December 1, 2025 • 33 mins
Gentle heads-up: mentions of grief and loss.
If you’re new—welcome, I am so grateful you are here. If you’re back again for hope to visit—welcome home.
In this episode, I'm delighted to be chatting with K.T. Jay—the Amazon bestselling author of Inkbound Inheritance—to talk about imagination, healing through story, and the courage it takes to begin. We explore how grief shapes us, why stories can steady us, and what it’s really like to indie-publish a debut that lands on the charts.
In this episode
- The spark behind Inkbound Inheritance (a storyworld you can inherit!)
- Grief as a teacher: what young K.T. learned vs. adult K.T. carrying others
- Practical creative tools: finding your why, building a support circle, starting small
- Indie publishing 101: timelines, control, and the long game
- Hope, defined—when it feels like the ocean keeps crashing over you
Guest: K.T. Jay — Website: KTJAuthor.com | IG: @KTJAuthor
Book: Inkbound Inheritance (Amazon) & on (Barnes & Noble)
Share this episode with a friend who’s been meaning to start, but needs a little light.
Thank you for listening to Hope Comes to Visit. If this conversation helps, follow the show, share it with someone who needs hope today, and leave a review - it helps others find their way to these conversations.
New episodes drop every Monday, so you can begin your week with a little light and a lot of hope.
For more stories, reflections, and ways to connect, visit www.DanielleElliottSmith.com or follow along on Instagram @daniellesmithtv and @HopeComestoVisit
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:01):
It was very surreal.
I remember getting it when I hadall so I had my son already.
We were outside, I think, andand the male person dropped it
off on the porch.
And I started shaking.
I said, Oh my gosh, buddy, Ithink this is my book.
My first printed copy of mybook.
(00:23):
Um, and opening it up and seeingthe cover that I had only seen
on a screen before.
It didn't feel real.
And honestly, sometimes it stilldoesn't feel real.
I'll look at it and think,that's my book.
Are we sure?
SPEAKER_01 (00:51):
Hi there, friends.
Welcome to Hope Comes to Visit.
I'm Danielle Elliott Smith, andI am so glad you're here.
Today I'm joined by Katie J,Amazon best-selling author of
Inkbound Inheritance, afive-time Amazon chart topper
and the first in hersought-after series.
A SoCal native with tea in herhand and stories in her bones,
Katie builds magical worlds thatfeel both wondrous and real.
(01:15):
When she isn't writing, she'swith her husband, son, and their
desert tortoise pebbles.
We're talking about imagination,healing through story, and the
courage that it takes to begin.
Let's take a quick moment tothank the people that support
and sponsor the podcast.
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(01:39):
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Katie, thank you so much forbeing here with me.
Thank you for having me.
This is awesome.
Oh, you are the cutest.
(02:00):
I am just gonna eat you uptoday.
I swear.
I know the podcast is people canlisten or they can watch.
So I'm I'm gonna encouragepeople to to head on over to
YouTube and watch this becauseyou are adorable.
So thank you.
Thank you for being here.
It is such a delight to finallyget you on here to chat with me.
(02:21):
I'm so excited to talk aboutyour writing, um, about your
story, about the journey thatthat you took to get you to
Inkbound Inheritance and aboutyou being a new mom, too.
So um I I've also been followingyou on Instagram, and it's it's
it's really neat to watch thingsunfold for you.
(02:42):
So thank you for being here.
SPEAKER_02 (02:44):
Yeah, thank you so much for the opportunity to talk
about it.
SPEAKER_01 (02:49):
So let's start with the journey of being a writer,
if you don't mind, because Iknow as someone who writes, um,
I what I have written has alwaysbeen nonfiction.
Uh and I know that your inkboundinheritance is fiction.
Uh however, if I'm on tounderstand correctly, there is a
(03:12):
little bit of uh a little bit ofinspiration in young Katie's
journey that that is inspiringLiam, your your main character's
journey throughout.
So talk to me about about whatit took to start writing and and
how you allowed your personaljourney to inspire this
(03:35):
particular story.
SPEAKER_02 (03:38):
Yeah.
Well, I I grew up lovingstories.
Uh from a young age, my parentswould read to me every night at
bedtime, and my dad would dodifferent voices when he would
read.
And I he he told me the otherday I would I would always
choose the longest storiesbecause I wanted to listen to
(04:05):
stories as long as I could befor bed.
Um and so I always had a love ofreading and writing.
I remembered even journalingfrom a very young age and
writing stories.
I have a very vivid memory ofsecond grade Katie.
We, you know how they wouldassign those creative writing
(04:28):
assignments.
Right.
And most people hated them, butI loved them.
And I remember one day aftereveryone had gone out to recess,
I was still at my desk ferventlywriting, saying, No, I'm not
done.
I have to finish my story.
And I would, I wanted to stay infrom recess to write my story
(04:49):
because I I just loved writingand storytelling so much.
Um and so I would always,through my childhood in life,
just always have a journal whereI was writing different short
stories or poems, which I lookback on and cringe.
Um, and or just journaling aboutlife.
(05:11):
And um, so I've always lovedbooks and writing and and
stories.
Um, but the inspiration for thisbook, it's a book about grief
and themes of grief, and my maincharacter um learning to grieve,
and what does it look like togrieve well and not well, and
(05:32):
and how can we move through itin a way that um we can still
have hope afterwards.
And so when I was younger, I Iwent through a lot of grief.
I was nine years old, and inthat year I lost three people
close to me (05:49):
my great-grandma, my grandpa, and then my best
friend who lived across thestreet.
Um she passed away sadly in acar accident, and it just rocked
my world as a nine-year-old.
SPEAKER_01 (06:06):
Losing that, um I would rock anybody's world.
And to be nine and to have somuch loss is is is tremendous.
SPEAKER_02 (06:18):
Yeah, it was a lot, and I remember my parents giving
me a journal actually to processand write out all of my
thoughts, and and um so that'skind of where grief has just
always been a prevalent theme inmy life, and from then on I I
(06:39):
lived with a fear of losingpeople close to me that the
people my friends or people Iloved were just going to pass
away and I was going to losethem.
