Meet Katherine Pryor

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Katherine Pryor a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Katherine, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?

I used to think creativity was like a lightning strike, shooting from the sky in unpredictable patterns given the right conditions. Yet after fourteen years as a professional writer and author, I’ve come to understand that creativity is more like a muscle—the more you use it, the stronger it gets.

Making time to exercise one’s creative muscle is key to keeping creative thoughts flowing. People find all sorts of ways to do this, but as a busy parent, I’ve found that my best strategy is to make creativity dates with myself. I pick a specific date and window of time, and either take myself somewhere to write or have my husband get the kids out of the house so I can hear my thoughts.

I’ve also found I can get a creativity “jump start” by taking classes, traveling solo to a new destination, or talking to experts in fields I know nothing about. There’s something about introducing new energy and thoughts to my brain that serves as a sort of creative infusion. New points of view, perspectives, and facts cause new connections to fire.

I still get lightning strikes on extremely lucky days, usually when I’m driving or walking. I’ve written entire rough drafts of picture book manuscripts on the Notes app on my phone in random parking lots after inspiration strikes. Scheduling time to build strong creative muscles helps me make the most of a good idea when it shows up.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I write books for kids about food, gardens, and nature as a way to get kids excited about fresh fruits and vegetables as well as passionate about the environment. If you love something, you’ll want to protect it, so I try to foster an early love of the outdoors and species whose numbers are dwindling. I’m honored that my books are used in school garden curriculum, nutrition education, and as part of anti-hunger initiatives like SNAP and WIC. Before writing for kids, I worked at non-profits trying to change the type of food companies and institutions served to support more healthy, local, sustainable options, as well as started a greenhouse program that raised organic vegetable plant starts for clients of a food bank in south Seattle.

The last year has been particularly exciting. I welcomed two new picture books to the world last year: “Spring is for Strawberries” and “Home is Calling: The Journey of the Monarch Butterfly.” Both got great reviews and “Home is Calling” has won three national awards. I also signed contracts for three books that will publish in 2025: two board books (“Hello, Beach!” and “Hello, Snow!) that are part of my Hello! series with Schiffer Kids, and a funny picture book called “Attack of the Hangries” from Worthy Kids/Hachette. If you’d like updates on publications, visit KatherinePryor.com or find me on Instagram or Twitter/X @readyourgreens.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I’ve loved books and writing since I was a child, but it was always hard for me to know what to write about. In my twenties, I tried writing novels, but they all sort of ended up being about me, and frankly, I wasn’t that interesting. It wasn’t until I went to grad school to study food and farming that I finally found something interesting to write about. I put in the hours to become an expert in something I was passionate about, and found my voice.

Perseverance has probably been the most important driving factor in my career. I just never stopped trying, in some way or another, to become a writer. In the early years, it was hard to get anyone to even consider my work. But I stuck with it, and I’m about to see my 10th book published. My work has won multiple national awards. Parents have shared how much my books have meant to their kids. I’ve definitely had times when I wanted to walk away, and I’ve taken breaks to work on other things, but being away from writing always makes me miss it.

Having diverse interests has also helped. For a while, I focused all my energy on picture books or novels, and that never worked for me. I find I work best when I have a lot going on: writing essays, mentoring other writers, or helping non-profits find more impactful ways to communicate. Not hanging all my hopes on any particular project help keeps me passionate about all of them.

All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?

My biggest challenge right now is building back my annual revenue after the pandemic. I used to rely on multiple streams of income to keep my business afloat: public speaking, school visits, grants, and consulting work in addition to book advances and royalties. While people were initially still offering speaking fees for virtual visits, that seems to have dried up. I let my consulting practice lapse when we lost all our childcare. I let myself get down to just one revenue stream, which is never a good idea!

One great outcome of this is that I really doubled down on writing, and now work on multiple projects at once, rather than working on books one at a time. I’ve learned to juggle creative projects in a new way to increase output, but my income still doesn’t match my pre-2020 levels.

I decided to turn things around this year. I offered to do the keynote speech at a conference pro bono, which led to more speaking opportunities. I’m starting to look into grants to fund projects I’m passionate about, like funding school visits at public schools that wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford them. It feels less like starting over than starting again, with all the skills and knowledge I’ve gathered along the way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://katherinepryor.com/
• Instagram: @readyourgreens
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherinepryor/
• Twitter: @readyourgreens