Charlie: Hey y'all, and welcome back to Southern Fride, a soul-grown podcast, the show that explores the South through its people. I'm so glad y'all clicked on this episode, and y'all are gonna get to hear a conversation between me and Katie Ortiz, the author of The Southern Sorority of Superstitious Witches. I still didn't really say superstitious right. You're gonna hear a couple times in the show, I don't get it right. And it it's hard. That's a Southern sorority of Superstitious Witches, it's a tongue twister, but she's the author of it. and honestly getting to sit down with Katie and talk about the book and what it kind of represents and how she encapsulates the South in it. It was such a cool conversation. I love having authors on because they are are always smarter than me and they know better and it's just good to hear from and feel like I'm really like learning also in the conversation. So it was great to talk about her, dive into how she became an author. She's also a teacher and so how that kind of plays into her writings. And then what what pushed her to become an author and a writer and publish this book. It was a really great conversation. We have a little debate over who has the better cornbread, but rest assured, I'm gonna try her Nana and Pop's recipe and figure out on my own. Thank you guys for clicking on this episode. Please like, subscribe, share this with somebody. Look, this is like our forty-first, forty second, something like that episode. If you would do me a huge favor and send This episode, maybe another episode that you like, send it to somebody. Let them know about Southern Fry. Let them know about the people that we're talking to, because the goal here is to not only explore the South through its people, but to let people know how great the people are that make up the South. We're a people of creatives and and farmers and writers and teachers and and and authors and and just people who want what's best for the South. And I think this podcast, getting to talk to people, has been a way to really capture that. And I want to keep doing it. So please share this with somebody, let them know so we can keep growing and keep putting out more episodes. All right. Enough talk. I'm excited for y'all to hear from Katie. So let's get to the show. What is up, Southern Fried listeners? It is so good to welcome y'all back to another episode. And today we are joined by an author. I love talking to authors on Southern Fried because just the way that they talk about the South and encapsulate it, and we're gonna get into that. But we're so happy to welcome Katie Ortiz to the show. Katie, welcome in.
Katie Ortiz: Thank you. I'm so happy to be here with y'all.
Charlie: they and we and we are also happy to have you. How how's your day been? Tell me about it.
Katie Ortiz: it has been good. It's been busy. I'm also a teacher in my full time life
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: and starting back to school is always a very busy, kind of chaotic time. You know, you gotta like retrain a whole new group of kids.
Charlie: Sure.
Katie Ortiz: and I always forget every year like how much I really how much progress they make and how much growth they make and then I start over and I'm like, wow, we're back at the beginning. Woo!
Charlie: What do you have like littles or older kids? Okay.
Katie Ortiz: third grade, so it's like the transition year of lower elementary and upper elementary. I
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: personally think it's the best grade because like they're old enough to be independent and you can talk to them and have conversation and critical thinking. but they haven't started to have attitudes or to stink yet.
Charlie: Sure. so you don't have to have do you have to have like a a deodorant class with the talk or that's that's maybe fourth, fifth grade? Okay. Okay.
Katie Ortiz: I do, yeah, no, definitely towards the end of third grade when it starts back
Charlie: Ha ha.
Katie Ortiz: warming up outside and they're getting close to being fourth graders, I
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: introduce the the DO for the BO for sure. Like I keep
Charlie: Ha ha ha.
Katie Ortiz: spray deodorant in there and I I introduce it to them and I give them a whole talk and I send home pamphlets so
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: that their parents know like, hey, it's time.
Charlie: That that talk, like I think a lot of boys have to have a talk from their teacher that, hey, it's time to start wearing deodorant. And it's it's pretty brutal to learn that.
Katie Ortiz: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's a a pretty great skill to have, for sure. Saves me a lot, honestly.
Charlie: Well yeah, absolutely. well I'm so happy you you're joining me today. We can get to talk a little bit. I like to talk about on Southern Fried, you know, get a guest on and we talk about maybe what they do or what they're interested in, but also just get to know them and who they are. And I think one of the best ways to do that, especially in the South, you know, we always talk about who are your people, where are you from? So I'm gonna pose that question to you, Katie. Tell me a little bit about where you're from.
Katie Ortiz: so I'm like born and raised Alabama South.
Charlie: Love it.
Katie Ortiz: I was raised near Onyana, Alabama. Small
Charlie: Yeah, okay.
Katie Ortiz: town. and then I I went to a high school that like my graduating class was forty people.
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: Yeah, my junior year I transferred over to high school where they had 80 people in their graduating class and I thought I was like really making it up in the world. I was like, wow, I'm making it, I'm going places.