Um and then um so I kind of Iwrote through that and through
(06:59):
childhood um different stories,um, some happy, some sad.
And uh in college, kind of tooka creative hiatus.
Um, but then after college in2020 is when I started working
on inkbound inheritance, and Ihad so much time as all of us
(07:20):
did, and I wanted to chase afterthe dream that I had, but I
always wanted to be an authorand a writer.
So I started working on thisbook about grief, and then a
couple years in, I lost threemore people close to me in the
same year, and I just had amoment where I thought, I
(07:44):
thought I had gone through allthe things I needed to go
through in order to write thisbook, but obviously not that
there needed to be more.
And so, yeah, lost three morepeople, and it going through it,
going through grief as an adultis also it's so different than
(08:06):
going through it as a child.
Um I felt like when I wasyounger, I could it just I was
more fully in in the emotionalpart of it, and then as an in a
an adult grieving, you realize,wow, there's so many more layers
to this, so many more logisticsand the estate planning, or um
(08:32):
one of the people who passed wasone of our close friends, my
husband and I's close friend,and you know, he left behind his
wife and who was expecting ababy.
And so I'm just sitting in like,what is there's so much more to
(08:52):
this grief than um what I hadexperienced before.
So all of that happened in themidst of writing this, and so it
took a needed break to processeverything and and came out of
that with just the determinationto use all of the grief and pain
(09:17):
and not let it not that just useit and not let it fester or rot
me and use it for something thatcould help other people who were
going through something similarso that they could know that
they're not alone and that thereis hope and that they're not
(09:38):
meant to go through their griefalone, which is a really
powerful motivation, right?
SPEAKER_01 (09:44):
I mean, nine-year-old Katie was allowed
to be protected to some degree,right?
So there is part of that voicethat you can put into your
writing, but adult Katie has tohandle grief differently because
(10:05):
adult Katie is not onlypersonally handling it
differently, she's comfortingsomeone in a different way.
There wasn't nine-year-old Katiewasn't comforting someone, but
nine-year-old Katie was justfeeling it.
And so as an adult, there isthat additional element of us uh
learning how to help otherpeople grave.
(10:27):
And there very likely is thatelement that exists in inkbound
inheritance that might not haveexisted the same way because you
had to experience what it lookslike to show up for other people
too, right?
So maybe that's a piece of yourcharacters that needed to
(10:48):
develop.
I find that um experiencescontinue to help us evolve,
right?
I was planning this podcast.
This podcast was in developmentfor the past six years.
And two and a half years ago, Iwas ready to go and I lost
someone.
And I stopped entirely.
(11:09):
I stopped cold.
And all I could think was, I'mgetting ready to do a podcast on
hope.
I've never felt more hopeless.
And then I realized that Ineeded to go through that
process and feel in a place ofcomplete loss of hope in order
to be able to have conversationsand meet people where they were.
(11:33):
And it feels similar to youhaving to stop on the book for a
while.
So, how long was your writingprocess altogether?
Were you writing InkboundInheritance for a full five
years?
SPEAKER_02 (11:49):
Uh not writing it for five years, but from
ideation to then drafting andwriting and then editing and
then doing the cover design.
I didn't design it, but hiringsomeone to design the cover.
Right.
Um all of that process and thendoing the publishing because I'm
(12:13):
in going the independent authorroute.
So all of the publishing was onme and all the distribution.
So learning all of that and allof those different softwares and
how that works.
So all of it all together tookfive years.
SPEAKER_01 (12:29):
What has that learning curve been like for you
going the independent authorroute?
That is an avenue that 15 yearsago didn't exist the way it does
now, right?
So it's a whole new avenue forpeople who have had a dream to
write a book and publish it andput it out there.
(12:49):
And the technology that exists,especially within Amazon now, uh
being able to put it out thereand to see people grabbing it
and enjoying it and coming up toyour to your author signings at
at bookstores.
What has that process been likefor you?
SPEAKER_02 (13:13):
Yes, it it definitely was a big learning
curve.
I as a as a reader, you just seea book on the shelf and you
think, wow, this is fantastic.
They wrote it and now it's here.
Yep.
So much more to it.
Yes, so many more steps to getthere.
(13:33):
And and I remember beingconstantly frustrated at how
long it was taking because Iwould just uncover more things.
Oh, this is a part of theprocess that I have to learn how
to do.
Okay, now this is something thatI have to do.
So it definitely was a biglearning curve, but I was okay
(13:56):
learning all of that.
I I like having the twodifferent um using both parts of
my brain to write the book.
So the creative part, like youwere saying, the creative part
of your brain is for the writingand the drafting.
And then I like when I needed abreak from that, because you can
only go for so long.
Well, for me, everyone'sdifferent how long they can
(14:19):
write and take from thatcreative well.
I think the most that I justwrote straight in one day, this
is before I had a baby, was fourhours.
And after that, I was tappedout.
Yeah, yes.
SPEAKER_01 (14:33):
And so you used all the words you have access to for
the day.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_02 (14:38):
There are none left, they're all on the page.
Yep.
And so I liked being able toswitch over to okay, let me do
some more of the logistics, somemore of the marketing, more of
the back-end tasks that need tobe done to publish the book.
So I I enjoy learning that anddoing that.
(14:58):
And I know not everyone wants todo that or enjoys doing that.
SPEAKER_01 (15:04):
I love that you do.
I love that you have enjoyedeach part of the process because
for some people, I know that forme, sometimes when I uncover
another layer of, oh wow, I haveto learn how to do that too,
sometimes it can feel incrediblyoverwhelming.
Was there a point during thisprocess at all that you felt
overwhelmed to the point thatyou thought, okay, I don't know
(15:26):
if I'm going to be able to dothis?
SPEAKER_02 (15:29):
Many times.
Many, many times, actually.
SPEAKER_01 (15:34):
So where do you where does where do you go to
find the but yes, Katie, I cankeep going.
SPEAKER_02 (15:43):
Yeah.
Uh I'm grateful for all of theplaces that I can go.
Um, my husband was a very hugecheerleader and supporter of
mine.
