Katherine Center's Blog
March 20, 2025
The Love Haters BOOK TOUR!
ALL THE DETAILS about The Love Haters BOOK TOUR !!— May 18 to June 11, 2025 —KATHERINE CENTER is heading out on a coast-to-coast book tour tour for The Love Haters from mid-May to mid-June! This tour has a little bit of almost everything—with stops on the U.S. east coast, west coast, upper midwest, south, and, of course, as always, a whole lotta Texas!
Some events are ticketed and some are not. Some have limited seating, and last year a few folks were turned away—so register early! In the past, we’ve done most of the Texas stops first, and then the rest of the country. This year, we’re spreading the Texas stops out a bit. Links to ticketed events below. {NOTE! There are still a few stores we don’t have links for! So sorry about that–please check back! I will update as soon as I have links!} If you have questions about procedures, please check with the stores!
Also! No pressure at all, but if you want to wear fun beachy clothes, florals, and just general Key West vibe outfits (the story features lots of bright, colorful caftans) feel free! 
Can’t wait to get out there and celebrate THE LOVE HATERS!!!
Sunday, MAY 18 – Pre-launch CRAFT NIGHT
Indianapolis, IN | Wild Geese @ Main and Madison @ 6:30 PM EST
6:30 PM CST Wild Geese VIP Event @ Main & Madison
VENUE: 100 N Main St, Franklin, IN 46131
FORMAT: Meet and greet and crafting (decorating a picture frame) with 50 VIPs. Dress in your favorite tropical clothing and join us for a night of crafting with New York Times bestselling author Katherine Center! Enjoy a drink, pastries, and a craft with Katherine as she talks with attendees about her writing. Ticket does not include a copy of the book.
TICKETS: JOIN THE WAITLIST!
Monday, MAY 19 – LAUNCH EVENT!
Indianapolis, INDIANA | Wild Geese @ Historic Artcraft Theatre @ 6:30 PM CST
6:30 PM Wild Geese @ Historic Artcraft Theatre @ 6:30 PM CST
VENUE: The Historic ArtCraft Theatre – 57 N Main St, Franklin, IN 46131
FORMAT: Solo talk + audience Q&A. Book signing to follow. Tickets include Katherine’s newest book in hardcover and admission to the event. Popcorn and drinks will be available for purchase. We anticipate this will be a sold-out show. A ticket is required to attend the event.
TICKETS: Get ’em HERE!
Tuesday, MAY 20
Chicago, ILLINOIS | Little Bean Coffee Co. @ Antioch Public Library @ 7 PM CST*
7 PM CST Little Bean Coffee Co. @ Antioch Public Library
VENUE: Antioch Public Library – 757 Main St, Antioch, IL 60002
FORMAT/EVENT DETAILS: Solo talk, Q&A, book signing. A ticket purchase gets you into the event, a copy of the book, and access to the signing line.
TICKETS: Get ’em HERE!
Wednesday, MAY 21
St. Louis, MISSOURI | St. Louis County Library w/ sales by Novel Neighbor @ 7 PM CST
7 PM CST St. Louis County Library @ Clark Family Library
VENUE: Clark Family Library – Post Event Center
1640 S. Lindbergh Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63131
FORMAT/EVENT DETAILS: Solo talk, Q&A, book signing. Book sales by Novel Neighbor. Doors open at 6 PM. This is a ticketed event. They will offer both individual (1 person: 1 book) and package (2:1) options. Photo line only with fans after the talk.
TICKETS: Get em HERE!
Thursday, MAY 22
Dallas, TEXAS | Half Price Books @ 7 PM CST
7 PM CST Half Price Books Flagship
VENUE: Half-Price Books Flagship (in-store) – 5803 E. NW Highway, Dallas, TX 75231
FORMAT/EVENT DETAILS: Solo talk, Q&A, book signing. Tickets, which include a copy of the book, must be pre-purchased through Eventbrite for this event.
TICKETS: Get ’em HERE!
Tuesday, MAY 27
San Diego, CALIFORNIA | Warwick’s Evening In-Store Event @ 7:30 PM PST
7:30 PM PT Warwick’s
VENUE: Warwick’s (in-store) – 7812 Girard Ave, La Jolla, CA 92037
FORMAT/EVENT DETAILS: Solo talk, Q&A, book signing.
TICKETS: Get ’em HERE!