Charlie: That's that's big. Yeah, that's big.
Katie Ortiz: and then I got to college, I went I moved to Tennessee for a little bit and I went to Lee University, which is about 30
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: minutes from Chattanooga, and I met so many people from so many places and I realized 80 people is not. in fact a lot of people
Charlie: Sure.
Katie Ortiz: and after about a year and a half I moved back to Alabama and went to JSU, went to Jacksonville
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: and followed in my mama's footsteps and became a teacher and and I still live in North Alabama like Gadston area, so about an hour
Charlie: Okay, cool.
Katie Ortiz: out from Birmingham. so I've yeah I've been here been around.
Charlie: Have you have you always known that like when you went to Lee, did you know you were gonna be a teacher or was that a l a little later, you know, into Jack State kind of thing?
Katie Ortiz: I always knew I was going to be a teacher. I've always been very creative. I've been into acting and art and painting and writing. And my
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: parents were very big on the like get a practical job first,
Charlie: Mm.
Katie Ortiz: then pursue your creative endeavors. And my mama was a teacher, so I kinda I was raised around that, and I just I grew up working in summer camps and daycares and just working with kids constantly. So it was just kind
Charlie: Sure.
Katie Ortiz: of the natural path to follow.
Charlie: so y you said a little creative and maybe even some acting. Were you like school plays and such back in the day?
Katie Ortiz: yeah, yeah, yeah. I was school plays and there were the covered bridge players in Aniana and we did a
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: performance of Dracula. And the craziest thing, this was like my junior year of high school, I played
Charlie: Okay. Okay. Okay.
Katie Ortiz: one of the main characters in Dracula, and someone that came, this guy that came to a performance, he loved it so much. He hired us to do a private performance. He had a grotto. like a cave that he would host these huge parties in. So he hired
Charlie: Okay, my gosh. This is this is real.
Katie Ortiz: us to do a private play of Dracula in his his grotto, for
Charlie: That's wild.
Katie Ortiz: a party. Yeah. As a seventeen year old, I was like, man.
Charlie: Yeah. How old was the guy?
Katie Ortiz: You know, great question. I mean, well into adulthood, I assume.
Charlie: Yeah, like d okay, did he pay y'all? Okay, okay.
Katie Ortiz: No, it was I don't think I don't think so, actually now that I think about it. no. No he did not. that's a good question. I don't know why I didn't think about
Charlie: Or he did or he did pay
Katie Ortiz: that.
Charlie: he paid somebody and you need to track them down and say, Hey, where's my money from the grotto performance of Dracula from high school?
Katie Ortiz: You're right. I've never thought about that. I was just happy to be there, honestly. I was just happy to have a good job. And and then I also worked for two years in a haunted house acting as well. Which is yeah, yeah.
Charlie: w in Alabama? Which one?
Katie Ortiz: it was called Phobia. It just
Charlie: Ugh.
Katie Ortiz: it was around for a few years in Aniana. but it it's always my fun fact when when you have to present
Charlie: Y yeah.
Katie Ortiz: like a fun fact about yourself. I'm like I worked in a haunted house. And I made a grown man like pee himself one time. So Yeah.
Charlie: What what that's what character were you?
Katie Ortiz: Do I
Charlie: D were you a certain character? Do you remember what you were playing in the hunt? I just think this is so funny. I w I
Katie Ortiz: yeah, yeah. I don't know if I was like a specific character. I just I do remember like dressing as a creepy little girl with like pigtails
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: and pajamas and things. and I was really flexible
Charlie: my gosh.
Katie Ortiz: so I would do like backpins and stuff while
Charlie: that's awesome.
Katie Ortiz: yelling and covered in blood. Actually totally off topic, but there was one night I was driving home and you don't get finished at a haunted house until like, you know, eleven
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: or twelve.
Charlie: Sure.
Katie Ortiz: And I decided not to shower before I left. So I'm like drenched in blood, fake blood.
Charlie: Ha ha ha.
Katie Ortiz: and of course, that is when there's like one of those road stops by police officers where they check IDs and insurance.
Charlie: my gosh, yeah.
Katie Ortiz: Yeah. Yeah. And the the cop came to my window and he wasn't looking at me at first. He was like looking at a notepad and
Charlie: Sure.
Katie Ortiz: he was, you know, license and registration, please. And then he looked up and like jumped backwards.
Charlie: Ha ha ha ha.