And so many times I wanted tostop and I would ask, is this
worth it?
Is this what I'm supposed to bedoing?
(16:04):
And he would encourage me andsay, Yes, this is what you're
supposed to be doing, or he'dplay devil's advocate or say,
fine, give up then.
SPEAKER_01 (16:12):
And I'd say, No, no, absolutely not.
How dare you, how dare you tampon my dream like that?
Exactly.
SPEAKER_02 (16:21):
So my husband, so grateful for him.
I actually dedicated the book tohim because he was such a huge
part of encouraging me to dothis and helping me stay on the
path towards publication.
Um, also, I'm a part of awriting group.
So that's been really helpful tohave that support, to have those
(16:44):
people to believe in you whenmaybe you don't believe in
yourself enough.
Um and then for me, faith is areally big part in my life.
And so just knowing that this isthe purpose, that in this
season, this is what God has forme and how he wants me to share
my story, to be able to helppeople not feel alone.
(17:08):
Um, so those are some of theplaces that I go that really
help me to stay rooted andremembering my why.
Why did I start this?
Why did I want to do this in thefirst place?
And that always helps me if I'min that overwhelm spiraling, oh,
I can't do all of this, this isimpossible.
(17:29):
To think back, why did I want todo this in the first place?
It's to help other people.
And if this book can help evenjust one other person, then it's
worth it.
It's worth going through all ofthis.
SPEAKER_01 (17:44):
That's beautiful.
Did you find for you personally,with the goal and the why being
to help other people,recognizing that part of what
you are writing through has beena grief journey for the young
version of you and for the adultversion of you?
Did any of it end up feelingcathartic for you going through
(18:08):
those pieces of your own griefand heartache?
SPEAKER_02 (18:14):
Yes, very much.
To just some of the saddest andhardest parts to write were the
super grief heavy, just feelinglike when you're in that place
and you just feel like thatyou're at the bottom of the
(18:35):
ocean and the waves just keepcoming up and crashing over you
again and again, and you can'tcatch a breath.
And being able to write aboutthat and write about all of
these moments of pain andoverwhelm and hopelessness, like
you were mentioning, to be ableto get that out was really
(18:59):
helpful because once you get itout and it's not inside of you
anymore, it doesn't have as muchof a hold on you, and you can
have that freedom from that, um,especially if you know the dark
things that are like what's thepoint of all of this, and and
(19:20):
working through that, and kindof having you know, pasting some
of that on my main character andwhat he's processing, and so
much of what I processed andwent through is what he is
processing and going throughinside the book.
SPEAKER_01 (19:37):
So it it was it was very cathartic and so helpful to
sit in those emotions too, whichis not always fun, but so
necessary because that darknessloses some of its power when we
can bring it out into the light.
Exactly.
Good for you.
(19:58):
What was it like the moment thatyou first held your book in your
hands?
SPEAKER_02 (20:04):
It was very surreal.
I remember getting it when I hadall so I had my son already.
We were outside, I think, andand the male person dropped it
off on the porch.
And I started shaking.
I said, Oh my gosh, buddy, Ithink this is my book.
My first printed copy of mybook.
(20:27):
Um, and opening it up and seeingthe cover that I had only seen
on a screen before.
It it didn't feel real.
And honestly, sometimes it stilldoesn't feel real.
I'll look at it and think, thatthat's my book?
Are we sure?
Really?
SPEAKER_01 (20:48):
It's the magic of actually seeing a dream
manifested that way, right?
It's it's that true pinch memoment.
What about meeting someone inperson who has read your book
and is to me, it's a little bitakin to what a singer or an
artist must experience whenthey're on stage and someone
(21:10):
sings their words back to them,right?
To know that you have affectedsomeone in a positive way, that
they have been touched by yourwords.
SPEAKER_02 (21:17):
Yes, that's makes it all worth it.
And to know that it impactedthem and helped them, maybe in a
way I intended, or maybe in adifferent way, because you know,
that's what happens when you putstuff out.
It affects everyone differently.
It when I had the first timethat I had a stranger buy my
(21:40):
book, or or strangers say, I'mreading your book and it's
really great.
I didn't know what to say,honestly.
SPEAKER_01 (21:49):
There were like seven copies have sold, and I
think that's my my parents andmy best friend and my husband.
And then all of a sudden,somebody you don't even know
buys it and says, Wait, I likethis.
And you said, Are you sure?
You were reading my book.
SPEAKER_02 (22:08):
Exactly.
Yeah, so very, very surreal anddefinitely the pinch me moment,
like you said.
SPEAKER_01 (22:15):
And and you've been watching it hit the bestseller
lists on Amazon.
That was that wascongratulations.
SPEAKER_02 (22:23):
Amazing.
Thank you so much.
That was another dream on launchday that I couldn't also believe
it happened, but so grateful forall the people rallying around
who really got the word out.
And because writing a book, itit is solitary in the writing,
but to get it out, it is it is agroup effort.
(22:47):
I have there's so many people,right, that help you and and
support you and spread the word,and it wouldn't have gotten the
bestseller without all of thosepeople and all of their support.
So, what comes next for you?
Yeah, so there will definitelybe another book, so that's
(23:08):
exciting.
Um, but I'm focusing on morebookstore events right now.
So I'm doing some local eventsin the Southern California area,
um, which is really fun to uhyeah, just so many pinch me
moments, honestly, to think thisis what I dreamed of when I was
a kid, and now I'm in abookstore talking about my book
(23:31):
and people are buying it, whichis amazing.
So we'll we'll do some bookstoreevents, um working on book two
and outlining it.
And I have a general idea ofwhere I want it to go, but we'll
need to do more of the outliningand get the the skeleton of the
story together.
Um will you continue to stay onthe self-publishing pathway?
(23:56):
I think so.
I think so.
I just love the freedom to one,determine my own timeline,
especially now being a mom.
And my timeline is just slowerthan everyone else, and learning
to be okay with that.
Um, and so I just think it mightbe, I mean, it would be more
(24:21):
stressful, I think,traditionally publishing and
adhering to their timeline.