Wednesday, MAY 28
Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA | Orange County Public Library’s Slice of Literary Orange Speaker Series – Norma Hertzog Community Center @ 6:30 PM PST
6:30 PM PST Orange County Public Library’s Slice of Literary Orange Speaker Series
VENUE: Norma Hertzog Community Center, 1845 Park Avenue, Costa Mesa, CA 92627
FORMAT: Solo talk, Q&A, book signing.
*No ticket necessary! DETAILS HERE!
* Complimentary books available while supplies last. No registration required. Early arrival suggested.”
Thursday, MAY 29
Houston, TEXAS | Blue Willow @ Memorial Drive Presbyterian @ 7 PM CST
7 PM CST Blue Willow @ Memorial Drive Presbyterian
VENUE: Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church – 11612 Memorial Dr, Houston, TX 77024
FORMAT: Solo talk, Q&A, book signing. Special shoutout to Coast Guard at Air Station Houston. Everything will be pre-signed. Drawing for 50 attendees to get a photo with Katherine.
TICKETS: Get ’em HERE!
Saturday, MAY 31
San Antonio, TEXAS | Nowhere Bookshop @ 6 PM CST
6 PM CST Nowhere Bookshop
VENUE: Nowhere Bookshop (in store) – 5154 Broadway, San Antonio, TX 78209
FORMAT: Solo talk, Q&A, book signing.
TICKETS: Get ’em HERE!
Sunday, JUNE 1
Georgetown, TEXAS | Lark & Owl @ Georgetown Public Library @ 7 PM CST
7:00 PM Lark & Owl @ Georgetown Public Library
VENUE: Georgetown Public Library – 402 W 8th St, Georgetown, TX 78626
FORMAT/EVENT DETAILS: Solo talk, Q&A, book signing. Katherine Center will be available after the author discussion to sign and personalize copies of her books.
TICKETS: Get ’em HERE!
Monday, JUNE 2
Waco, TEXAS | Fabled Bookshop @ 6 PM CST
6 PM CST Fabled Bookshop & Cafe
VENUE: Fabled Bookshop (in-store) – 215 S. 4th Street, Waco, TX 76701
FORMAT/EVENT DETAILS: Solo talk, Q&A, book signing. Tickets $10 – $40.
TICKETS: Get ’em HERE!
Wednesday, JUNE 4
Raleigh, NORTH CAROLINA | Page 158 @ 6 PM EST
6 PM EST Page 158
VENUE: Page 158 Books (in store) – 415 Brooks St, Wake Forest, NC 27587
FORMAT/EVENT DETAILS: Solo talk, Q&A, book signing.
No ticket required! More info HERE!
Thursday, JUNE 5 – TWO EVENTS!
Greenville, SOUTH CAROLINA | M. Judson Lunch & Lit @ 12 PM EST & Books Over Drinks @ 7:30 PM EST
11:50 AM ET M. Judson Lunch & Lit @ Soby’s Southern Bistro
VENUE: Soby’s Southern Bistro – 207 S. Main St, Greenville, SC 29601
FORMAT/EVENT DETAILS: Solo talk, Q&A, book signing.
TICKETS: Get ’em HERE!!
7:30 PM ET M. Judson Books Over Drinks
VENUE: M. Judson BOOKSELLERS (in-store) – 130 S Main St, Greenville, SC 29601
FORMAT/EVENT DETAILS: Solo talk, Q&A, book signing.
TICKETS: Get ’em HERE!
Saturday, JUNE 7
Cambridge, MASSACHUSETTS | Lovestruck Books @ 6 PM EST
6 PM Lovestruck Books
VENUE: Lovestruck Books (in-store) – 44 Brattle St, Cambridge, MA 02138
FORMAT/EVENT DETAILS: Solo talk, Q&A, book signing. Ticketed event. Custom cocktails inspired by the book will be available.
TICKETS: Get ’em HERE!
Monday, JUNE 9
Westerly, RHODE ISLAND | Martin House Books @ UNITED Theatre @ 7 PM EST
7 PM EST Martin House Books @ UNITED Theatre
VENUE: United Theater – 5 Canal St, Westerly, RI 02891
FORMAT/EVENT DETAILS: Solo talk, Q&A, book signing.
TICKETS: Get ’em HERE!