Katie Ortiz: And I really quickly was like, I work in a haunted house. I swear, I didn't kill anyone. Please, sir.
Charlie: Which which might be like the worst thing to say in that situation. Like, no, I actually didn't kill anybody and he's like, it feels like she killed somebody Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: You know Yeah, that's exactly what someone would say, right? If they had. I mean, super incriminating.
Charlie: that's so good. That's so good. I just I don't know. I thought that was awesome. I've never met anybody who has worked in a haunted house. Or maybe I have, but you just don't know. They're just everyday people walking amongst us. We really can't trust you guys.
Katie Ortiz: Right. Yeah, yeah. Man.
Charlie: so along with teaching now, you're also an author. and we're gonna get into your book, the Okay, the Southern Sorry of Superstitious Witches, which
Katie Ortiz: Yes. Tongue twisters. Yeah.
Charlie: First off, a little bit of a tongue twister. Yeah. And also, I'm interested to hear about this because it sounds interesting. But I wanna know as a as an author, you know, you're a teacher and you talked about being creative. Was writing always something that you had a passion for, or did that kind of come later in life?
Katie Ortiz: Yeah, just a note on the title. Fabulous title, 10 out of 10. So glad I came up with it. But I did not foresee how much I was gonna have to say it and spell it. Like, wow. Yeah.
Charlie: Ooh, and then it's Yeah, superstitious. That was you that was mean to yourself.
Katie Ortiz: It was, it was in fact, and I have gotten it wrong many a times. And you would think I would know now how to spell it, but
Charlie: Ha ha ha ha.
Katie Ortiz: I do not. no, f I just I've always been so creative. Like that's that's just who I am, no matter
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: the medium. I was really big into art in school, but writing was always there. I remember really early on in elementary, I I couldn't have been more than maybe third or fourth grade, having a young authors conference at our school.
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: And I worked so hard on this book. You know, it was just paper folded and stapled and whatnot. But I worked
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: so hard on the book and I was so proud of it. And I I was so proud to read it to people. and I think that's where it kind of started. And I remember an author coming to our school to teach us about writing when I was in fifth grade. And I loved hearing him talk about it and the process and everything. And just having this tangible book that he wrote, which is I thought
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: was amazing. And I wrote some throughout college. I was part of kind of a journalism type thing in college. And there's a couple classes I had to keep up a blog. And I always really enjoyed that. And a lot of people always complimented me when I did and complimented
Charlie: Sure.
Katie Ortiz: my writing. But I've always been, more importantly, I've always been a very avid reader. I love to read. I read anything
Charlie: Okay. Okay.
Katie Ortiz: and everything. so I was reading back in 2022, and I just thought one day, you know what? I need to write one. I need to write a
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: book. And I just looked at my husband and I was like, I think I'm gonna write a book. And he was like, Okay. Yeah, why not?
Charlie: Yeah. and so now you have the Southern sorority of superstitious witches, which yeah, man, so hard to say.
Katie Ortiz: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Charlie: and you take this this idea of the Southern sorority and then you weave these other like elements into into the book. So if you if you could just take us down like the ideas of the South as a character and and what you're writing about with the South kind of bleeding into to everything that you're doing.
Katie Ortiz: my gosh, yes. So when I was planning out this book, I had read The Help by Katherine Stockett. And I
Charlie: Yeah, okay.
Katie Ortiz: loved she talks about how she uses the South as a character and like the weather and the heat and how it slowly makes the characters have more emotions and kind of gets them to their boiling point per se. But I just loved that and really this This book that's getting published is not my first book that I wrote. I
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: wrote a whole nother book before that and tried to query literary agents. You have to have a literary agent to represent you in order to get published.
Charlie: Yeah, I've heard. I the other authors I've had, being an author just sounds like maybe the worst thing you could ever do.
Katie Ortiz: Yeah, it's if you don't like rejection, probably
Charlie: Yeah, it's
Katie Ortiz: not the way to go. Or if you're not patient and you liked for things to go fast, not the career for
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: you. but I I did not get an agent for my first book. It is very lovingly on a shelf, collecting dust. but that book I it was also a witchy book, but I wrote it set Up in the north, and
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: there was part of me that was like slightly embarrassed about where I was. I think there's this like stigma of being embarrassed and thinking that where you come from is not cool, like regardless
Charlie: Sure.
Katie Ortiz: of where you come from, I think. and when I was thinking about this next book, I was trying to think what is interesting about my life because they say write what you know, and I
Charlie: Mm-hmm.
Katie Ortiz: was like, man, what do I know? What do I know?