Um, but I yeah, I I've enjoyedthe self-publishing route as
much as it's a lot.
Um, I think I want to stay justto have that flexibility, the
creative control, the higherroyalties also um be able to
(24:44):
determine what I want to do whenI want to do it.
Um so for now, yeah, we're gonnastay on that route.
SPEAKER_01 (24:51):
Will you give the my audience community um a synopsis
of Inkbound Inheritance?
SPEAKER_02 (24:57):
Yes, I'd love to.
So Inkbound Inheritance is aboutuh Liam, my main character, he's
a teenage boy.
He finds out on his mom'sdeathbed that he will inherit a
story world that she created asan author.
And so he will inherit thisworld and be in charge of taking
(25:18):
care of it.
So this world that he thoughtwas just in his mom's books is
actually real.
And so he gets pulled inside ofthe world along with his cousin,
whom he has to rescue.
And along the way, he finds outhe actually has some powers, and
it's about his journey throughgrief and learning how to grief,
(25:41):
how to grieve in the storyworld, learning how to use his
powers, and then having torescue his cousin.
SPEAKER_01 (25:49):
So see, I love this for so many reasons.
Uh, I think that as a society ingeneral, we do not grieve well.
Um, we don't properly teach ourchildren, um, our young adults,
or which therefore does not setup adults very well to know how
(26:09):
to grieve.
So I love that you are, by wayof story, helping to equip young
adults with some of the toolsand heart for what is a very
basic common life experiencebecause there isn't one of us
(26:35):
that will escape untouched bygrief.
And so you, by way of yourimmense talent, are turning
something so many of us love todo, reading, into a a way to
(26:57):
give people tools they need forlife.
And I love that.
Thank you.
You're so welcome.
How do you define hope?
SPEAKER_02 (27:06):
Hope I would define hope as the belief that things
aren't over, that they'll stillgo on, and that um even in the
hard times, there's going to belight at the end.
(27:28):
Um that's how I would definehope.
SPEAKER_01 (27:32):
I love that.
Any advice for aspiring authors?
Let's first, just in general,for aspiring authors, and then I
want I have another questionabout the publishing piece.
SPEAKER_02 (27:42):
Okay.
Yeah, firstly, I would say I'mso excited for you, and I will
cheer you on uh in your writingjourney.
I would say definitely surroundyourself with people who, as we
we talked about before, will beyour cheerleaders, will be there
to believe in you wheninevitably you get to the point
(28:04):
where you want to quit, whereeverything's too much.
So surround yourself with goodpeople, with cheerleaders.
I would say um give yourselfgrace, lots of grace for the
process, um, because it's notoften a straight road.
It's it can be a windy road.
(28:26):
Um and I would say remember yourwhy.
Remember why you want to writeand hold on to that in those
moments where you want to giveup, where you've reached this
the saggy middle of writing andyou're wondering, where is this
going?
Is this even good anymore?
SPEAKER_01 (28:49):
I love that.
What about for someone who isthinking, I'm scared,
self-publishing sounds sodaunting.
Where do I even begin?
SPEAKER_02 (29:00):
Yeah, I am the type of person who before I do
something, I love to do a lot ofresearch and gather all of the
data available and then parsethrough it and pick out the
best, most useful pieces.
So I did a lot of research onthe best way.
Not saying I did the best way,but I what felt like the best
(29:22):
fit for you.
Right, the best fit for me.
Um resources that I used was uhthe creative pen.com, Joanna
Penn.
She's an indie author and she'sbeen an independent author for
like 20 plus years.
So she has a lot of reallypractical resources.
She has a book called How toSelf Publish Your Book.
(29:45):
So I used that resource.
She really lays it out for you.
It's very helpful.
Um, so her website and her bookswere very helpful.
Um, if you are looking for morecraft things, the craft of
story.
Storytelling and writing, um,helping writers become authors
is a great uh website where shetalks about how to outline your
(30:09):
book, how to incorporate themein your book, how to create to
uh meet the correct story beatsin your book and and build your
characters and that sort ofthing.
Um, so I would say the resourcesare what really helped me and
finding some good, helpfulresources is what's gonna help
(30:32):
along that journey because Imean, there's so many books
about how to self-publish abook, but there's not just one.
So you gotta find the one thatthat works best for you, but
those are some that reallyhelped me with more the more
practical sides.
And then Joanna Penn has apodcast too.
So I listen to a lot, a lot ofher podcasts and the guests she
(30:56):
has on.
Um, super helpful.
So those are some things that Iwould say would help along the
self-publishing journey.
SPEAKER_01 (31:04):
You are amazing.
It has been such a delight tohave you on here.
Where can everyone find you?
How do they find InkboundInheritance?
How do they follow all theamazing things you're doing?
SPEAKER_02 (31:14):
Oh, thank you.
Uh, you can find me at mywebsite, which is ktjauthor.com.
I'm also on Instagram at thesame handle, ktjauthor.
And um Inkbound Inheritance ison Amazon, it's on Barnes Noble,
and um yeah, that's where youcan find me.
(31:37):
And if you want to keep up todate on publishing and
everything, you can sign up formy newsletter on my website as
well, and I'll send out funexclusive updates and and first
looks on certain things.
SPEAKER_01 (31:50):
So yeah, thank you so much.
Congratulations on the successof the book.
Congratulations on your newlittle one.
I it is a delight to have youhere.
I cannot wait to see what you donext.
I will definitely continue tofollow along.
Thank you for being here withme.
SPEAKER_02 (32:07):
Thank you so much, Danielle.
This has been so fun.
I appreciate you.
SPEAKER_01 (32:11):
Equally, equally appreciate you.
KJ, thank you so much.
And thank you, friends, forjoining us on Hope Comes to
Visit.
I so hope that you have taken ina little bit of the hope and the
light that KTJ has brought to usthis on this particular episode.
And I so hope that you will turnright around and share it with
someone you know who is lookingfor some additional inspiration,
(32:32):
maybe some creative writinginspiration, some little bit of
love for some uh writing.
And I do hope that you will takesuch good care of yourself until
we see you next time.