Wednesday, JUNE 11
Austin, TEXAS | Vintage Books @ Paramount Theater @ 7 PM CST
6 PM CST Vintage Books @ Paramount Theater
VENUE: Paramount Theater – 713 Congress Ave., Austin, TX 78701
7-8 PM IN CONVERSATION with the Padaleckis
8:10-9:40 PM SCREENING of When Harry Met Sally
FORMAT/EVENT DETAILS: This event will be rolled into their Summer Classic Film Series (SCFS), which will be in its 51st year this summer. They do a lot of marketing and promotion around the series as a whole and have started including special events in the last few years, including films programmed and introduced by various special guests.
TICKETS: Get ’em HERE! Pre-sale ticket code: KATCENTVBW
February 12, 2025
Valentines! XO
I made you some valentines! 
These are all quotes from my books. Even The Love Haters (out May 20—PRE-ORDER now)!
I hope you can find a good quote here for someone you love—your BFF, a favorite relative, a person you are madly and swoonily in love with . . . and/or even (maybe especially) yourself.
While you’re here, please sign up for my joy-for-your-inbox newsletter!
{You should be able to click on each image to download it! Files are 4×6 printable PDFs! Just click on the ones you like and drag them to your desktop!}
November 23, 2024
Giveaway!!
Leave a comment below to enter to win a signed, personalized hardcover SET of my three most recent novels:
— The Bodyguard, The Rom-Commers, and Hello Stranger —
shipped straight from me to you in time for the holidays!!
*Giveaway closes Monday 11/25 at midnight CST. Winner will be notified by email. Always be careful of scammers. I will reach out and ask only for your full name and and your best mailing address—and also who you’d like me to personalize the books to! (They can be all for one person, or for three different people, if you like!)
*Note! It lists everybody’s email in the admin section, so no worries! If you leave a comment, I can find you!!
April 8, 2024
BOOK TOUR for The Rom-Commers!
Some events are ticketed and some are not. Some have limited seating, and last year a few folks were turned away—so register early! In the past, we’ve done most of the Texas stops first, and then the rest of the country. This year, we’re spreading the Texas stops out a bit. There are TWO Houston events, for example—over a week apart. Links to ticketed events below. If you have questions about procedures, please check with the stores!
Can’t wait to get out there and celebrate The Rom-Commers!!!
Monday, June 10
Georgetown, TX | Lark & Owl @ Georgetown Palace Theater @ 7 PM CST [ticketed]
810 S. Austin Avenue, Georgetown, TX 78626
NOTE: If you pre-order books from Lark & Owl they come SIGNED with an exclusive postcard with a KC-designed quote!
ALSO!!!! This event in Georgetown has an option to come a little early—at 5:30—before the event for a very easy, super low-key LINE DANCING LESSON (!!!) at the Georgetown Public library! It’s about a block and half from the theater. Stay tuned for more details!
Tuesday, June 11
Houston, TX | Blue Willow @ St. Thomas Presbyterian Church @ 7 PM CST – [RSVPs REQUIRED! Only 190 spots available!]
14100 Memorial Drive, Houston, TX 77079
NOTE: If you pre-order from Blue Willow, all books come SIGNED with an exclusive 1-page bonus scene (from Charlie’s POV)!