Charlie: Ha ha.
Katie Ortiz: and I was like, I'm you know, I'm not my husband, he his family is Mexican and they have this beautiful culture and just all of these amazing parts of their culture. I was like, man, I you know, I wish I had some kind of beautiful, amazing culture that I could integrate into this story. and I was talking to a friend, I have a friend that's from New York, and she was me and her were talking one day, and she was just talking about how when she moved down here. She was so so shocked and that the Southern culture was just so different and it just kind of hit
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: me like a light bulb. Like you're right. The Southern culture is so different and it's so
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: interesting. And there's so many parts of it that's so different than other parts of the US and other places. So I just I really thought with this book, I want to embrace that.
Charlie: man, I and that's what I love. You know, you grow up like in and around people and you don't realize, you know, how things are different until you're kind of confronted face to face with, yeah, you are right. We do do those things differently. Is there anything that sticks out in your mind that you got to write about in the book specifically that that kind of makes the South unique?
Katie Ortiz: gosh, there's so much. the dialect is obviously a big one,
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: which did have some problems with my editor. My editor and my publisher are from New York, and
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: my agent is from Canada. So, like, they're all from way up north.
Charlie: Ha ha ha.
Katie Ortiz: And so when I was writing my book and I would put all y'all, they were like, that is not grammatically correct, girl. And I was like, I
Charlie: They didn't You're like, Well that's what we say.
Katie Ortiz: know, but we actually say it, okay.
Charlie: Ha ha ha.
Katie Ortiz: Like that's what we say.
Charlie: Are your are your third graders allowed to say all y'all?
Katie Ortiz: Yeah.
Charlie: Ha ha ha.
Katie Ortiz: Yeah. you know, I try to I try to get them not to say ain't. but you know, the y'all, it is what it is. It is
Charlie: Yeah, good, good. Come on. Amen.
Katie Ortiz: what it is. and so all y'all was a big one, and there's just a bunch of dialect things that were very unique. And I incorporated things about the food and things about church and state, like how many churches there are, just constantly
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: all over the place. And the superstitions are a big one. It's in the title. It's a big one. My mama used to always on New Year's Eve cook beans and greens for wealth and health. Yeah, of course, right?
Charlie: Yep, of course, of course. Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: and she would like force us all to eat it whether we wanted it or not. Which now I
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: love some beans and greens. As a kid, maybe Not so much. But just things like that growing up, having those superstitions, I thought were so neat and unique.
Charlie: Yeah. I and and and then getting to write about it is so cool because you're you're finally like putting pen to paper and saying, even if it's in like a fictional way about a fictional story, you get to say these are the things that, you know, made me, but also like make the region that that I'm from. And I think one thing I've learned talking to people is you are right. Like sometimes no matter where you're from, you might feel kind of like, I don't know if I want to be from there. But when you like write it down and talk about it, you take a lot more pride in like being from there. which I don't know if you experienced, but I think is a cool thing that you can kind of gather from like really talking about for us, the South, and for other people just where they're from, which I think is a cool thing.
Katie Ortiz: Yeah, absolutely. embracing where I came from I think was one of the best decisions I made as an author and as a person. I think there's some kind of you know, you even see it on movies and TV, like when you get a certain age, you're like, I wanna move away. I don't wanna be here anymore. And then
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: you get older and you start to see things differently and realize how much that really created you as a person and how much of a part of you that is and how I mean maybe there are some bad or good things, but how much it really means to you, like how awesome it is where you came from and the people you came from.
Charlie: Hey Southern Fried listeners. Just want to jump in real quick, like I do every episode, and thank you guys for listening. without y'all's support, we wouldn't have the show. You know, without people listening, we wouldn't keep doing it. And so thank you so much for clicking on this episode, listening to this interview with Katie. Hope you're enjoying it as much as I enjoyed getting to talk with her. having like I said, having authors on the show, it's just so fun. So I really enjoyed getting to sit down and talk with her. Thank you to you guys for listening. Thank you for Soul Grown. for continuing to partner with Southern Fridays as we put out these episodes. It means the world. So thank y'all so much. Now let's get back to the show. okay, so it's the southern sorority of superstitious witches. take us a little bit through the plot of of the book. Like what what is somebody who's picking up this this book gonna expect?
Katie Ortiz: So my like fast tagline just to to hook people in is that
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: it's about Southern women using witchcraft to fight the patriarchy.
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: but to really dig into it, I I'm a big podcast listener. I was listening to a history podcast. I'm also a history nerd. I think it was called Things That You Didn't Learn in History Class, possibly.