Naturally, it's important tothank the people who support and
sponsor the podcast.
(32:52):
This episode is supported byChris Dully, a trusted criminal
defense attorney and friend ofmine here in St.
Louis, who believes in secondchances and solid
representation.
Whether you're facing a DWI,felony, or traffic issue, Chris
handles your case personallywith clarity, compassion, and
over 15 years of experience.
When things feel uncertain, ithelps to have someone steady in
(33:14):
your corner.
Call 314 384 4000 or 314 DUIHelp, or you can visit
Dulilawfirm.com to schedule yourfree consultation.
It was very surreal.
I remember getting it when I hadall so I had my son already.
We were outside, I think, andand the male person dropped it
off on the porch.
And I started shaking.
I said, Oh my gosh, buddy, Ithink this is my book.
My first printed copy of mybook.
(00:23):
Um, and opening it up and seeingthe cover that I had only seen
on a screen before.
It didn't feel real.
And honestly, sometimes it stilldoesn't feel real.
I'll look at it and think,that's my book.
Are we sure?
SPEAKER_01 (00:51):
Hi there, friends.
Welcome to Hope Comes to Visit.
I'm Danielle Elliott Smith, andI am so glad you're here.
Today I'm joined by Katie J,Amazon best-selling author of
Inkbound Inheritance, afive-time Amazon chart topper
and the first in hersought-after series.
A SoCal native with tea in herhand and stories in her bones,
Katie builds magical worlds thatfeel both wondrous and real.
(01:15):
When she isn't writing, she'swith her husband, son, and their
desert tortoise pebbles.
We're talking about imagination,healing through story, and the
courage that it takes to begin.
Let's take a quick moment tothank the people that support
and sponsor the podcast.
When life takes an unexpectedturn, you deserve someone who
will stand beside you.
St.
Louis attorney Chris Duly offersexperienced one-on-one legal
(01:39):
defense.
Call 314-384-4000 or 314-DUYHELP.
Or you can visitDulilawfirm.com.
That's D-U-L-L-E lawfirm.com fora free consultation.
Katie, thank you so much forbeing here with me.
Thank you for having me.
This is awesome.
Oh, you are the cutest.
(02:00):
I am just gonna eat you uptoday.
I swear.
I know the podcast is people canlisten or they can watch.
So I'm I'm gonna encouragepeople to to head on over to
YouTube and watch this becauseyou are adorable.
So thank you.
Thank you for being here.
It is such a delight to finallyget you on here to chat with me.
(02:21):
I'm so excited to talk aboutyour writing, um, about your
story, about the journey thatthat you took to get you to
Inkbound Inheritance and aboutyou being a new mom, too.
So um I I've also been followingyou on Instagram, and it's it's
it's really neat to watch thingsunfold for you.
(02:42):
So thank you for being here.
SPEAKER_02 (02:44):
Yeah, thank you so much for the opportunity to talk
about it.
SPEAKER_01 (02:49):
So let's start with the journey of being a writer,
if you don't mind, because Iknow as someone who writes, um,
I what I have written has alwaysbeen nonfiction.
Uh and I know that your inkboundinheritance is fiction.
Uh however, if I'm on tounderstand correctly, there is a
(03:12):
little bit of uh a little bit ofinspiration in young Katie's
journey that that is inspiringLiam, your your main character's
journey throughout.
So talk to me about about whatit took to start writing and and
how you allowed your personaljourney to inspire this
(03:35):
particular story.
SPEAKER_02 (03:38):
Yeah.
Well, I I grew up lovingstories.
Uh from a young age, my parentswould read to me every night at
bedtime, and my dad would dodifferent voices when he would
read.
And I he he told me the otherday I would I would always
choose the longest storiesbecause I wanted to listen to
(04:05):
stories as long as I could befor bed.
Um and so I always had a love ofreading and writing.
I remembered even journalingfrom a very young age and
writing stories.
I have a very vivid memory ofsecond grade Katie.
We, you know how they wouldassign those creative writing
(04:28):
assignments.
Right.
And most people hated them, butI loved them.
And I remember one day aftereveryone had gone out to recess,
I was still at my desk ferventlywriting, saying, No, I'm not
done.
I have to finish my story.
And I would, I wanted to stay infrom recess to write my story
(04:49):
because I I just loved writingand storytelling so much.
Um and so I would always,through my childhood in life,
just always have a journal whereI was writing different short
stories or poems, which I lookback on and cringe.
Um, and or just journaling aboutlife.
(05:11):
And um, so I've always lovedbooks and writing and and
stories.
Um, but the inspiration for thisbook, it's a book about grief
and themes of grief, and my maincharacter um learning to grieve,
and what does it look like togrieve well and not well, and
(05:32):
and how can we move through itin a way that um we can still
have hope afterwards.
And so when I was younger, I Iwent through a lot of grief.
I was nine years old, and inthat year I lost three people
close to me (05:49):
my great-grandma, my grandpa, and then my best
friend who lived across thestreet.
Um she passed away sadly in acar accident, and it just rocked
my world as a nine-year-old.
SPEAKER_01 (06:06):
Losing that, um I would rock anybody's world.
And to be nine and to have somuch loss is is is tremendous.
SPEAKER_02 (06:18):
Yeah, it was a lot, and I remember my parents giving
me a journal actually to processand write out all of my
thoughts, and and um so that'skind of where grief has just
always been a prevalent theme inmy life, and from then on I I
(06:39):
lived with a fear of losingpeople close to me that the
people my friends or people Iloved were just going to pass
away and I was going to losethem.
Um and then um so I kind of Iwrote through that and through
(06:59):
childhood um different stories,um, some happy, some sad.
And uh in college, kind of tooka creative hiatus.
Um, but then after college in2020 is when I started working
on inkbound inheritance, and Ihad so much time as all of us
(07:20):
did, and I wanted to chase afterthe dream that I had, but I
always wanted to be an authorand a writer.
So I started working on thisbook about grief, and then a
couple years in, I lost threemore people close to me in the
same year, and I just had amoment where I thought, I
(07:44):
thought I had gone through allthe things I needed to go
through in order to write thisbook, but obviously not that
there needed to be more.
