Thank you very much for checking out my webpage!  I invite you to read through some of my stories and you enjoy reading them as much as I did writing them.

My first novella is entitled"Eva Galuska and the Christmas Carp."  This is a story told by Jozef Mieszko, the son of Polish immigrants who own and operate their own Old World bakery and delicatessen.  He feels constant pressure to work in the family business, instead of a computer career, which father calls "blue-screened elektronika."   The story takes place at Christmastime. Jozef is also troubled by some of the Old World holiday customs and he strives to decide how he wants his wife and sons to celebrate.   He also faces an unexpected attraction to an older woman whom he bumps into at his father's store.  Along the way, Jozef discovers a number of hidden secrets that bring new light to his family and his world.

My fiction is character-driven and I focus many of my stories on first and second-generation immigrants and their transition to the American life. This stemmed from living in Austria many years ago before the Berlin Wall crumbled and getting to know people who left their countries and their families behind with nothing more than the shirt on their backs. 

The dynamics of family life also fascinates me and I write many stories about women and the ways they face betrayal, disaapointment, and envy.  Another thread is how love turns our lives upside down.

I am a very visual person, and one of my main objectives is to pull the reader into the story so they can imagine themselves in the setting, interacting with the characters.  What I enjoy most about writing is layering in concrete details, sensory images, symbolism, and colors throughout each piece.  Historical landmarks, especially those in Chicago, customs, language, folklore and superstitions are also common threads that run in many of my stories. 

My second novella, Through the Eyes of Love, will be published in late summer. This book reveals glimpses into the lives of  women and girls, a tapestry of characters who are confronted by a variety of conflicts, coupled with the downfalls of love, the heart's burglar.  This theme was inspired by a poem written by a famous Polish poet, Rev. Jan Twardowski..."Let us rush to love the people; they leave us so quickly,"  stressing the importance of loving others before it is too late. 

My junior high English teacher, Mrs. Saunders, was instrumental in the development of my writing skills and prepared me for college..   Two weeks into my first English course at the university, the professor asked me to stay after class.  The minutes seemed like hours as I waited for class to end.  I thought my story must have been unacceptable.  Instead, Dr. Geoff Tillotson praised my work, especially the imagery, and he told me "with a little work, this piece could be published." From that moment on, I was determined to see my work in print. 

As a young child I became interested in the people and languages of Europe.  On a visit to a relative's house, I met the kids next door who spoke only German. By the time we were ready to leave, I thought I understood them and I thought learning another language would be fun. Years later, I studied German and Russian--and during a study abroad program near Vienna I learned I could easily pick up other languages just by hearing them.

At the same time my writing began to evolve and it manifested itself in many ways. I wrote my master's thesis on Romania's post-war economic transformation; in a Chilean journal I wrote economic forecasts and trendy business feature articles; feature stories for a newspaper; and had my own newspaper book review column. 

And now I have found my way back to short fiction.  I studied creative writing at the university and was fortunate to have two professors, David Stevenson and Tama Baldwin, who helped me find my voice and learn to shape my thoughts 

I was influenced by several greats writers, especially Stuart Dybek, A Chicago writer and poet, Charles Baxter, and Andre Dubus. Ultra short fiction became one of my favorites because there is nothing more challenging than being limited to 1500 words or less and writing a story that is "complete."  One of my personal favorites, published in The Binnacle, is my story "Ten Quarters, Five Dimes, Two Nickels, and Five Pennies," a 150-word ultra-short .

I won the Creative Writer's Society Narrative Fiction Award at Western Illinois University in 2006.

Several of my stories have appeared in Doorknobs and BodyPaint, and The Binnacle from the University of Maine at Machias.

Two of my stories were published in anthologies published by Kerlak Publications: "Daylight" in Short Attention Span Mysteries and "Pictures from the Elsewhen" in Time Intertwined.  

Three of my stories are published in the new anthology, Doorknobs and Bodypaint Fantastic Flash Fiction.

If you check these links out, they'll take you to some of my stories.  I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them.

Happy Reading!

Best Wishes from Kathleen