Katherine Snow Smith
Katherine Snow Smith has lived throughout the South as a newspaper reporter, magazine editor, public relations executive, daughter, sister, mother, wife, divorcee, and friend. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and started her journalism career covering three miniscule towns in South Carolina. After a stint covering business in Charlotte, NC, she got married, moved to Florida, and started a twenty-year career at the Tampa Bay Times―first covering business, and then, after having a baby, creating a parenting column, Rookie Mom, for the paper. Now―three kids, two careers, and one divorce later―she’s embracing the fact that life has many chapters. Her latest book is Rule for the Southern Rulebreaker.
Twitter: @SnowSmith
Instagram: @SouthernRuleBreaker
Is there a genre of music that influences your writing/thinking? Do you listen to music while you write?
The movie “La La Land” came out when I was maybe a third of the way into writing my book. I played that soundtrack more than anything other music while I sat writing on my laptop early in the morning, late at night or when flying on planes.
The lyrics of “Someone in the Crowd,” reminded that everyone is looking for their big break and it just takes one person to say yes and put wheels in motion.
“The Fools who Dream” inspired me to keep writing a few more minutes more than 100 times, I bet. The lyrics reminded me that even if it was crazy to dream I could write a book strangers would read, that I was okay to be a little crazy and I wasn’t alone in trying.
"A bit of madness is key
To give us new colors to see
Who knows where it will lead us?
And that's why they need us"
What piece of clothing tells the most interesting story about your life?
I can’t say this is the most interesting story in my life, but a pair of black satin and organza four-inch heels did lead to one of the more interesting stories in my life, and the first chapter of my book. I borrowed them from a friend when I went to a White House media Christmas party in 2009. Before I even made it through the metal detector, I could barely stand up. In the grand East Room, I couldn’t hold a drink much less a conversation because I needed both hands and total focus to balance on the stilts. At the appointed time to have my photo taken with President Barack Obama and the First Lady, my ankle twisted, my knee buckled and I fell backwards against the wall.
“Don’t worry, I got you,” Barack Obama said as he caught me in his left arm and helped me back to my feet.
“I should not have worn these shoes. They are a mile high. I borrowed them,” I blurted out.
“Oh, those are great shoes. I’m glad you wore them,” said the 44th president of the United States who sometimes doubles as my stylist.
Is there a work of art that you love. Why? Have you ever visited it in person?
I love Girl with a Pearl Earring, painted in 1665 by Vermeer, partly because of the painting itself, but more so because of the times women in my family have seen it in person.
I was not familiar with the renowned oil painting until Tracey Chevalier’s historical novel by the same name came out in 1999. She created a beautiful, compelling story based on the girl in the painting by placing her as servant in Vermeer’s house who would become his muse and model for the portrait.
The painting is permanently displayed in the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands, but was on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2004. I was visting for a weekend and met my cousin who lived in the city at the museum for an afternoon. We had limited time before the museum closed and raced through the galleries to find it, then stood in awe wondering about the true story behind the girl.
When I told my mother we’d seen it, she said she too had seen it in Austria in the ‘80s when it was on loan to a museum there. Then three years ago, my middle daughter took a gap year between high school and college and worked at a hostel in The Hague as a housekeeper. She went to the Mauritshuis museum to gaze at The Girl with The Pearl Earring.
Now four generations of women in my family have seen this painting in three different countries and it joins us together, though we can all imagine our own distinctive stories for how the girl came to wear the earring and pose for the portrait.
Favorite non-reading activity?
There’s a chapter on this in my book. When my daughter and I were part of an American Heart Association video several years ago because we both have heart conditions, the videoagrpher wanted to film me engaged in some of my hobbies for B-roll. I read, walk, work, sleep and hang with my family. No rock climbing, photography, tennis or gardening. I felt boring. Then a friend reminded me that when I have spare time I plan a call with a high school classmate or cousin, meet a friend for a glass of wine or walk with a neighbor. So I decided “connecting with people” is my hobby.
I don’t lose weight, or learn a new skill, but I always feel good after connecting with someone.
Do you collect anything? If so, what, why, and for how long?
I collect vintage Christmas ornaments from estate sales, because it’s one thing you don’t have to limit. There is always room for more ornaments on a Christmas tree. They are usually one of the least expensive items at an estate sale, yet one of the most interesting pieces. Whether glass, needlepoint, felt or wood, they are each distinctive and have been witnesses to decades of Christmases by the time they are hung on my tree.
I have wooden characters from the Wizard of Oz, that bend at the elbows and knees when you pull a string. I have Mrs. Claus handmade from red and white felt with a tiny jingle bell on her hat. I have a small wooden sign that reads: “I Brake For Yard Sales.” They complement the ornaments my family and I have collected over the years when we travel as well as rustic ones my sister and I made when we were children.