Charlie: Yeah, I've heard about that, yeah.
Katie Ortiz: Yeah. Fantastic podcast, 10 out of 10, recommend. but there was an episode titled Lucy Stone about Lucy Stone. She was one of only seven women invited to test out co-education for the first time at a university. And she
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: was faced with discrimination and sexism and all kinds of things. So I was listening to that. I knew I wanted to write a book in the South. I knew I wanted to write a book with some witchy elements. and like fantastical elements. And so I just kind of combined those things and thought, wouldn't it be cool if these women were invited to test out co-education in the South?
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: And when they're faced with this discrimination, they use Southern folklore and magic to fight against it.
Charlie: Yeah. that's so cool. and so then it it takes you on the journey of of them. what is the like how much they're witches. So I'm I'm interested when I when I'm trying to figure out how much like magic is there, how much like like is it scary or is it more like, you know what do they say in Harry Potter? Avada cadabra.
Katie Ortiz: So I my my mama just read my book for the first time and she was scared to read it. She was like, I
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: didn't know if I was gonna like it because she thought sh it was gonna be scary or too witchy or witchcrafty or whatever.
Charlie: Sir.
Katie Ortiz: And she loved it and she said, my gosh, it's not at all. Like it's not super dark or or you know, too much of the witchiness or anything. It's it's women coming together. It's about mostly the sisterhood and them fighting for their rights and the witchy magical parts are more of just done out of necessity and what they need to do in order to survive, really.
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: But as far as like on the spectrum of Harry Potter to like supernatural,
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: I would say it's like I don't know, somewhere in the middle. They're they're not shooting anything out of their hands or wands or anything.
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: but some some fantastical things happen. Yeah.
Charlie: Okay, good. h how did you find as you're as you were writing, not about just about the the women of your stories, but about the South, how did did you find it easy to kind of be authentic in that writing or did you kind of have to like dig deep and like remember things of your past, or was it kind of easy to to bring that up as you were writing?
Katie Ortiz: Little bit of both. I mean there were some things that obviously just came natural, but you know, like you said, you get so used to where you live, you almost forget the unique parts of it.
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: I really consulted my friend from New York a lot and was like, what is unique? What is different? What do we do down here that stands out to you, or what do we say that stands out to you? and that helped a lot. So I'd say a little bit of both. I mean there's some things that's always gonna come natural to me, like the grammar and the yawl and my characters drinking sweet tea, you know.
Charlie: Sure.
Katie Ortiz: but I I did have to dig a little deeper, for sure.
Charlie: Good, I like that. well I I hope people it's is it out yet or is it coming out?
Katie Ortiz: It's coming out. It's going to be out in almost a month. We we're close.
Charlie: Okay, it's about that. Early October, right?
Katie Ortiz: Yeah, early October, October sixth. Yeah. But it's available to pre-order now.
Charlie: very good. So very good way to kick off Halloween season, you get the Southern sorority of superstitious witches. but Katie, I also when I have my guests on on the podcast, you know, it is Southern Fried, and I think it's only fair to make sure that you're at least a little Southern. So if if you would indulge
Katie Ortiz: Mm-hmm.
Charlie: me, I'd love to dive into the Southern Fried Survey with you if that's okay. Okay,
Katie Ortiz: please do.
Charlie: all right. So first question Southern fried survey. Do you have a favorite Southern word or phrase?
Katie Ortiz: Gosh. Favor. I mean, you know, there's the bless your heart.
Charlie: Yeah. Yep.
Katie Ortiz: that's a a tried and true. Beyond that, I mean, all y'all is great. I don't know I don't know if this is just for the South, but there was a line that I used in my book that I I really loved. And it was I don't know if I would trust you if even if you or I don't know if I could trust you even if you poured piss out of a boot with the instructions written on the hill.
Charlie: Okay. I I don't know if I've ever heard that, but that's southern. That's definitely not from anywhere. Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: mean to me it sounds very southern, like very just someone's like fishing and spitting tobacco out and they're like I ain't trusting you to pour piss out of a boot with structures written on the heel, you know?
Charlie: That yeah, I you can imagine somebody's grandparents saying that to
Katie Ortiz: Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
Charlie: Okay. I love it. That might also be my new favorite southern word or phrase. all right,
Katie Ortiz: Thanks.
Charlie: you talked a little bit about sweet tea in the book, but I gotta know for Katie, how sweet is too sweet?
Katie Ortiz: Ooh, that's a fantastic question. I mean it's gotta be sweet for sure.