Wednesday, June 12
St. Louis, MO | St. Louis County Library @ Clark Family Library – Post Events Center w/ sales by Novel Neighbor @ 7 PM CST
1640 S. Lindbergh Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63131
Thursday, June 13
Indianapolis, IN | Wild Geese @ The Historic Art Craft Theatre @ 6:30 PM EST [ticketed]
57 N. Main Street, Franklin, IN 46131
Friday, June 14
Chicago, IL | Little Bean Coffee Co. @ Harbor Brewing Co. @ 7 PM CST [ticketed]
136 Cedar Avenue, Lake Villa, IL 60046
Saturday, June 15
Ocean Isle Beach, NC | Pelican Bookstore @ Silver Coast Winery @ 5:30 PM EST [ticketed]
6680 Barbeque Road NW, Ocean Isle Beach, NC 28469
Monday, June 17
Spartanburg, SC | Fiction Addiction @ Spartanburg County Public Library @ 7 PM EST
151 S. Church Street, Spartanburg, SC 29306
Tuesday, June 18
Atlanta, GA | Eagle Eye Book Shop @ 7 PM EST [book purchase required to attend]
2076 N. Decatur Road, Decatur, GA 30033
Wednesday, June 19
Huntsville, AL | Snail on the Wall @ Randolph School @ 6:30 PM CST
1005 Drake Avenue SE, Huntsville, AL 35802
Thursday, June 20
Oxford, MS | Off Square Books @ 5:30 PM CST
129 Courthouse Square, Oxford, MS 38655
Friday, June 21
Dallas, TX | Half Price Books Flagship @ 7 PM CST [ticketed] {NOTE! This event sold out last year—and people were turned away!! Grab those tickets early!}
5803 E. NW Highway, Dallas, TX 75231
Monday, June 24
Houston, TX | Brazos Bookstore @ 6:30 PM CST
2421 Bissonnet Street, Houston, TX 77005
Tuesday, June 25
The Woodlands, TX | Village Books @ 7 PM CST
9955 Woodlands Parkway Suite F, The Woodlands, TX 77382
Wednesday, June 26
San Antonio, TX | Nowhere Bookshop @ 6 PM CST
5154 Broadway, San Antonio, TX 78209
Thursday, June 27
Austin, TX | Vintage Bookstore & Wine Bar @ 6 PM CST [ticketed]
1101 E. 11th Street, Austin, TX 78702
Friday, June 28
Waco, TX | Fabled Bookshop & Cafe @ 7 PM CST [ticketed]
215 S. 4th St, Waco, TX 76701
Saturday, June 29
Fort Worth, TX | Monkey & Dog Books @ TIME TBD PM CST {Location & time not yet confirmed. Please check back!}
3608 W. 7th St, Fort Worth, TX 76107
BOOK TOUR for The Rom-Commers AT A GLANCE— WEEK 1 —
October 27, 2023
THE ROM-COMMERS
The cover for my new book THE ROM-COMMERS just dropped, and it’s awesome!
April 15, 2023
HELLO STRANGER Book Tour!
Order books and get event info HERE!
Solo talk and audience Q&A • Book signing to follow!
2421 Bissonnet Street, Houston, TX 77005
(713) 523-0701
Solo talk and audience Q&A • Book signing to follow!
LARK & OWL BOOKSELLERS – GEORGETOWN, TEXAS – *OFF-SITE EVENT THURSDAY, JULY 13 7:00 PM CSTLOCATION: First Presbyterian Church GET TICKETS HERE!!!!703 S. Church Street
Georgetown, TX 78626
(512) 688-5582
Solo talk + audience Q&A • Book signing to follow!
603 N. Lamar Blvd.
Austin, TX 78703
Solo talk and audience Q&A • Book signing to follow!
153 S Main St, Ste 120
Boerne, TX 78006
*Note: “Our shop is at the back of the wonderful 153 Main shopping venue”
Solo talk and audience Q&A • Book signing to follow!
THE TWIG Book Shop – SAN ANTONIO, TEXASSUNDAY, JULY 1611:00 AM – DAYTIME EVENTLocation: The Twig (at the Historic Pearl)Pre-order HERE!!! Event info HERE! No necessary! Just come on out!306 Pearl Parkway, Suite 106
San Antonio, TX 78215
Solo talk and audience Q&A • Book signing to follow!
BARNES & NOBLE {2863} – COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADOMONDAY, JULY 166:00 PM MSTLocation: Barnes & NobleGET EVENT INFO HERE!!! No ticket necessary! Just come out out!1565 Briargate Blvd.
Colorado Springs, CO 80920
In-conversation with the divine Stephanie Hockersmith, aka The Pie Lady • Book signing to follow! And a special pie or two to give away! Don’t miss this! Steph is a total DELIGHT and we’re going to have so much fun!
JCC’s Mirowitz Performing Arts Center – St. Louis, MISSOURIHosted by the St. LOUS COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARYBOOK SALES BY THE NOVEL NEIGHBORTUESDAY, JULY 187:00 PM Location: Mirowitz Performing Arts Center
Pre-Order HERE!!
2 Millstone Campus Drive
St. Louis, MO 63146
Solo talk + audience Q&A. Book signing to follow.
57 North Main Street
Franklin, IN 46131
Solo talk + audience Q&A. Book signing to follow.
Pre-Order from Mac’s Books HERE!
6996 Powers Boulevard
Parma, Ohio 44129
440.885.5362
Solo talk + audience Q&A. Book signing to follow.
