Author Q&A With Dr. Korie Leigh
With over 20 years of clinical experience as a child life specialist and grief counselor, Dr. Korie Leigh is an internationally recognized thanatologist, author, child life specialist, and educator who specializes in working with children and families experiencing grief and loss. She is also an award-winning graduate professor and program director, teaching courses on grief, trauma, and child development.
Dr. Leigh is a sought-after speaker at national and international conferences and the author of three acclaimed books on grief for children and families: What Does Grief Feel Like? (an Oprah booklist title), It Won’t Ever Be the Same: A Teen’s Guide to Grief and Grieving, and When Everything Changes: Parenting Through Loss and Grief. She brings deep clinical insight, research, and compassionate communication to her consulting, teaching, and speaking work. Dr. Leigh lives in Santa Fe, NM.
You are an author, but is it your day job? If not, what fills your days? I am a graduate professor and program director of an MS in Thanatology program at Marian University. I have a clinical practice where I support children and families experiencing loss and grief. Additionally, provide consultation, keynote speaking, and training across the country to healthcare, non-profit, and corporate organizations on grief, loss, burnout, and compassionate communication for difficult conversations.
Did you always want to be an author? Honestly, no! Growing up, I struggled in school with reading, spelling, and math. I later learned I have dyslexia and dyscalculia, which were the driving forces behind my academic challenges. Once I learned strategies for writing and reading, it was like a light bulb went off! Later in my career, I found myself gravitating towards writing the books I wished I had in my clinical practice. The books I eventually wrote drew on my clinical practice to help children, youth, and families navigate loss and grief.
What is your most recent book, and what inspired you to write it?
My forthcoming book is called When Everything Changes: Parenting Through Loss and Grief. The book is meant to act as a sort of field guide for life’s most common loss experiences that a family will face, like divorce, hospitalization, diagnosis of a new chronic illness, death, and even events like climate disasters and incarceration of a loved one. I wrote this book because so many families will endure loss and grief, and yet there are very few resources out there that speak directly to parents, help them find the words, give them tools to answer hard questions kids will ask, and help families build resilience through these experiences.
How do you hope your book will uplift readers? I hope it will empower parents and caregivers to have confidence in themselves as they have these hard conversations with children and youth. That no parent or caregiver has to do it alone and that there are resources and support to guide them through whatever challenge they are navigating.
What are you most excited about with this book? That my 20+ years of clinical work have been distilled into a digestible book that parents anywhere can read and use right away.
How did writing a book help your career take off? This is the third book I have published with Free Spirit Publications, but it is also the last in my grief series. My first book was written for young children, and my second for teenagers. This parenting book feels like the end of a chapter and the beginning of a new path in my career, where I can focus now on speaking and teaching the content of all three of my books.
What advice would you give someone wanting to succeed in your professional industry? Write the book that you need, and you will find a home for it. If you start from a place of intention and purpose, you will succeed.
How do you handle setbacks and criticism? Every rejection is a step forward in the publishing world. You learn that agent or publisher rejections are not a reflection of you or even your work! It’s a byproduct of a system that is, frankly, broken. The query process is outdated, but it’s what we have. So, we have to build our own muscles of resilience to take in constructive feedback, let go of what doesn’t apply to us, revise, resubmit, and keep going.
Being an author today is like running a business. How do you manage your publicity and social media and maintain engagement with readers? This is my 3rd year as a published author, and I have just hired my first PR team. They pitch me to media outlets, podcasts, and other print media. This gives me time and space to focus on connecting with my community through public events such as conferences, community workshops, book readings, and social media presence.
How do you hold yourself accountable and achieve the goals that you set forth? I may be an outlier here, but when I set a goal, it becomes a non-negotiable. If the goal is in my best interest, is set with intention and purpose, then it’s not work to put in the effort towards it.
How do you structure your day and make time for writing? I use what is available to me. If I only have 5 mins in the car, I’ll dictate into my phone or write in a notes app. I also tend to keep a computer close, so when I have downtime between appointments, I can open it up and write for 10 or 15 minutes before moving to the next thing. Personally, I don’t set aside writing time; it shows up when it wants to, and I make space for it then.
What do you find most fulfilling in the career that you’ve chosen? The work I do requires me to show up in a family’s life at its lowest, when light can’t be seen, and hope dwindles. Yet, as I support them through their experiences and they allow me to help them navigate loss and learn new ways to cope, I also see the most meaningful experiences. I know that even though I was a momentary stranger in their life, the work I did made a positive impact and helped.
What book uplifts you? I’m drawn to non-fiction books about science, healthcare, and lived experiences. I just finished a fascinating book called Cultish by Amanda Montell, which discusses the linguistic history of the modern-day presence of how powerful language is at both bringing people together for a common cause and dividing people.
Anything else you’d like to share with your readers? My books are for anyone, even my children’s book. Grief and loss affect every one of us, and yet those are not topics or experiences that we are taught how to cope with. My books can serve as a guide and support for anyone facing loss and grief.
Learn more about Dr. Korie Leigh and her books via her website.
