About - Kathrese McKee

About the Author

I hope you're here because you share my love for great speculative fiction that's appropriate for Young Adult readers. My goal is to write epic adventures for young adults and anyone else who enjoys pirates and princesses combined with life's difficult questions. That means exciting stories, appropriate content, and quality craftsmanship.

Once upon a time, I worked as a systems engineer for EDS and various oil and gas companies. After that, I taught Reading and ESL at the middle school level. These days, I write and edit fiction, home school my children, and turn a blind eye to the feral dust bunnies lurking beneath my desk.

Currently, I'm an active member of Realm Makers, ACFW, The Woodlands chapter, The Author Success Mastermind, the Alliance of Independent Authors, and ACES: The Society for Editing. My podcast and editing services can be found at WritingPursuits.com.

Awards

Award Winning Fiction

Winner: 2014 Novel Rocket Launch Pad Contest, Mardan's Mark, MG/YA Category
Finalist: 2014 Phoenix Rattler writing contest, Christian Writers of the West(CWOW) - Arizona's ACFW affiliate
Winner: 2014 Save Our Synopsis contest, Central Florida ACFW
Winner: 2015 Storming the Short Story, Speculative Fiction division for "The Confession", ACFW Writers on the Storm
Finalist: 2018 The Wishing Shelf, Pirate's Wager, Teenagers Category

Why You Should Listen to Your Inner Eleven-Year-Old

In middle school, I ate lunch in the school library every day. With my nose stuck in a book, immersed in the epic adventures on the pages, I barely tasted my food. I’ll always be grateful my school was too crowded for everyone to sit in the cafeteria. Thank you, Ms. Librarian, for turning a blind eye to the kids who brought food and drink near your precious books.

I’m proof that teens and young adults should pay attention to what they like to do best and just do that when they grow up.

Lunch, band, and language arts were my favorite subjects, but I ignored my natural desire to write stories and make music and decided to be a computer programmer instead. At least the geeks and nerds I worked with knew all about Star Wars, Battlestar Gallactica, Princess Bride, Dr. Who, and The Lord of the Rings.

Years passed. I became a middle school reading teacher and had fun introducing my students to fantasy and science fiction at every opportunity. Much to my disgust, however, the days of eating lunch in the school library were over. I needed a new plan.

I decided to become an author and editor. Now I read lots of books, listen to music, write fantasy, blog, and edit stories. Most days, I eat lunch at my desk--in my library, of course.

Media Information

2-line bio:

Kathrese McKee, author and owner of Word Marker Edits, writes epic adventures for anyone who enjoys pirates and princesses combined with life’s difficult questions.

Short Bio:

Kathrese McKee, author and owner of Writing Pursuits, writes epic adventures for young adults and anyone else who enjoys pirates and princesses combined with life’s difficult questions. She is committed to exciting stories, appropriate content, and quality craftsmanship.

Medium Bio:

Once upon a time, Kathrese worked as a systems engineer for EDS and various oil and gas companies. Then, she taught Reading and ESL at the middle school level. These days, she writes and edits fiction, creates art, and turns a blind eye to the feral dust bunnies lurking beneath her desk.

Long Bio:

Once upon a time, Kathrese worked as a systems engineer for EDS and various oil and gas companies. After that, she taught Reading and ESL at the middle school level. These days, she edits fiction, creates art, and turns a blind eye to the feral dust bunnies lurking beneath her desk.

Kathrese is a member of Realm Makers, ACFW, The Woodlands chapter, the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), and ACES: The Society for Editing. For editing services and podcast information, please see WritingPursuits.com.

Photos

Photo credit: Jennifer Watrous of JD Waterhouse Photography