By Kathleen Koch

For perhaps every journalist, writing a book is the Holy Grail.  It’s what we one day aspire to.  Yet if we are honest with ourselves, it’s also what we fear - for its permanence and for the seemingly insurmountable task of writing it. 
Here’s what I learned while writing my new book, Rising from Katrina.

Follow your passions:

I covered many momentous news events during my 18-year-career at CNN.  9/11.  Plane crashes. Presidential campaigns.  The D.C.-area sniper attacks.  But I never felt moved to preserve the details of my reportage on those events for history.  That changed when I realized Hurricane Katrina was bearing down on my hometown, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.  Then it became personal.  What you decide to write a book about must ignite your passions if you want to succeed.

Write it all down:

When I got the assignment to cover Hurricane Katrina, I did something I’d never done before - started a journal in my laptop.  I called it “The Katrina Chronicles.”  And I recorded every detail, starting with my departure to fly south loaded down with a suitcase stuffed with fifty pounds of clothes and hurricane gear.  I described my nightmares after my producer and I spent a fitful night in our SUV in the middle of a debris field.  I shared the emotions I felt standing on the slab that was once the home where I grew up.  And I took notes on every conversation because I knew I was a witness to history.

Take photos:

I was in a tough spot on this one, because I couldn’t until four years after the storm.  It was tantamount to finding your family’s vehicle in the middle of multi-car pileup.  Would your first instinct be to whip out a camera and start snapping?  For me, it was sickly voyeuristic.  Fortunately, my producers and videographers did take pictures.  With those, and photos given me by friends and townspeople, I was able to illustrate the book.

Talk to colleagues:

Once you begin the writing process, talk to those in the field with you.  Find out if they were struck by the same things you were.  Did they notice something you didn’t?  Are your recollections of an event the same?  Your fellow journalists in the field can be extraordinarily helpful in refreshing your memory or giving you a tip to explore a subject or angle you may have overlooked. 

Be open with your employer:

I wrote my book after being laid off by CNN.  From the outset, I told them what I planned to do.  So when I requested access to the emails people sent me asking for help finding family members missing after the storm, they said yes.  It was the same when I requested photos taken by my producers.  Honesty pays off.

Write:

If you’re like me, “writer’s block” is a luxury we journalists never allow ourselves.  So daily or regularly, write - whether it’s an eight-hour stretch or just a few hours before or after work.  It’s the only way to get the job done.
 
Excerpt from Koch's book, Rising from Katrina.

From Chapter 4, "Aftermath"

"I hung up, drained just from listening to their gut-wrenching messages. Suddenly, our live reports seemed so pointless. Lydia and the others needed help. People were missing, maybe dead. Homes were gone. No one could call into Mississippi’s 228 area code. We were literally the only ones they could turn to.

“Kathleen, do you know where Diamondhead is?” Emmanuel asked, hanging up the truck’s other phone.

“Sure. It’s just north of Bay St. Louis. Why?” I asked.

Emmanuel, too, had gotten a frantic call from a friend, Kim Pierce, he’d known since he was a teenager. Her ninety-two-year-old grandmother was in a nursing home there, and Kim was anxious to find out if she was okay. That was all the encouragement I needed. Damn the rules! I was ready to leap across the line against journalistic involvement with both feet. But we’d do it on our own time, and we’d leave the camera behind.

“As soon as we’re done, we’re outta here,” I promised him.

As other crews arrived at the satellite truck, we learned that CNN had secured a hotel in Ocean Springs for network personnel. A bed sure sounded a far sight better than another night in the SUV. But first, I needed information. Reporter Gary Tuchman had been to Bay St. Louis. I pumped him for details. How bad was it? Would the home I’d grown up in on South Beach Boulevard be standing?

Gary wouldn’t look me in the eye. “It’s bad,” he mumbled, squinting down at his notepad, trying to look busy.

“Can I look at the tape?”

“Sorry, Kathleen. We’ve got to start editing soon.” Gary turned away, peering at the monitor. He said nothing else. He didn’t have to. I understood."


Rising from Katrina is available on all major online book sites.  For more information, visit  www.blairpub.com. or www.kathleenkoch.com. 

Part of the proceeds from the book go to two charities still doing Katrina recovery work on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.