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: but I'll tell you sometimes when I go to McDonald's, I do have to get the half and half. Sometimes their
Charlie: Yeah man.
Katie Ortiz: sweet tea is just it's hitting a level that's almost syrup at that point. And listen, I'm Southern man. I love some sweet tea, but wow, I tell ya that
Charlie: Yeah, they do. I don't and you know, it's like you go to McDonald's, you go to a fast food place like that, and everything is like so they have systems for it all, right? It's so programmatic. And yeah, sometimes you'll go to McDonald's, you'll you'll get a large sweet tea and you're like, They they just dumped a whole vat of sugar in this and they're trying to kill me.
Katie Ortiz: Yeah, for sure. I mean they just took it and went for it. Yeah.
Charlie: okay, great answer. do you have as we continue the sur the survey, do you have a favorite fellow southerner?
Katie Ortiz: gosh, favorite fellow Southerner. Man, that's an interesting one. I have a lot of Southern author friends that
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: I very much love and adore. Elise Burke Brown, she's fantastic. She has a series out based in New Orleans, which is fantastic.
Charlie: All right.
Katie Ortiz: Chloe York, she's fantastic. And then, you know, I have to give a shout out to my nana and papa.
Charlie: There you go.
Katie Ortiz: And they do make the best cornbread in the South.
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: I might be biased. but also I think it's true. So
Charlie: I mean you never had my mom's cornbread, but but I
Katie Ortiz: Wow.
Charlie: I understand that y'all's is probably fine.
Katie Ortiz: Let's let's get together, we'll have a cornbread cook off. It'll be fine. And we'll see.
Charlie: And we'll see. I like this. In on New Year's when y'all would do beans and greens, would y'all also have cornbread? Yeah, you have to.
Katie Ortiz: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was it was beans and greens and then the cornbread it was like something about the gold of the cornbread was something too like there
Charlie: Yep, yep. Supposed to give you something.
Katie Ortiz: was yeah, each one had its own meaning something. honestly I still let my mama take care of that and I just go over to her house and I eat it. And I I
Charlie: Amen.
Katie Ortiz: just eat whatever she hands to me 'cause I assume that it's it's for good luck. I don't know.
Charlie: Yeah. Would okay, well I'm I was gonna save this one for a little later, but you've brought up cornbread. So I've gotta ask you if you go to a meet and three and you get your food and at the end they they ask you cornbread or roll, are you cornbread or you roll?
Katie Ortiz: definitely cornbread. I mean, if I'm at the cracker barrel and they're like cornbread or biscuit, I'm going cornbread. For sure. Yeah.
Charlie: Okay, good. G and can I say something to Cracker Barrel, which maybe they're listening, maybe they're not. I I had the head chef of Cracker Barrel on and I should have told him this. I think and this is blasphemy, but I think their biscuits are too buttery. I think it's a I think it's a little much.
Katie Ortiz: man. Wow. That's a hot take.
Charlie: I so I get the cornbread. I just feel I don't know. And I know that that's crazy and I'm probably my southern card might get revoked for it, but I think there's just too much
Katie Ortiz: Yeah.
Charlie: going on with the Cracker Barrel biscuit. All right, people?
Katie Ortiz: Wow, wow. I I have not heard that ever said before. That's that is interesting.
Charlie: It's a bad take. Sure. Okay, well I'm gra I'm glad you brought up Cracker Barrel. Southern institution, great place. Cracker Barrel or Waffle House?
Katie Ortiz: Cracker Barrel. Ten out of ten for sure.
Charlie: Okay. Didn't even hesitate.
Katie Ortiz: yeah. I mean that's I I don't even know if that's a serious question. I don't
Charlie: Well now it's debatable for sure.
Katie Ortiz: Well, yeah, okay. I just no, Cracker Barrel, I have never been to a Cracker Barrel and not liked what I ordered. I mean, just
Charlie: But have you ever been to a waffle house and been disappointed by the experience?
Katie Ortiz: There's a lot of experiences you could have at a Waffle House. I mean
Charlie: that's what I'm s that's what I'm saying.
Katie Ortiz: you're definitely in for an experience for sure.
Charlie: Sure. all right. What is do you have a favorite book? I I love getting authors on because I try and be a reader. Am I am I great at it? Maybe not, but I try to be a reader. Do you have a like a favorite book that is based in the South or by a southern person?
Katie Ortiz: goodness, I have so many favorite books. Are you kidding?
Charlie: Yeah, I know. And that's yeah, again, unfair, unfair.
