Kathryn Mackel (edit name/settings)

WHAT’S A MIDDLE-AGED MOM DOING IN HOLLYWOOD?
I was an English major back in the days when that meant I was suited to do nothing but type
when I got out of college. I became a secretary, got married, had two great kids, and found Christ.

When my children were in middle-school I began to mull what I would be when I “grew up.” As an English major with no teaching credits and no journalism background, I had few vocational skills.

Then PCs and VCRs and microwaves came along, with instructions that drove users nuts. A new career field sprung up—technical writing. The Biochemistry minor I obtained with my English major worked me into this new career niche.

I eventually got a job at a major corporation that made great products, treated its customers well, and offered me a great future. I took advantage of tuition reimbursement and entered a part-time Masters program, focusing on Professional Writing. A semester came along with only tech writing—my specialty—being offered so I was at a loss what to take.

At the age of 41 I took my first fiction writing course. I almost dropped out of the class—my classmates included a journalist, a novelist, and a published short-story writer. My secretary shamed me into staying. I survived. Barely. But I had a blast and so, when the next semester offered Screenwriting, my friends talked me into taking that with them.

For the first time in my life I found a talent. Perhaps it was because I had literally been raised in a movie theatre—my father had been a projectionist and took me there during the day while he cleaned, then kept me with him in the booth while he ran the matinee showing. Or perhaps it was because I was the kid in the neighborhood who orchestrated all the imaginative play. Whatever the reason, something was awakened in me that I had no idea I possessed.

I began writing scripts. Hollywood is a tough, tough place to sell into. My writing professor advised me to write a kids’ book. (Silly us—as if kids’ books are easier to write than anything else…)

Bottom line: The month I turned 45 I sold my first book out of the slush pile. The editor told me it was a million-to-one shot that they bought something out of the slush pile. Three weeks later I sold my first screenplay—out of the Hollywood equivalent of the slush pile. The studio exec told me that it was a million-to-one shot that they bought something that way.

You do the math. It adds up to impossible.
Because the truth is this: only God could send a middle-aged mom to Hollywood.
And He’s kept me busy ever since. Each day is a blessing, each year another adventure.
What’s He got in store for you? It’s never too late to find out.

Blessings, Kathy