Client Spotlight: Kathy Izard

Client

SPOTLIGHT

Kathy Izard is a nationally recognized author, speaker, and changemaker. If you’re a bookworm, perhaps you’ve enjoyed one of Izard’s titles, including The Hundred Story Home, The Last Ordinary Hour, and A Good Night For Mr. Coleman. Much of the non-fiction she writes comes directly from her experience as an advocate for people experiencing homelessness in our community.

Izard’s work also served as a major source of inspiration as Vicky Mitchener founded The Homeowners Impact Fund, which creates a way for everyone involved in the process of buying or selling a home (such as the homeowners, realtors, and attorneys) to make a small donation that collectively adds up to significant aid for those experiencing homelessness. Now, Izard reflects on serving others effectively, using her philanthropic work as a basis for well-loved books, and banishing self-doubt.

How did you get your start as a writer?

When I started writing my first book, I’d never written anything longer than an email. In college, I had the thought that maybe I wanted to write The Great American Novel, because I love reading. It took me 30 years past college to figure out something that I wanted to say! (laughs). After writing The Hundred Story Home, I realized that I loved writing, so I started taking writing classes and really learning the whole process behind taking an idea through a manuscript into a published book.

When you first began writing, did you struggle with self-doubt, especially since you had no formal training in the field?

The whole time I was writing The Hundred Story Home I thought, “Who in the world is ever going to read this book? Why am I bothering?” And the more it became memoir and not just strict nonfiction, I had even more doubt, because I put so much of myself into the book.

But I finally decided that there were women who were wanting to do something in the nonprofit world, and if they could read my story and see how incredibly unlikely it was that I would switch from graphic designer to serving as a homeless advocate, then that might give them courage and inspire them to dream big in their own lives. That’s what spurred me on.

It’s been beyond my wildest imagination. We’ve sold over 25,000 copies of The Hundred Story Home and it’s been translated into German. Now I speak in different communities, not only about homelessness and housing, but also just the idea of one person making a difference. I never expected to be talking about the book. Being a speaker still makes me sweat. I’d rather just sit in a room and write. But it’s a good way to get a message across. When someone reads a book, you have to get them to spend six or eight hours with you. With speaking, you can get the message across in 20 minutes.

What would you say to someone who wants to write but doesn’t think they have anything worth saying?

I think everyone has a story. We tend to think that our own stories aren’t that important because they’re our own. But stories are what connect us to each other. They're what create community. You don’t have to sit down and say, “I’m going to write a bestseller!” but I think there's something very clarifying when you do sit down to write and either process what happened in your day or keep a gratitude journal. There are all kinds of ways to use writing as a creative outlet.

What’s your writing process like?

My best writing time is probably between 5:30 and 7:30 in the morning. I call it my golden hour, that uninterrupted time. I’ll get up, grab some hot tea, and just sit and write whatever’s coming out that morning.

If I'm working on a book, I’ll pick up where I left off from the previous day and write until I feel like it’s come to a natural close. Then I don’t allow myself to look at it, read it, or edit it until the next morning. I'll do that all the way through until I have what I think is a finished piece. From there, I’ll start editing.

I’m not an outliner. I know some people write directly to an outline, but that’s not me. I surprise myself all the time with where my chapters end up. I'm a big rewriter. I end up pulling things apart and putting them back together in a different order.

How do you battle writer’s block?

I have 10 chapters of a book right now that seems to be going nowhere, and so I’ll write other things. If a project isn’t clear to me, I’ll work on something else. When I’m really blocked, I read other writers' work.

You're very much a proponent of trusting your intuition and taking leaps of faith. What would you say to someone who would like to sharpen those skills?

We all get these little whispers that are nudging us in the right direction. It can be scary to listen to that whisper and quit your job and do something radically different, but you can start small. If you get a little whisper like, ‘Hey, maybe I should have coffee with that person. I don’t really know why, we don’t really know each other, but I feel like I should sit down and pay attention to that whisper and see what happens.

If someone is looking to help people experiencing homelessness and they're not sure where to start, what’s a good place to begin?

Search for the largest homeless service providers in your area and ask how you can get involved. It can be as simple as making sandwiches in your own home with your kids. When I was really on the frontlines, people would say that someone being nice to them and not pretending they were invisible really mattered. Just looking someone in the eye and acknowledging that we're both here and human really does make a difference.