By Lindsey Frazier, Features Editor
Katie Ortiz, a local teacher and author, revealed the cover for her debut novel, The Southern Sorority of Superstitious Witches, set for release Oct. 6.
Ortiz, who teaches at Ivalee Elementary School, has always had a passion for reading, writing and all things creative. She said she can still vividly remember her high school hosting a young authors’ conference where she submitted her first handmade book.
“It was just made out of paper and stapled together,” Ortiz said. “I worked so hard on it and I just remember being so proud of it when I got to finally present it.”
After graduating from high school, Ortiz said she did the practical thing and followed in her mother’s footsteps by becoming a teacher.
“I’ve always worked with kids,” Ortiz said. “I’ve worked at summer camps as a camp counselor, worked in daycares, and worked at nurseries in college. I was always very creative, and my mom and dad were very much, ‘Get the practical thing done first so you can afford to do the creative things later.’”
So that’s what she did. Now, six years after starting her teaching career, she is publishing her first book.
The Southern Gothic novel, set in 1870 Alabama, follows three women, Lucille, Catherine and Victoria, as they participate in a trial semester at the state’s most prestigious university to determine whether women should be allowed to attend colleges statewide.
The women band together, forming a coven under the guise of a sorority, and “weave together old Southern folklore and magic” as they combat educational discrimination and sexism in post-Civil War Alabama. The novel blends magical elements with the real historical struggles women faced in their fight for access to higher education.
The core inspiration for the book was Lucy Stone, a leading suffragist and abolitionist, who was one of seven women invited to test out co-education at universities for the first time, Ortiz said.
“I thought, what if it happened down in the South?” Ortiz said. “What if it was one of ten women, and what if they had to deal with discrimination and sexism, and they were just like, ‘let’s use magic.’”
The magical element is based on the many superstitions she grew up with, Ortiz said. The beans and greens for health and wealth on New Year’s Day, knocking on wood to get rid of bad luck, throwing salt over your shoulder when it’s spilled and blowing cinnamon through the front door on the first day of the month, all things her mother taught her growing up.
She began writing the book in 2022 after Roe v. Wade was overturned. Not having yet found her community, Ortiz said she was scared and worried, and that she felt like she had no one to talk to about her concerns.
So, she wrote the sisterhood she wanted.
“I hope, when people read it, that they feel the community and the sisterhood,” Ortiz said. “I hope it encourages them to go out and find their own coven, you know, their own people, their place.”
She completed the novel during National Novel Writing Month in November, a global challenge that encourages participants to write a 50,000-word draft in thirty days. Such a tight timeline prevented Ortiz from rereading and nitpicking the details, she said. Knowing 1,667 words had to be on the page each day kept her moving forward, a practice she has continued in her writing today.
Writing the book didn’t just give Ortiz an outlet; it gave her the opportunity to cultivate the community she had been longing for.
“I have found and met so many amazing people because of this book, and because of getting it published and going to conferences,” Ortiz said. “It’s been such a phenomenal ride.”
Despite having completed her novel in 30 days, or at least the first draft, the publishing process took a bit longer. Ortiz sent her book to more than 300 agents over two and a half years, receiving nothing but rejection letters, which she said was the most difficult part of the process.
“It’s like your baby, and you put all of your heart and soul into this project,” Ortiz said. “Then you have to send it to beta readers and critique partners and have it just ripped apart. So, you really have to figure out a way to cope with that and find the pieces that really matter and that you need to use.”
Finally, three agents offered to represent her and her novel, and within a month, she had chosen the one she felt best met her needs and had begun the publication submission process, during which the novel was picked up by Alcove Press and will be distributed by Penguin Random House.
While the book doesn’t officially release until Oct. 6, it can be preordered, an especially important part of the publishing process for authors, Ortiz said.
“It tells your publisher how well they should market your book,” Ortiz said. “It’s your best chance at getting on a bestseller list because all of your preorders go as day one sales. So, if you can sell a thousand preorders over five months, it looks like you got a thousand preorders the day it comes out.”
Ortiz encourages aspiring authors to get the words on the pages, find a way to cope with rejection and don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone.
“I think that’s one thing I’ve learned a lot through this,” Ortiz said. “Stepping out of any introvert or shyness and having to force myself to be extraverted.”
Even before her first book is released, Ortiz already has her next book written and her next four planned.
Ortiz has a book release party planned at The Coffee Bar in Gadsden, where she said she does most of her writing, and is scheduling stops for her book tour in October.
Being an author has helped Ortiz become a better teacher, she said. Encouraging her students to persist in the face of rejection, drawing on her firsthand experience, has enabled her to teach through action.
“I talk to my kids about not giving up,” Ortiz said. “You always hear, ‘Oh, don’t give up, you can do hard things,’ but when I can really tell them, I got 300 something rejections and I did not quit, so you can finish writing your five little sentence paper.”
