Jennifer Katz
Jennifer Katz was born and raised in South Florida along with a twin brother, a younger sister, and a toy poodle named Muffin. At age twenty-five, she earned her degree in clinical psychology and met Tristram Smith at a job interview. After she was hired, they became friends, and then more. Jenny and Tris married and moved to upstate New York with a son. Widowed at age forty-five, Jenny now lives with her teen daughter. She loves reading, yoga, musical theater, and broccoli. An award-winning professor, she teaches about gender, sexuality, and helping relationships. This is her first book, and she still lives in the New York area.
Have you ever experienced Imposter Syndrome?
Oh, yes! I’ve felt like an imposter many times, although fortunately, these feelings usually passed fairly quickly. After I graduated from a clinical psychology doctoral program, I thought, “I can’t believe that they’re going to let me see clients, now, on my own.” When my husband and I first met the baby that we adopted, I thought, “I can’t believe they’re going to let us take her home.”
Is there another profession you would like to try?
I’m an academic clinical psychologist. In my current position, I teach psychology to undergraduate students. It’s rewarding work. Still, I miss doing therapy with individuals and families. On occasion, I fantasize about pursuing a different career within the helping profession, maybe as a grief counselor, an adoption social worker, or a professional mediator.
What’s the difference (at least for you!) between being a writer and an author? How do you shift gears between the two?
I’ve been a writer for many years. My work involves a good deal of writing, including academic papers, syllabi, and of course, email! In contrast, I’m a brand new author, having only recently completed my first book. For me, being a writer involves communicating ideas, whereas being an author involves sharing more of myself, connecting with readers in a more personal way. For me, being an author has required me to find and develop new parts of myself, to be more creative and courageous.
What brings you great joy?
I volunteer as a phone counselor for a women’s health talkline. Providing phone counseling is often difficult. Still, it’s also profoundly meaningful. My goal is to help callers feel less alone as they confront painful feelings and situations. I try to fully receive each caller’s experience: the despair, the guilt, the lack of self-recognition, the confusion, the injustice. These painful feelings are familiar. They are true. The world can be an unbearable place. To get through it, all we have is each other.
Do you speak a second language? Do you think differently in that language? Does it influence your writing?
As an adult, I enrolled in American Sign Language classes. I loved it! Learning sign language and also about deaf culture felt profoundly life altering. ASL prioritizes the succinct, clear, and direct expression of ideas. Tone and context matter. There’s an entirely different system of grammatical rules, which fascinated me. Although I only think and write using English, being a student of ASL helped me think different about and appreciate different ways of communicating and connecting to others.