7260 Orchard Lake Road
West Bloomfield Township, MI 48322
Solo talk + audience Q&A. Book signing to follow.
Solo talk + audience Q&A. Book signing to follow.
5803 E Northwest Hwy
Dallas, TX, 75231
Solo talk + audience Q&A. Book signing to follow.
215 S 4th Street
Waco, TX 76701
Solo talk + audience Q&A. Book signing to follow.
June 10, 2022
THE BODYGUARD Book Tour!!!
WEDNESDAY, JULY 13
7 PM EST
For details, visit FriendsandFiction.com
BLUE WILLOW BOOKSHOP @ OUTREACH CENTER OF WEST HOUSTON – WEST HOUSTON, TEXAS
TUESDAY, JULY 19 – ***PUB DAY***
7 PM CST
Order books and get event info HERE!
West Houston Outreach Center
725 Bateswood Dr., Houston, TX 77079
(218) 497-8675
Solo talk and audience Q&A • Book signing to follow!
BRAZOS BOOKSTORE – IN-STORE EVENT – CENTRAL HOUSTON, TEXASWEDNESDAY, JULY 20
6:30 PM CST
PRE-ORDER HERE!!!
2421 Bissonnet Street, Houston, TX 77005
(713) 523-0701
Solo talk and audience Q&A • Book signing to follow!
THURSDAY, JULY 21
5:00 PM CST
GET EVENT INFO HERE!!!
306 Pearl Parkway, Suite 106
San Antonio, TX 78215
Solo talk and audience Q&A • Book signing to follow!
FRIDAY, JULY 22
7 PM CST
Preorder HERE!!!
603 N. Lamar Blvd.
Austin, TX 78703
Solo talk and audience Q&A • Book signing to follow!
SATURDAY, JULY 23
7:00 PM CST
205 W 6th St Suite 101
Georgetown, TX 78626
(512) 688-5582
Solo talk + audience Q&A • Book signing to follow!
SUNDAY, JULY 24
2:00 PM CST
3608 W 7th St
Fort Worth, TX 76107
(817) 489-5747
Solo talk and audience Q&A • Book signing to follow!
MONDAY, JULY 25
7:00 PM EST
Get tickets HERE !!!
57 North Main Street
Franklin, IN 46131
WEDNESDAY, JULY 27
12:00 PM EST
Get tickets HERE!!!!
207 S Main St, Greenville, SC 29601
Lunch + Lit takes place at Soby’s, a lovely local restaurant across the street from the bookstore that is never open for lunch. Included in the guests’ ticket is a copy of the featured book, a glass of bubbly when they arrive, a three-course meal, and a presentation by the author.
THURSDAY, JULY 28
6:30 PM EST
Get tickets HERE!!!
420 West Kennedy Boulevard
Tampa, FL 33606
FRIDAY, JULY 29
7:00 PM CST – HIGH LOW LISTENING ROOM
Get tickets HERE!!
3224 Locust St. Suite 401
St. Louis, MO 63103
October 5, 2021
HAPPINESS FOR BEGINNERS will be a Netflix movie!!
So beyond thrilled to share that my fifth novel, HAPPINESS FOR BEGINNERS, is going to be a movie!!
Directed (and adapted) for Netflix by the brilliant Vicky Wight, who also did the wildly popular adaptation of my novel The Lost Husband!
From The Hollywood Reporter:“Ellie Kemper, Luke Grimes, Nico Santos and Blythe Danner are starring in Happiness for Beginners, Netflix’s film adaptation of the novel by author Katherine Center.Vicky Wight, who previously tackled an adaptation of Center’s novel The Lost Husband, wrote the script and is directing the romantic comedy . . .”Read the piece in The Hollywood Reporter HERE.Read the piece in Deadline HERE.
Vicky Wight’s adaptation of my novel
The Lost Husband
hit #1 on Netflix in 2020, was in their Top 25 movies of the year, and made the Top 10 movies for 2020 in 30 countries around the world. (!!!)Here’s the trailer for our last collaboration—Vicky White’s film adaptation of my novel The Lost Husband.You can read my Q&A with Vicky from April of 2019
HERE
!
September 13, 2021
QUOTES
I like to write about people who are real and likeable. I like to write about people who tell their stories in that close and intimate voice we use with best friends. I love the closeness and honesty and vulnerability that come from characters who can talk that way.
