookmark that says, “Life is a story you write as you go.” It’s a motto I live by.

Stories are in every fabric of our lives and represent what it means to be human.

I write for many reasons, but here are a few. An idea or a line of dialogue appears out of nowhere or in something I’ve overheard or read.

In many cases, the subjects deal with the need to uncover the truth that others want kept hidden.

So, it’s my job as a storyteller to dig deeper and find the story that will help uncover the truth, whether I’m writing first person narrative essays and articles or fiction.

And in most cases by truth, I mean emotional truth. 

For years I wrote nonfiction pieces for Family Circle Magazine, Military Times, and many other publications. When I switched to writing novels, I discovered that I could get to the emotional truth of things better by giving the issues and themes to my characters.

As a novelist, I find there’s a freedom within the framework of a novel where a writer can explore complicated subjects, particularly secrets and difficult circumstances. My characters tell me what they need and want. I try to get out of their way.

Years ago, I coined the phrase, “For some the truth is too painful to hear, for others it’s a healing balm.”

“This is why I write. I write to heal.”

In some cases, I write to heal from past traumas, loss, and the need to help others who might be going through the same thing.

For example, in 1994, my first-person article, “Dying to Be Thin,” was published in Family Circle Magazine.

My story about my fifteen-year struggle and eventual recovery from the eating disorder, bulimia, reached millions of readers.

I still hear from readers decades later who tell me that they read my article, and it gave them hope that they could overcome their own struggles with eating issues or other addictions.

In my second novel, Johnnie Come Lately, I explored those same themes through my character, Johnnie Kitchen, a woman in her early forties who’s been recovered for years but is still haunted by past traumas that led to her eating issues as a teenager and young woman. I believe by exploring the past, we can sometimes do a better job navigating the present.

“I write to entertain.”

In some ways I am a performer at heart. For me the acting is done through putting my characters through situations on the page as opposed to me getting up on stage in front of an audience. My audience is my readers.

When did you start writing?

I declared myself a writer when I was fifteen and started writing for my high school newspaper.

But long before then, I was expressing myself through angst-ridden poetry I rarely showed anyone. Even as a young girl, I had a vivid imagination.

I loved to rock away in a rocking chair and spin stories in my head.

Writers are usually bookworms, so I have to ask: What book made you a reader?

The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner. I was a slow and reluctant reader when I first entered elementary school.

It wasn’t until fourth grade when my teacher, Mrs. George, read this novel out loud to our class every day after lunch. I eventually checked it out from the library and read it on my own. It was the first chapter book that helped me fall in love with reading.

The characters became my friends, and I became the characters. My sister Laura, a year older, and I acted out the stories in our backyard.

On a side note, we also acted out all the characters on the television show, Gilligan’s Island.

What book made you a writer?

Again, The Boxcar Children. That chapter book eventually led me to explore more chapter books until I began to feel more confident as a reader.

It’s through reading and self-expression that writers find their way from reading other people’s stories to creating their own.

Favorite place to write?

Although I have a wonderful home office with built-in bookshelves and a corner desk, I find myself back at the kitchen table some days, especially when I’m daydreaming a scene or scribbling notes.

Other days I’m in my office for hours. Years ago, as a young mother, I learned to write whenever and wherever I could.

It was nothing back then to scribble my thoughts on yellow legal pads so I could refine them later. I like to joke that I’ve cobbled together whole novels from nothing more than scraps of paper, index cards, and sticky notes.

But it’s the truth, even now that my sons are grown. It’s my process, which is messy, but it works for me.

Favorite time of day to write?

This has varied over the years. I no longer must write between the margins of other responsibilities, so I am more flexible. When I’m on a deadline, writing becomes my top priority. 

Favorite part of the writing process?

Discovering magical moments that make me laugh and cry.

Favorite book about writing?

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, also Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg

Favorite drink while writing?

Coffee, hot tea, water, lemonade, and if I’m celebrating…wine!

While writing, music or no music?

I’ve done it all. While writing a few scenes in my fourth novel, The Flying Cutterbucks, I listened to Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass as I incorporated some of their titles into my story.

There were many times I got up and danced around my office so I could get into my characters for their own dancing scenes.

I was often joined by my dogs.

Best feedback you’ve received about your writing?

One of my editors at Family Circle Magazine told me decades ago, “You know what I think your strength is as a writer? You know how to write with emotional impact.”

She was the first publishing professional who ever told me that. Her comment over the phone that day continues to carry me onward.

What piece of advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Trust the process. Your process. Even if it’s messy.

Finally, what is your favorite military spouse-authored book?

Too many to name. My dream continues to be that military spouse authors and their books will be read and accepted into the mainstream.

You can read more about Kathleen on her website, kathleenmrodgers.com, or follow her on Instagram and Facebook.

Her novels are available on Amazon or wherever books are sold.

*Check out other military authors in our series, Tully Talks Storytelling.