And so, yeah, lost three morepeople, and it going through it,
going through grief as an adultis also it's so different than
(08:06):
going through it as a child.
Um I felt like when I wasyounger, I could it just I was
more fully in in the emotionalpart of it, and then as an in a
an adult grieving, you realize,wow, there's so many more layers
to this, so many more logisticsand the estate planning, or um
(08:32):
one of the people who passed wasone of our close friends, my
husband and I's close friend,and you know, he left behind his
wife and who was expecting ababy.
And so I'm just sitting in like,what is there's so much more to
(08:52):
this grief than um what I hadexperienced before.
So all of that happened in themidst of writing this, and so it
took a needed break to processeverything and and came out of
that with just the determinationto use all of the grief and pain
(09:17):
and not let it not that just useit and not let it fester or rot
me and use it for something thatcould help other people who were
going through something similarso that they could know that
they're not alone and that thereis hope and that they're not
(09:38):
meant to go through their griefalone, which is a really
powerful motivation, right?
SPEAKER_01 (09:44):
I mean, nine-year-old Katie was allowed
to be protected to some degree,right?
So there is part of that voicethat you can put into your
writing, but adult Katie has tohandle grief differently because
(10:05):
adult Katie is not onlypersonally handling it
differently, she's comfortingsomeone in a different way.
There wasn't nine-year-old Katiewasn't comforting someone, but
nine-year-old Katie was justfeeling it.
And so as an adult, there isthat additional element of us uh
learning how to help otherpeople grave.
(10:27):
And there very likely is thatelement that exists in inkbound
inheritance that might not haveexisted the same way because you
had to experience what it lookslike to show up for other people
too, right?
So maybe that's a piece of yourcharacters that needed to
(10:48):
develop.
I find that um experiencescontinue to help us evolve,
right?
I was planning this podcast.
This podcast was in developmentfor the past six years.
And two and a half years ago, Iwas ready to go and I lost
someone.
And I stopped entirely.
(11:09):
I stopped cold.
And all I could think was, I'mgetting ready to do a podcast on
hope.
I've never felt more hopeless.
And then I realized that Ineeded to go through that
process and feel in a place ofcomplete loss of hope in order
to be able to have conversationsand meet people where they were.
(11:33):
And it feels similar to youhaving to stop on the book for a
while.
So, how long was your writingprocess altogether?
Were you writing InkboundInheritance for a full five
years?
SPEAKER_02 (11:49):
Uh not writing it for five years, but from
ideation to then drafting andwriting and then editing and
then doing the cover design.
I didn't design it, but hiringsomeone to design the cover.
Right.
Um all of that process and thendoing the publishing because I'm
(12:13):
in going the independent authorroute.
So all of the publishing was onme and all the distribution.
So learning all of that and allof those different softwares and
how that works.
So all of it all together tookfive years.
SPEAKER_01 (12:29):
What has that learning curve been like for you
going the independent authorroute?
That is an avenue that 15 yearsago didn't exist the way it does
now, right?
So it's a whole new avenue forpeople who have had a dream to
write a book and publish it andput it out there.
(12:49):
And the technology that exists,especially within Amazon now, uh
being able to put it out thereand to see people grabbing it
and enjoying it and coming up toyour to your author signings at
at bookstores.
What has that process been likefor you?
SPEAKER_02 (13:13):
Yes, it it definitely was a big learning
curve.
I as a as a reader, you just seea book on the shelf and you
think, wow, this is fantastic.
They wrote it and now it's here.
Yep.
So much more to it.
Yes, so many more steps to getthere.
(13:33):
And and I remember beingconstantly frustrated at how
long it was taking because Iwould just uncover more things.
Oh, this is a part of theprocess that I have to learn how
to do.
Okay, now this is something thatI have to do.
So it definitely was a biglearning curve, but I was okay
(13:56):
learning all of that.
I I like having the twodifferent um using both parts of
my brain to write the book.
So the creative part, like youwere saying, the creative part
of your brain is for the writingand the drafting.
And then I like when I needed abreak from that, because you can
only go for so long.
Well, for me, everyone'sdifferent how long they can
(14:19):
write and take from thatcreative well.
I think the most that I justwrote straight in one day, this
is before I had a baby, was fourhours.
And after that, I was tappedout.
Yeah, yes.
SPEAKER_01 (14:33):
And so you used all the words you have access to for
the day.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_02 (14:38):
There are none left, they're all on the page.
Yep.
And so I liked being able toswitch over to okay, let me do
some more of the logistics, somemore of the marketing, more of
the back-end tasks that need tobe done to publish the book.
So I I enjoy learning that anddoing that.
(14:58):
And I know not everyone wants todo that or enjoys doing that.
SPEAKER_01 (15:04):
I love that you do.
I love that you have enjoyedeach part of the process because
for some people, I know that forme, sometimes when I uncover
another layer of, oh wow, I haveto learn how to do that too,
sometimes it can feel incrediblyoverwhelming.
Was there a point during thisprocess at all that you felt
overwhelmed to the point thatyou thought, okay, I don't know
(15:26):
if I'm going to be able to dothis?
SPEAKER_02 (15:29):
Many times.
Many, many times, actually.
SPEAKER_01 (15:34):
So where do you where does where do you go to
find the but yes, Katie, I cankeep going.
SPEAKER_02 (15:43):
Yeah.
Uh I'm grateful for all of theplaces that I can go.
Um, my husband was a very hugecheerleader and supporter of
mine.
And so many times I wanted tostop and I would ask, is this
worth it?
Is this what I'm supposed to bedoing?
(16:04):
And he would encourage me andsay, Yes, this is what you're
supposed to be doing, or he'dplay devil's advocate or say,
fine, give up then.
SPEAKER_01 (16:12):
And I'd say, No, no, absolutely not.
How dare you, how dare you tampon my dream like that?
Exactly.
SPEAKER_02 (16:21):
So my husband, so grateful for him.
I actually dedicated the book tohim because he was such a huge
part of encouraging me to dothis and helping me stay on the
path towards publication.
