I’m Katherine Turner, editor and author of contemporary romantic women’s fiction that explores the power of love and human resilience in the wake of trauma and abuse. As a survivor of childhood trauma and abuse, I am passionate about improving the world through literature, empathy, and understanding.

I believe strongly that we can all benefit from deeper insight into and compassion for the long-term effects of trauma in the world around us. The issues and struggles are real for many people and I wish, through my novels, my editorial services, and sharing the resources that I’ve found helpful along my own journey to heal from childhood trauma, to capture and shed light on this reality while still providing the escape we are all looking for when we turn to fiction.

I also use my voice to blog about mental health, trauma, and ways we can be more compassionate as a society, shedding light on the reality of battling the anxiety and C-PTSD that results from experiencing trauma and abuse.

But how did I get here?

Some of my earliest memories involve having a book mere inches from my face as I hungrily devoured everything printed on its pages, my trusty dictionary within reach for any word I encountered for the first time.  To me, there was nothing better – it was the ultimate life experience.  When I was between the covers of a book, I no longer existed; instead, I was the characters I read about, I led the life they led, had the history they had, endured the pain and tribulations they endured.  And I also experienced the incandescent elation of overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles right alongside them. 

In fact, I loved reading to such an extent that as a pre-teen and early teenager, when other kids my age were getting in trouble for staying up to play video games or hang out in chat rooms (yes, this was back when desktop computers were just becoming ubiquitous in households and chat rooms were a BIG DEAL), my foster mom was yelling at me to turn my light off and put my book away.

Which, of course, I didn’t do.  I mean, how could I possibly do something as trivial as sleep before I’d discovered how the characters who’d become so dear to me managed to extricate themselves from whatever predicament they’d landed in?!

But this was only one side of my love affair with words; when I wasn’t reading, I was writing. 

Obsessively. 

Short stories, poetry, letters, journal entries, essays – on whatever topic occupied my mind at the time.  Basically, if it involved paper and a writing implement, I was likely doing it.

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Fun Fact: As a child, I won a writing contest at a local restaurant for describing in a mini essay why my mom’s lasagna was the best.  The prize?  Free Mother’s Day dinner, complete with a small bouquet of roses – a gargantuan jackpot for a five-year-old!  I thought at the time I was lucky, but considering I’ve never won another thing in my life, I’m going to assume I did a damn good job of writing about lasagna.

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After graduating from high school, I followed a different path for my career.  One I thought would be more practical as it would provide job security and financial stability.  One that kept me swept up in a tornado of activity that left no time for indulging in my childhood passion. 

But, as I soon learned, a true passion is impossible to ignore for long.

So, with the overwhelming support of my family and friends, I decided to stop trying to quiet the voice inside; to instead let it shout as loudly as it wanted, listen to it, nurture it, and see where it led me.  I followed it through the creation of outlines, scenes, and ideas for dozens of novels. I followed it through a whirlwind year of crafting an entire series using every stolen moment I could find around being a mother, a wife, a friend, and a full-time employee.  I followed it until I’d created stories that other people stay up way past their bedtimes to finish.  Ultimately, I followed it here.

And there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.

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