Katherine Center
It’s hard work to make it look easy.
Katherine Center
All my main characters are people I’d love to sit around having coffee with. They are people who will tell you honestly about the things that scare them and worry them and trouble them. Because those moments of connection between women–when they really decide to be honest with each other about their lives–are some of the best things in life.
Katherine Center
Stories are play for grown-ups.
Katherine Center
Some of the greatest ideas we have come from making do.
Katherine Center
Writing a novel is a lot like reading one.
Katherine Center
Success is doing the right thing for who you are.
Katherine Center
My goal is to try to be as happy as I can — going through every day just as it is.
Katherine Center
You don’t have to be perfect to be awesome.
Katherine Center
If you feel lucky, then you are.
Katherine Center
Look for the good stuff.
Katherine Center
You don’t have to be perfect to be awesome.
Katherine Center
You can’t fix everything. Not even close. But you can look for reasons to be grateful. More than that, you can work to create them.
Katherine Center • How to Walk Away
Dying is easy. It’s not dying that’s hard.
Katherine Center • How to Walk Away
“Nothing that doesn’t push you past your limits can change your life. It’s true of work, it’s true of parenting, and it’s true — a hundred times over — of love.”
Katherine Center • Nothing Worthwhile is Ever Easy
There is an entire universe of things my mother knows that I don’t.
Katherine Center • Things To Remember Not to Forget
We all carry our mothers inside us.
Katherine Center • Things to Remember Not to Forget
There is no tenderness without bravery.
Katherine Center • Get Lucky
People are always beautiful when you love them.
Katherine Center • Everyone Is Beautiful
It’s my battle cry: Appreciate Everything!
Katherine Center • Happiness for Beginners
When you don’t know what to do for yourself, do something for someone else.
Katherine Center • How to Walk Away
Sometimes there is no way to hold your life together. Sometimes things just have to fall apart.
Katherine Center • Get Lucky
It’s vital to learn how to make the best of things.
Katherine Center • Get Lucky
In some ways, if I’m honest, giving up felt good. Staying hopeful was exhausting.
Katherine Center • How to Walk Away
Beauty comes from tenderness.
Katherine Center • Everyone Is Beautiful
It’s always better to have what you have than to get what you wanted.
Katherine Center • Get Lucky
I suddenly understood what it was, exactly, people longed for when they longed for their youth.
Katherine Center • Everyone Is Beautiful
If you think of human emotions as music, then mine were like an orchestra with no conductor.
Katherine Center • How to Walk Away
The eyes see everything through the heart.
Katherine Center • Everyone Is Beautiful
When you love someone, she becomes beautiful to you.
Katherine Center • Everyone Is Beautiful
It’s more important to be interesting, to be vivid, and to be adventurous than to sit pretty for pictures.
Katherine Center • Everyone Is Beautiful
“Here’s what I tell myself now. That it’s vital to learn how to make the best of things. That there is no tenderness without bravery. That if things hadn’t been so bad they could never have gotten so good. And that it’s always better to have what you have than to get what you wanted. Except for this: Every now and then, when you are impossibly lucky you rise above yourself-and get both.”
Katherine Center • Get Lucky
I believe women are too hard on themselves. I believe that when you love someone, she becomes beautiful to you. I believe the eyes see everything through the heart—and nothing in the world feels as good as resting them on someone you love.
Katherine Center • Everyone Is Beautiful
It’s not the easy moments that define who we are. It’s the hard ones.
Katherine Center • Things You Save in a Fire
Laughter is beautiful. Kindness is beautiful. Cellulite is beautiful. Softness and plumpness and roundness are beautiful. It’s more important to be interesting, to be vivid, and to be adventurous than to sit for pictures. A woman’s soft tummy is a miracle of nature. Beauty comes from tenderness. Beauty comes from variety, from specificity, from the fact that no person in the world looks exactly like anyone else. Beauty comes from the tragedy that each person’s life is destined to be lost to time. I believe women are too hard on themselves. I believe that when you love someone, she becomes beautiful to you. I believe the eyes see everything through the heart–and nothing in the world feels as good as resting them on someone you love. I have trained my eyes to look for beauty, and I’ve gotten very good at finding it.
Katherine Center • Everyone Is Beautiful
You are writing the story of your only life every single minute of every day.
