Today we’d like to introduce you to Katherine MK Mitchell
Hi Katherine MK, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I came to America from Budapest, Hungary, as a teenager. We were sponsored by distant relatives. We did not speak any English and were told by our distant relatives to go to night-school and learn English and get a job. They were not about to take care of us. All they did were signed a document stating that they will make sure that we will not become the government’s responsibility. And they did get us jobs as dishwashers and house-cleaners and they did enroll me in high school in September. I was fascinated by America and the English language came easily to me. I was able to get a job after high school as a file clerk, where the Alphabet was all I needed to guide me.
I used to be a good writer in my original Hungarian language so I decided to take a writing course in English. I went to the New School for Social Research where I studied Public Relations and Journalism Writing. I was terrible at it. The teacher kept reading out loud my homework every week as the example of what NOT to write. I was writing short stories not the Five W-s of journalism. I don’t remember how I passed but I did. After a few years I realized that I can get a better job with more money if I would take a secretarial course and learned typing and shorthand. Although the Brooklyn College credit looked good on my resume and landed me a receptionist job, my typing was horrible and my shorthand was unreadable especially by me. But I could not give up. I needed to make more money and to continue my education. I would dress attractively and continued to search for a better job. I developed a talent to sell myself to the interviewer and get the next job. But after I was working in a law office transcribing tape after tape, my speed improved and shorthand was not required. Win, win! I signed up for a part-time job with a transcribing service and started to do dictation tapes of authors. Now, that caught my attention. I enrolled in college level screenwriting and story analysis course. I found my place in the world! After doing one tape of a young Associate Producer at Universal Studios, I clearly saw what was wrong with his story. My boss at the transcribing service did not object to sending my analysis to the client and just like that, I was in! The young studio executive invited me to help him write his teleplay which he wanted to produce for the studio. I did and when we finished writing it, I became a member of the screenwriters guild. It took me years to find myself but studying and improving myself every step of the way, did pay off. I am a writer.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Nothing is smooth in creative arts. Driven by talent, I could find my way through the writing process, through the different forms of writing but when it comes to finding an agent especially one who is accessible and smart and who will really work for you, I was banging my head against brick walls. Not only are agents unreachable, they demand that the Query letter I write include a great portion of what is the agent’s job; such as comparisons to similar genre best sellers; such as how I would publicize and sell my manuscript; such as how I would participate in creating a marketing plan, and so on. In earlier times an agent just wanted to read the manuscript and sign the writer as a client and sell the manuscript to traditional publishers and guide the client in how to be available for publicity appearances. A whole different world. These days the work does not speak for itself because we can’t get it read by an agent unless we are recommended by important people. So, a writer is on her own most of the time. It is a very tough life. I recommend that you start as a young person by getting a job either at a production company where you work your way into writing scripts or get an entry level job as a publishing house and work your way up. Get on the inside.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am most proud of my memoir entitled FROM BUDAPEST TO HOLLYWOOD, Searching for the Promised Land. This book covers my life, the formative years that were filled with violence and turbulence and losing my father in the war. Becoming a nationally ranked gymnast. Growing up in communism, a totalitarian mindset and environment that creates followers of the population, not leaders. Escaping to the United States after a long wait in refugee camps. All these experiences set me apart from other people and while I was quick to assimilate, I always remained “different” from everyone. Writing this memoir was very tough on me but I am getting excellent feedback and finding that people actually do care about me, even though I am still considerably different.
My other published books are novels, also based on true events and real people as I knew them. On my website at katherinemitchellauthor.com you can find my fun reading novels entitled YOURS FOREVER . . . MAYBE; WASTED . . . MAYBE and SHELBY’S WAY . . . MAYBE.
Prior to the narrative works, I was a screenwriter with several of my screenplays under option to major production companies. The reasons why they never made it to the big screen are all in my memoir. You Gotta read it!
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
The discipline that is a major part of competitive sports is the characteristic that has served me well all my life. Without discipline, nothing gets finished, nothing excels.
Pricing:
- $16.99 / $28.99 FROM BUDAPEST TO HOLLYWOOD $28.99
- $9.95 SHELBY’S WAY . . . MAYBE
- $9.95 WASTED . . . MAYBE
- $ 9.95 YOURS FOREVER . . . MAYBE
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.katherinemitchellauthor.com
- Facebook: Katherine MK Mitchell
- LinkedIn: Katherine MK Mitchell
Image Credits
Candace Carson
