We recently connected with M. Kate Allen and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, M. Kate thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I first wanted to be a writer when I was ten years old. The feel of a pen gliding across the lined page of a journal felt like doing something vital and mysterious. It was intoxicating to take my wild thoughts and unleash them before my eyes in a permanent way.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I was never one to take a straight path forward, so while I identified a desire to be a writer when I was in fourth grade, I took many side journeys to get to the full-time novel-writing career I have now.

In eighth grade, I wrote an epilogue to a book my English class read. My teacher gushed over my words. In high school, I took creative writing and journalistic writing classes, which led me to write stories that received high praise, including awards.

I decided that I wanted to have the kind of inspirational impact my language teachers had on me, so beginning in college, I planned to triple-major in English, German, and education. That plan took a turn when I discovered a religious community whose liturgy (worship) was unlike anything I had experienced in a lifetime of being religious. I switched to a major in religious studies with minors in philosophy and German and a concentration in modern European studies. History, architecture, art, and highly symbolic, minimally wordy religious ritual (i.e. liturgy), struck me as cultural narrative-shifters, and I had an insatiable curiosity about how they managed to function this way.

Armed with this curiosity, I took a year off to do volunteer work in Cleveland, and then I went back to school for a Master’s degree in theology. From there I pursued a PhD in liturgical theology. I met the marvelous guy who would become my spouse the summer after my second year. Comprehensive exams would begin in October of my third year, and then–side journey! My first daughter showed up on an ultrasound looking like a mini-corndog. I began a blog named after her nascent shape, put my academic program on an indefinite hold, and started working at a wildly progressive synagogue in one of the most liberal cities in the U.S. My second daughter was another surprise a couple years later, and soon after she was born, my spouse and I packed up and moved to Arizona where pay was higher and living was more affordable.

Now without a job and with two young kids, I found myself noodling on the desire to be a writer again. At that point, I hadn’t quite recovered my love of writing after years of writing academic essays that few would ever read. A few months after arrival in the Southwest, however, I finished a collection of essays and poems that became my first book, Life. Love. Liturgy. Just before publishing it, I got cold feet, fearing people would actually see me (the horror!) if they read my words. I consulted a trusted spiritual mentor. He encouraged me to publish it. With not a little fear and trembling, I did. The world did not end, but I did receive a good deal of interest in my writing.

Later that year, I began working through the Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron for the first time and discovered through it that I not only wanted to be a writer, but a novelist, I finished my first novel, Memory Stands Still, the following year.

Still wanting to engage in my old academic milieu, and recognizing that my spirituality was taking a turn for something more feminine and feminist, I rewrote the biblical book of psalms and presented it among academic peers. The Thean Psalter, published in 2018 by Thea Press, was well-received popularly but regarded with hesitation by those in the academy. I bade the academy a firm farewell then, culled my book collection, and felt approximately 600 pounds lighter afterward.

In 2020, the pandemic hit. I was four years into a corporate job that didn’t inspire me, even though I excelled at it. I was also five years into writing my second novel, Playing Gauche. By then, I had lost confidence that I’d ever finish my second novel. I felt like a fraud. When quarantining began for everyone, I joined a virtual book club that set out to read The Spiral Dance by Starhawk in 40 days. By the end, I had stepped into myself in a whole new way–and I discovered my writing was no longer blocked. I finished Playing Gauche and began my popular Sticky Ones series for middle readers, starting with Crystal Winters and the Haunted Mansion. A year later, I quit the highest-paying job I’d ever had after feeling the fingers of corporate toxicity tightening around my throat. That was when my next side journey brought me full circle: I would, with the support of family, Patreon supporters, and readers across the world, write full-time.

Now I find myself taking a turn toward my most ambitious project yet: a Gothic horror trilogy. In addition to my writing, I communicate with my fanbase on Patreon, Facebook, Instagram, my website, and more. All the experiences I’ve had in the three decades since I first decided I wanted to write contribute richly to my career. I’m delighted that taking writing workshops, going on writing retreats, and reading books all constitute professional development. And there is nothing I love like setting my morning coffee on my desk, lighting a candle, and beginning to type.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

The most challenging thing for non-creatives to understand when encountering a successful creative journey like mine is that they are creative, too. Every human on the planet is creative–it’s just that societies and cultures often don’t value many forms of creativity. One’s own creativity often gets overlooked until an opportunity to be nurtured occurs, often in an unexpected way.

I have a whole series on the creative process on my YouTube channel in which I endeavor to invite my viewers into their own creativity.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Building my audience on social media has been a slow process of mud-slinging to see what will stick. I established a website early on, naming it after my first book originally, and then naming it after myself (it was terrifying but totally worth it, brand-wise). I also established a presence on social media sites that felt manageable to keep up with. I tried Twitter and hated it, but I found that Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and even TikTok appealed to me. Facebook and Instagram are great because posts can be scheduled a month in advance. Patreon is in many ways my most valuable social media outlet. I not only receive monetary support there, but it allows me to connect meaningfully and in a personal way with some of my most invested fans several times a month.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mkateallen.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mkateallen
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mkateallen
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mkateallen

Image Credits
M. Kate Allen (all photos)