Katherine Center • What I Would Tell Her
Katherine Center • Things to Remember Not to Forget
You can’t know what you know now and feel the way you did then.
Katherine Center • Things to Remember Not to Forget
That’s what just hit me: How you really can’t have everything. You have to give up the old to get the new. You can’t be the child and the mom at the same time. You can’t be your young self and your old self at the same time. You can’t know what you know now and feel the way you did then. You can’t, you can’t, you can’t.
Katherine Center •Things to Remember Not to Forget
Our lives disappear, even as we live them.
Katherine Center
We build our lives in moments, and even the ones we can’t remember become the story of who we are.
Katherine Center
The human race has a lot to answer for, and it’s not as easy to feel hopeful as it should be—but you make it more important to try.
Katherine Center
Katherine Center
The way that I love you makes me a better person, and the way that you love me back makes every sorrow worth it.Katherine Center
And so my hope for you, good boy, as you grow taller every day, is that you will learn to take good care of yourself, and you will learn to take good care of others—and, someday, you’ll see how those two things are exactly the same.
Katherine Center
It’s so easy to think that your strengths don’t matter.
Katherine Center
Look for beauty in everything.
Katherine Center
The best things about womanhood might possibly even be the conversations. The chatting. The gabbing. The whispering. The hands-on-hips eye-rolling. The yukking-it up.
Katherine Center • Kirtsy Video
We’re looking for stories that speak to us. We’re looking for stories that connect us with something true. But, instead, a lot of the time we get strippers. All I’m saying is, when boys are writing the stories, the percentage of strippers is bound to go up. And real stories about real women kinda don’t get written at all.
Katherine Center • Kirtsy Video
And despite everything I know now, I still believe, as I did when I was little, that there is an entire universe of things that my mother knows that I don’t. I still believe that nothing truly bad can ever happen if my mother is around. I know it’s not true. But still. It is true.
Katherine Center • Things to Remember Not to Forget
I worry constantly about carpool and whether or not I’ve forgotten a carload of weeping children at the school gate. How on earth does anyone do it? How did she make it look so easy? Or maybe time makes everything seem easy. Or maybe I am really terrified that I’ll never become enough like her to keep her with me. I know that we all carry our mothers inside us. But somehow that doesn’t seem like enough.
Katherine Center • Things to Remember Not to Forget
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –What I Would Tell Her (If I Knew What To Say)by Katherine Center
You are a miracle.
And I have to love you this fiercely: So that you can feel it even after you leave for school, or even while you are asleep, or even after your childhood becomes a memory.
You’ll forget all this when you grow up. But it’s okay.
Being a mother means having your heart broken.
And it means loving and losing and falling apart and coming back together.
And it’s the best there is. And also, sometimes, the worst.
Sometimes you won’t have anyone to talk to.
Sometimes you’ll wonder if you’ve forgotten who you are.
But you must remember this: What you’re doing matters.
And you have to be brave with your life so that others can be brave with theirs.
The truth is, being a woman is a gift.
Tenderness is a gift.
Intimacy is a gift.
And nurturing the good in this world is a nothing short of a privilege.
That’s why I have to love you this way. So I can give what I have to you. So that you can carry it in your body and pass it on.
I have watched you sleep. I’ve kissed you a million times. And I know something that you don’t, yet:
You are writing the story of your ONLY life every single minute of every day.
And my greatest hope for you, sweet child, is that I can teach you how to write a good one.
September 17, 2020
Event with BRENE BROWN for Things You Save in a Fire!!!
SO excited to share that THURSDAY, September 24, 2020, I’m doing a VIRTUAL EVENT with the legendary Brené Brown to celebrate the paperback release of Things You Save in a Fire!
Who says nothing good can happen this year??
Brené and I have been friends for over 10 years, and she’s been an amazing mentor, sounding board, and pal for me. Come hear us talk about the time I cried on her sofa, the ‘eighties party we went to just before the pandemic, the time Brené’s son dressed up as MY HUSBAND for Halloween, and the BIG REVEAL of Brené’s special relationship to main character Cassie in Things You Save in a Fire.
Plus, we will definitely do a lot of laughing.
And say many wise things about stories and why they matter.
REGISTER here!
ALSO!!!!!! There are NINE different booksellers partnering with us for this event! Order from these booksellers and get a beautiful, hand-signed bookplate from me that will come with with each paperback copy!