Um, also, I'm a part of awriting group.
So that's been really helpful tohave that support, to have those
(16:44):
people to believe in you whenmaybe you don't believe in
yourself enough.
Um and then for me, faith is areally big part in my life.
And so just knowing that this isthe purpose, that in this
season, this is what God has forme and how he wants me to share
my story, to be able to helppeople not feel alone.
(17:08):
Um, so those are some of theplaces that I go that really
help me to stay rooted andremembering my why.
Why did I start this?
Why did I want to do this in thefirst place?
And that always helps me if I'min that overwhelm spiraling, oh,
I can't do all of this, this isimpossible.
(17:29):
To think back, why did I want todo this in the first place?
It's to help other people.
And if this book can help evenjust one other person, then it's
worth it.
It's worth going through all ofthis.
SPEAKER_01 (17:44):
That's beautiful.
Did you find for you personally,with the goal and the why being
to help other people,recognizing that part of what
you are writing through has beena grief journey for the young
version of you and for the adultversion of you?
Did any of it end up feelingcathartic for you going through
(18:08):
those pieces of your own griefand heartache?
SPEAKER_02 (18:14):
Yes, very much.
To just some of the saddest andhardest parts to write were the
super grief heavy, just feelinglike when you're in that place
and you just feel like thatyou're at the bottom of the
(18:35):
ocean and the waves just keepcoming up and crashing over you
again and again, and you can'tcatch a breath.
And being able to write aboutthat and write about all of
these moments of pain andoverwhelm and hopelessness, like
you were mentioning, to be ableto get that out was really
(18:59):
helpful because once you get itout and it's not inside of you
anymore, it doesn't have as muchof a hold on you, and you can
have that freedom from that, um,especially if you know the dark
things that are like what's thepoint of all of this, and and
(19:20):
working through that, and kindof having you know, pasting some
of that on my main character andwhat he's processing, and so
much of what I processed andwent through is what he is
processing and going throughinside the book.
SPEAKER_01 (19:37):
So it it was it was very cathartic and so helpful to
sit in those emotions too, whichis not always fun, but so
necessary because that darknessloses some of its power when we
can bring it out into the light.
Exactly.
Good for you.
(19:58):
What was it like the moment thatyou first held your book in your
hands?
SPEAKER_02 (20:04):
It was very surreal.
I remember getting it when I hadall so I had my son already.
We were outside, I think, andand the male person dropped it
off on the porch.
And I started shaking.
I said, Oh my gosh, buddy, Ithink this is my book.
My first printed copy of mybook.
(20:27):
Um, and opening it up and seeingthe cover that I had only seen
on a screen before.
It it didn't feel real.
And honestly, sometimes it stilldoesn't feel real.
I'll look at it and think, thatthat's my book?
Are we sure?
Really?
SPEAKER_01 (20:48):
It's the magic of actually seeing a dream
manifested that way, right?
It's it's that true pinch memoment.
What about meeting someone inperson who has read your book
and is to me, it's a little bitakin to what a singer or an
artist must experience whenthey're on stage and someone
(21:10):
sings their words back to them,right?
To know that you have affectedsomeone in a positive way, that
they have been touched by yourwords.
SPEAKER_02 (21:17):
Yes, that's makes it all worth it.
And to know that it impactedthem and helped them, maybe in a
way I intended, or maybe in adifferent way, because you know,
that's what happens when you putstuff out.
It affects everyone differently.
It when I had the first timethat I had a stranger buy my
(21:40):
book, or or strangers say, I'mreading your book and it's
really great.
I didn't know what to say,honestly.
SPEAKER_01 (21:49):
There were like seven copies have sold, and I
think that's my my parents andmy best friend and my husband.
And then all of a sudden,somebody you don't even know
buys it and says, Wait, I likethis.
And you said, Are you sure?
You were reading my book.
SPEAKER_02 (22:08):
Exactly.
Yeah, so very, very surreal anddefinitely the pinch me moment,
like you said.
SPEAKER_01 (22:15):
And and you've been watching it hit the bestseller
lists on Amazon.
That was that wascongratulations.
SPEAKER_02 (22:23):
Amazing.
Thank you so much.
That was another dream on launchday that I couldn't also believe
it happened, but so grateful forall the people rallying around
who really got the word out.
And because writing a book, itit is solitary in the writing,
but to get it out, it is it is agroup effort.
(22:47):
I have there's so many people,right, that help you and and
support you and spread the word,and it wouldn't have gotten the
bestseller without all of thosepeople and all of their support.
So, what comes next for you?
Yeah, so there will definitelybe another book, so that's
(23:08):
exciting.
Um, but I'm focusing on morebookstore events right now.
So I'm doing some local eventsin the Southern California area,
um, which is really fun to uhyeah, just so many pinch me
moments, honestly, to think thisis what I dreamed of when I was
a kid, and now I'm in abookstore talking about my book
(23:31):
and people are buying it, whichis amazing.
So we'll we'll do some bookstoreevents, um working on book two
and outlining it.
And I have a general idea ofwhere I want it to go, but we'll
need to do more of the outliningand get the the skeleton of the
story together.
Um will you continue to stay onthe self-publishing pathway?
(23:56):
I think so.
I think so.
I just love the freedom to one,determine my own timeline,
especially now being a mom.
And my timeline is just slowerthan everyone else, and learning
to be okay with that.
Um, and so I just think it mightbe, I mean, it would be more
(24:21):
stressful, I think,traditionally publishing and
adhering to their timeline.
Um, but I yeah, I I've enjoyedthe self-publishing route as
much as it's a lot.
Um, I think I want to stay justto have that flexibility, the
creative control, the higherroyalties also um be able to
(24:44):
determine what I want to do whenI want to do it.
Um so for now, yeah, we're gonnastay on that route.
SPEAKER_01 (24:51):
Will you give the my audience community um a synopsis
of Inkbound Inheritance?
SPEAKER_02 (24:57):
Yes, I'd love to.
So Inkbound Inheritance is aboutuh Liam, my main character, he's
a teenage boy.
