Writeup: "How Novel! Straddling the Worlds of Technical & Creative Writing"

This week an article about me appeared in the employee newsletter. I thought it was really nice of them. Patricia actually wrote the article back in August or September (as you can tell by the leaves on the photograph at www.khristinachess.com/blog), but the magazine is quarterly.

I've included an excerpt of the actual text below. The company name is redacted for privacy reasons. Please visit my web site for the full article.

"Khristina Chess lives something of a double life.

During the work day, she's a technical director at (company), busily rushing from meeting to meeting, managing the complexities of user experience, documentation and development services.

But in the wee hours of the morning, long before the sun even contemplates rising, she's seated at the corner desk in her den, with a Diet Mountain Dew in hand and her cat Minnie sitting nearby, plotting the painful effects of suicide, academic pressure, unwanted pregnancies, eating disorders and alcohol abuse on young adults.

"It's a passion and an obsession," says this author of several coming-of-age novels. "Sometimes I feel like it's the one thing I do for me. I'm a manager, so I'm always helping other people. But for that hour and a half or two hours, when it's dark and quiet, it's my time. It's just me.

"And I'm telling stories. It's a beautiful thing."

- Article by Patricia McCarter