By Holly Hargett
Like a good ole’ country song, Katherine Snow Smith bares her soul in her writing. It’s raw, poignant, and relatable. She’s a masterful storyteller spinning her personal tales of marriage, parenting, divorce, death, and everything in between that makes life inevitably messy.
Aside from a brief stint in second grade where she thought she’d be President; Smith has been honing her writing skills for decades. She’s worked at small-town papers and business journals but spent most of her career at the Tampa Bay Times as a reporter and editor. Smith came by writing naturally as her father, A.C. Snow, was an editor and long-time Raleigh columnist who captivated North Carolina readers for 70 years. She has since parlayed her skills into public relations, teaching (she’s an adjunct instructor at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill) stints as a guest speaker, and published author.
Smith’s second book, Stepping on the Blender, is open and honest, writing with fragility, humor and Southern sensibility and charm. Asked how this book is the same or different than her first book, Rules for the Southern Rulebreaker, Smith replied, “It’s the same in that it’s a collection of essays that are not necessarily tied together. They’re humorous and some are vulnerable. They’re all very honest.”
Smith splits her time between North Carolina and St Pete. It’s a lot of coordination to make it work, but Smith says it’s worth it as her three adult children consider St. Pete home and she says, “I love it too.”
Writing with vulnerability got easier after Smith wrote about losing her sister in a car accident when she was 31 and Smith was 28. She says, “I watched my mom iron the dress that my sister was going to be buried in. It was such a sad moment and it dawned on me that it was going to be the last thing she could physically do for her daughter. Not everybody has seen their mother iron the dress for someone who has died, but people have been through a loss.”
You can purchase a copy of Stepping on the Blender at Tombolo Books www.tombolobooks.com or visit the bookstore on Thursday, Jan. 4 where Smith will do a book signing at 7pm.
For more on Smith, visit www.katherinesnowsmith.com.