He finds out on his mom'sdeathbed that he will inherit a
story world that she created asan author.
And so he will inherit thisworld and be in charge of taking
(25:18):
care of it.
So this world that he thoughtwas just in his mom's books is
actually real.
And so he gets pulled inside ofthe world along with his cousin,
whom he has to rescue.
And along the way, he finds outhe actually has some powers, and
it's about his journey throughgrief and learning how to grief,
(25:41):
how to grieve in the storyworld, learning how to use his
powers, and then having torescue his cousin.
SPEAKER_01 (25:49):
So see, I love this for so many reasons.
Uh, I think that as a society ingeneral, we do not grieve well.
Um, we don't properly teach ourchildren, um, our young adults,
or which therefore does not setup adults very well to know how
(26:09):
to grieve.
So I love that you are, by wayof story, helping to equip young
adults with some of the toolsand heart for what is a very
basic common life experiencebecause there isn't one of us
(26:35):
that will escape untouched bygrief.
And so you, by way of yourimmense talent, are turning
something so many of us love todo, reading, into a a way to
(26:57):
give people tools they need forlife.
And I love that.
Thank you.
You're so welcome.
How do you define hope?
SPEAKER_02 (27:06):
Hope I would define hope as the belief that things
aren't over, that they'll stillgo on, and that um even in the
hard times, there's going to belight at the end.
(27:28):
Um that's how I would definehope.
SPEAKER_01 (27:32):
I love that.
Any advice for aspiring authors?
Let's first, just in general,for aspiring authors, and then I
want I have another questionabout the publishing piece.
SPEAKER_02 (27:42):
Okay.
Yeah, firstly, I would say I'mso excited for you, and I will
cheer you on uh in your writingjourney.
I would say definitely surroundyourself with people who, as we
we talked about before, will beyour cheerleaders, will be there
to believe in you wheninevitably you get to the point
(28:04):
where you want to quit, whereeverything's too much.
So surround yourself with goodpeople, with cheerleaders.
I would say um give yourselfgrace, lots of grace for the
process, um, because it's notoften a straight road.
It's it can be a windy road.
(28:26):
Um and I would say remember yourwhy.
Remember why you want to writeand hold on to that in those
moments where you want to giveup, where you've reached this
the saggy middle of writing andyou're wondering, where is this
going?
Is this even good anymore?
SPEAKER_01 (28:49):
I love that.
What about for someone who isthinking, I'm scared,
self-publishing sounds sodaunting.
Where do I even begin?
SPEAKER_02 (29:00):
Yeah, I am the type of person who before I do
something, I love to do a lot ofresearch and gather all of the
data available and then parsethrough it and pick out the
best, most useful pieces.
So I did a lot of research onthe best way.
Not saying I did the best way,but I what felt like the best
(29:22):
fit for you.
Right, the best fit for me.
Um resources that I used was uhthe creative pen.com, Joanna
Penn.
She's an indie author and she'sbeen an independent author for
like 20 plus years.
So she has a lot of reallypractical resources.
She has a book called How toSelf Publish Your Book.
(29:45):
So I used that resource.
She really lays it out for you.
It's very helpful.
Um, so her website and her bookswere very helpful.
Um, if you are looking for morecraft things, the craft of
story.
Storytelling and writing, um,helping writers become authors
is a great uh website where shetalks about how to outline your
(30:09):
book, how to incorporate themein your book, how to create to
uh meet the correct story beatsin your book and and build your
characters and that sort ofthing.
Um, so I would say the resourcesare what really helped me and
finding some good, helpfulresources is what's gonna help
(30:32):
along that journey because Imean, there's so many books
about how to self-publish abook, but there's not just one.
So you gotta find the one thatthat works best for you, but
those are some that reallyhelped me with more the more
practical sides.
And then Joanna Penn has apodcast too.
So I listen to a lot, a lot ofher podcasts and the guests she
(30:56):
has on.
Um, super helpful.
So those are some things that Iwould say would help along the
self-publishing journey.
SPEAKER_01 (31:04):
You are amazing.
It has been such a delight tohave you on here.
Where can everyone find you?
How do they find InkboundInheritance?
How do they follow all theamazing things you're doing?
SPEAKER_02 (31:14):
Oh, thank you.
Uh, you can find me at mywebsite, which is ktjauthor.com.
I'm also on Instagram at thesame handle, ktjauthor.
And um Inkbound Inheritance ison Amazon, it's on Barnes Noble,
and um yeah, that's where youcan find me.
(31:37):
And if you want to keep up todate on publishing and
everything, you can sign up formy newsletter on my website as
well, and I'll send out funexclusive updates and and first
looks on certain things.
SPEAKER_01 (31:50):
So yeah, thank you so much.
Congratulations on the successof the book.
Congratulations on your newlittle one.
I it is a delight to have youhere.
I cannot wait to see what you donext.
I will definitely continue tofollow along.
Thank you for being here withme.
SPEAKER_02 (32:07):
Thank you so much, Danielle.
This has been so fun.
I appreciate you.
SPEAKER_01 (32:11):
Equally, equally appreciate you.
KJ, thank you so much.
And thank you, friends, forjoining us on Hope Comes to
Visit.
I so hope that you have taken ina little bit of the hope and the
light that KTJ has brought to usthis on this particular episode.
And I so hope that you will turnright around and share it with
someone you know who is lookingfor some additional inspiration,
(32:32):
maybe some creative writinginspiration, some little bit of
love for some uh writing.
And I do hope that you will takesuch good care of yourself until
we see you next time.
Naturally, it's important tothank the people who support and
sponsor the podcast.
(32:52):
This episode is supported byChris Dully, a trusted criminal
defense attorney and friend ofmine here in St.
Louis, who believes in secondchances and solid
representation.
Whether you're facing a DWI,felony, or traffic issue, Chris
handles your case personallywith clarity, compassion, and
over 15 years of experience.
When things feel uncertain, ithelps to have someone steady in
(33:14):
your corner.
Call 314 384 4000 or 314 DUIHelp, or you can visit
Dulilawfirm.com to schedule yourfree consultation.
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