In the still of the long dark night in the neonatal intensive care unit of Western Baptist Hospital, Kelcie Gratz tends the tiniest and most vulnerable of living beings. Babies born prematurely are in her loving care as are critically ill little ones. She administers intensive care to fragile infants until they are ready to face the big world outside the NICU. Along with nursing the babies to health, her vocation requires a great capacity for empathy as she deals with families of the little ones. Kelcie listens carefully to families’ concerns and she observes ever so carefully a myriad of details impacting the health of her patients and the peace of mind of their families.
The same Kelcie Gratz, RN, BSN, who lovingly cares for babies and families by night, enters the dark world of schizophrenia, deceit, death, and deception by day. When her nursing shift is over and the sun comes up over the horizon, Kelcie Gratz transforms into K.B. Gratz, author.
Kelcie never had designs on being a writer but a story emerged from a combination of her medical background and family history all under the microscopic scrutiny of her keen observation skills. Friends that previewed a draft agreed the story had merit and Kelcie should do something with it.
But what? With no literary background, Kelcie began to navigate the unfamiliar territory of publishing.
In reflecting on the quest to publish her work, Kelcie recounts, “If I put my mind to something, I’m determined to complete it. The same was true with publishing as it was with my nursing education.”
Kelcie chose to self-publish through Amazon, and her first novella, The Experiment, came to be. Author K.B. Gratz had officially arrived. Garnering a 4.5-star rating on the readers’ platform Goodreads and seeing her novella published, she set out to pen a second book, Three Attempts: A Physiological Thriller. Her first success with self-publishing was certainly beneficial in getting the second book into print.
Gratz sites a quote from the horror film series, Saw, as her inspiration In choosing to write psychological thrillers. She quotes from the movie, “You can’t help them. They have to help themselves.”
It’s this statement that drives her characters down their dark, twisty paths and
fuels the unexpected consequences of plot twists. So appropriate is the quote, she uses it as an epigraph for her second book. Inspiration is also derived from the character of the Joker in The Batman series as a template for her characters; identifying them with the Joker’s psychopathic, schizophrenic, and totally apathetic character.
As a medical professional, it’s important to Kelcie to be factual in her writing when describing anything related to the medical field. One of her favorite authors is Freida McFadden, a neurosurgeon who writes psychological thrillers. Kelcie strives to emulate McFadden when it comes to writing medically accurate scenes and descriptions.
Kelcie Gratz, RN, BSN and K.B. Gratz, author, navigates the medical world and the literary world beautifully all while enjoying life with her husband, Luke and bonus daughter, Matti. Her household is rounded out with a golden Labrador Retriever named Bo and a Schnauzer, Finley.
Fans of her first two books are eagerly anticipating her third book which she hopes to publish before the end of the year.
Kelcie’s advice for aspiring writers is simple. “Commit your story to paper because if you don’t, it won’t be the same story tomorrow,” she advises. Secondly, she encourages, “Just do it.”
