Today’s Meet the Author is an interview with author Cher Gatto. This author interview was originally shared as part of a blog tour on Library Lady’s Kid Lit.
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About the Author – Cher Gatto
Cher Gatto is a native to NJ and lives with her husband (pastor) and five teenagers. Their family spent 10 years in Mexico developing a horse ranch for kids (see more about the ranch below) and founded an addictions ministry (R-HUB) back in the states. Cher has a Master’s in Psychology and serves as president of the ACFW NY/NJ chapter. Cher’s debut novel won the Genesis Award in 2016 and the Christian Indie Award for Best YA in 2020.
An Interview with Cher Gatto
Cher, I want to welcome you to my blog today. I appreciate your willingness to answer a few questions for my readers.
When did you first know you wanted to be an author?
My story is a little different than most. I never meant to be a writer. It’s something that happened to me when I wasn’t looking. I was a good writer in school, but it was homework, an assignment, or something I had to plow through to get on with life. I had never even considered what could happen if writing got a hold of my heart. Until it did!
When you are not writing, what other hats do you wear? What do you do for fun?
Outside of being an author, I teach high school math and psychology. Everyone I know laughs at that, especially the math/writer part, but I think it reflects an underlying way I perceive things. I am also an artist for fun. And in all of these, I see the world up close. Personal. Like a lens that zeros in on the deepest shadow and brightest highlight. I’d rather paint a drop of rain than a landscape. And I’d rather dive into the soul than write an action plot in third person. It’s kind of just who I am, and it comes out in all facets of my life.
What is your favorite genre to read? What about that genre draws you?
I love the classics any genre—Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, etc.—but lately I’ve been trying to expand my YA reading. I have really enjoyed John Green’s novels as they’re similar in voice to my own. I love his honest portrayal of the existential crisis in the heart of teens, the pressures of youth, and learning to cope in a world that feels upside down.
What historical figure do you admire and why?
Many of you might not know her, but Charlotte Mason is a historical figure that impacted my life as a new mom—especially as I dove into the world of homeschooling. She trained governesses at the turn of the century and taught them how to teach the children in their charge. And, in turn, she taught us to use living books—books written by people passionate about the subject they wrote on. She taught us how to invite our students into nature, music, art and literature and step away so they make their own deep connections with it. She redefined how I understood teaching.
Because I am a K-12 school librarian I have to ask – what is your favorite children’s book?
Hands down, C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series. I never tired of reading them aloud to my kids. When my children were really little, I always looked for one of Patricia Polacco books from our local library. Nothing beat her masterful storytelling and rich illustrations. And of course, we loved Dr. Seuss! You said “book” (singular), didn’t you? Okay, Winnie-the-Pooh.
Every year I organize a Young Authors Day for the kids at our school. What advice would you give to a child who wants to be a writer?
Look for the magic every day. Life is made up of the things we write. Grab them as you go along. They can pop up anywhere. A funny thought. An odd person. A new smell. A crazy dialogue. Capture them. Write them down. Don’t worry about “how” you write it, just write it. It’s those things that fall outside of the box that are worth holding onto.
Thank you for joining me today. My readers always enjoy hearing some behind the scenes information on the books we talk about.
More from Cher Gatto
I never meant to be a writer. It’s something that happened to me when I wasn’t looking. Our family (my husband and I and our five children) lived in Mexico developing a horse ranch for kids, at-risk youth, and broken families in impoverished villages surrounding the ranch. Our co-workers ran a women’s shelter in the city, and we used the horses to love on the girls there. I say “women’s” shelter, but most were children (13, 14, 15 years old) trying to raise babies of their own. Many of the babies a result of abuse, rape, or incest. Some had been drawn out of trafficking. Their stories tragic and incomprehensible.
About a year after we got on the field, the shelter closed down for a dangerous breach in security. All the girls were sent back to where they came from. We could do nothing. Nothing at all, but watch them go. A few months later, I saw one of the girls at church escorted by her “father.” When our eyes met, the vacancy in hers shattered my heart. I will never forget it. And one day, while I was cleaning a horse corral, I had Billy’s story. Not the whole thing, but a piece of it.
I hid myself away whenever I could for months and wrote furiously. I had no idea how the story would unfold, or even what themes would develop. But three hundred and fifty pages later, I was done. I guess it was all in there, needing to come out. I thought I was writing a fiction novel, but Billy’s journey gave me the key to process and heal from things I saw around me but couldn’t change. Things that broke my heart.
I needed a different ending—a redemption. Billy’s story became an allegory on life. He lives under the wrong “father,” as an orphan, believing the fear and shame that those lies wield. But in finding the right Father, he finds where he truly belong. Billy’s story is about coming home. It’s his story, and it’s ours.
Something I Am Not was published by Lighthouse Publishers of the Carolinas. It won the 2016 Genesis Award for the contemporary category and 2020 Christian Indie Award for best Young Adult fiction.
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