Katie Ortiz: Yeah, unfair. I have to go back to The Help by Katherine Stockett.
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: 10 out of 10, fantastic Southern book. gosh. Let me think. I know I mentioned Elise Burke Brown. Her book Chase Harlem is very good. It's set in
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: New Orleans. Fantastic. the Indigo Girl. It's set in Charleston.
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: And it's very good. And it's about the beginning of indigo crops in Charleston and and fantastic. It's based on real people and real things, so also fantastic.
Charlie: Okay, very good. I'm gonna look all those up. this is a question I really like because I like to see how people answer it. Is there something about you that's least southern?
Katie Ortiz: I don't watch football and I don't like bacon.
Charlie: Bacon. Well, that's fine. I mean,
Katie Ortiz: Yeah, I know.
Charlie: we all have to have our where we miss you know, where we miss the mark.
Katie Ortiz: Ha
Charlie: so you're not at all excited about this upcoming Saturday, the start of college football?
Katie Ortiz: I'm excited because it's fantastic background noise when I'm reading and taking a nap.
Charlie: Okay. And I can understand that. I can understand that. There's something about getting getting some chores done while while football's on.
Katie Ortiz: Yeah, I mean it's just it's fantastic noise in the back. it's pretty consistent noise, so it really blends well with the environment. I do like the food though, like during football
Charlie: There you go.
Katie Ortiz: season. I'm already planning on making some Buffalo chicken dip and some sliders. So, you
Charlie: Of course, of course.
Katie Ortiz: know, it's it has its perks for sure.
Charlie: I think you know what, I think it's fair to say, you know, there's the phrase, what is it? it's like, this is maybe awful, but when people are like, My culture's not your costume, which I get. I understand where they're coming at from. Maybe I should say to people who don't like football, like you, Katie, you can't have tailgate food unless you watch football, right? But that's probably unfair. That's probably unfair.
Katie Ortiz: I mean, you know, I enjoy the noise of it while I'm reading a good book.
Charlie: Sure, sure. all right, and then my last question for you on the Southern Frida survey, I ask every guest this question because you know Southern Friday's all about exploring the south, talking to people who make it up. so if we switch places, if you became the host of Southern Fried, who is somebody that you would want to get on the show that you just would think is great for Southern Friday?
Katie Ortiz: Okay, I mean I have to throw it to the authors again, you know, my
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: local author, indie authors, Elise Burke Brown, Chloe York, they're both fantastic local indie authors. I'm doing some book signings on my book tour with Maggie Rapier and Julia Olivia, they're both fantastic Southern authors.
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: so yeah, any any of them, more authors.
Charlie: Love it. Love it. Yes. As many authors, I I I really do. I love how the South can be captured in writing. and like you've talked about, how it can be its own character. So it's just so interesting and
Katie Ortiz: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Charlie: love getting those authors on. Katie, plug the book. Where can people get it? Tell them about the book tours. take some time, plug it right now.
Katie Ortiz: yeah, so it's available for pre-order, and pre-orders do phenomenal things for authors. I know you're sitting there thinking, why would I pre-order it when I can't get it yet? But listen, it really, really helps us authors. It helps to tell the bookstores how much they should order and where they should put it in the bookstore. It helps to tell your publisher how well it's doing and how much of a print run they should do for it.
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: It really gives an author the best chance at making bestseller lists and all kinds of things like that. So pre-order it. You can get it anywhere, anywhere you get books. Amazon, Books A Million, Barnes and Noble. I personally would love if y'all could pre-order it from Thank You Books from Birmingham.
Charlie: There we go. Okay.
Katie Ortiz: I have a pre-order campaign going with them. So if you pre-order my hardcover through Thank You Books, You will get three free art prints, a signed copy, and wait for it, a cornbread recipe card from my nana and papa. Yes, best cornbread in the south, and you'll get it.
Charlie: that's the best giveaway. That's the best thing I've ever heard.
Katie Ortiz: Thank you. I was so happy. So happy. My nana and Papa were like, yes, go for it.
Charlie: that's genius.
Katie Ortiz: yes, so go pre-order it, get you some freebies, make you some cornbread. speaking of cornbread, I'm going on a book tour. I will be in all over Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia. I will be at Thank You Books in Birmingham, I'll be in Huntsville, I'll be in Auburn, Albertville, Gadston. a somewhere a city somewhere in Georgia and
Charlie: Ha ha ha.
Katie Ortiz: I'll be in Chattanooga, Tennessee as well. And during my book tour, I do plan on bringing some cornbread and sweet tea to all
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: the places for people to have and to try and whatnot.
Charlie: That's good.
Katie Ortiz: You know, getting the vibes, getting the spirit.
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: So I would love to see some more readers and if you listen to this podcast And that's where you heard of me from. Please let me know when you meet me in person. I would love to know.
Charlie: Well, awesome. Y'all go support Katie, the Southern sorority of Superstitious Witches. Pre order it.
Katie Ortiz: Yeah.
Charlie: and Katie, thank you so much for joining me and getting a talk on Southern Friday.
Katie Ortiz: Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me.
Charlie: Well that concludes this episode of Southern Fride. Y'all go support Katie and the Southern sorority of superstitious witches. I tried again. Failed again. go pre-order the book. Be on the lookout. Maybe she's coming to a town near you. You can go meet her. tell her you heard about her on Southern Fride. That'd be really cool to make that connection. Thank you guys so much for listening. Like, subscribe, share, repost, tell somebody about it. Helps us grow. Please, it really does. It's a huge help when you can do that. Or even Even bigger help, download the episode. That's huge. Maybe download it. Maybe hit hit download. Help me out. Help Southern Frida out. Help the South out. You love the South? Help them out. Alright. Thank you guys. And as always, y'all come on back.
Katie Ortiz: Thank you. I'm so happy to be here with y'all.
Charlie: they and we and we are also happy to have you. How how's your day been? Tell me about it.
Katie Ortiz: it has been good. It's been busy. I'm also a teacher in my full time life
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: and starting back to school is always a very busy, kind of chaotic time. You know, you gotta like retrain a whole new group of kids.
Charlie: Sure.
Katie Ortiz: and I always forget every year like how much I really how much progress they make and how much growth they make and then I start over and I'm like, wow, we're back at the beginning. Woo!
Charlie: What do you have like littles or older kids? Okay.
Katie Ortiz: third grade, so it's like the transition year of lower elementary and upper elementary. I
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: personally think it's the best grade because like they're old enough to be independent and you can talk to them and have conversation and critical thinking. but they haven't started to have attitudes or to stink yet.
Charlie: Sure. so you don't have to have do you have to have like a a deodorant class with the talk or that's that's maybe fourth, fifth grade? Okay. Okay.
Katie Ortiz: I do, yeah, no, definitely towards the end of third grade when it starts back
Charlie: Ha ha.
Katie Ortiz: warming up outside and they're getting close to being fourth graders, I
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: introduce the the DO for the BO for sure. Like I keep
Charlie: Ha ha ha.
Katie Ortiz: spray deodorant in there and I I introduce it to them and I give them a whole talk and I send home pamphlets so
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: that their parents know like, hey, it's time.
Charlie: That that talk, like I think a lot of boys have to have a talk from their teacher that, hey, it's time to start wearing deodorant. And it's it's pretty brutal to learn that.
Katie Ortiz: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's a a pretty great skill to have, for sure. Saves me a lot, honestly.
Charlie: Well yeah, absolutely. well I'm so happy you you're joining me today. We can get to talk a little bit. I like to talk about on Southern Fried, you know, get a guest on and we talk about maybe what they do or what they're interested in, but also just get to know them and who they are. And I think one of the best ways to do that, especially in the South, you know, we always talk about who are your people, where are you from? So I'm gonna pose that question to you, Katie. Tell me a little bit about where you're from.
Katie Ortiz: so I'm like born and raised Alabama South.
Charlie: Love it.
Katie Ortiz: I was raised near Onyana, Alabama. Small
Charlie: Yeah, okay.
Katie Ortiz: town. and then I I went to a high school that like my graduating class was forty people.
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: Yeah, my junior year I transferred over to high school where they had 80 people in their graduating class and I thought I was like really making it up in the world. I was like, wow, I'm making it, I'm going places.
Charlie: That's that's big. Yeah, that's big.
Katie Ortiz: and then I got to college, I went I moved to Tennessee for a little bit and I went to Lee University, which is about 30
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: minutes from Chattanooga, and I met so many people from so many places and I realized 80 people is not. in fact a lot of people
Charlie: Sure.
Katie Ortiz: and after about a year and a half I moved back to Alabama and went to JSU, went to Jacksonville
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: and followed in my mama's footsteps and became a teacher and and I still live in North Alabama like Gadston area, so about an hour
Charlie: Okay, cool.
Katie Ortiz: out from Birmingham. so I've yeah I've been here been around.
Charlie: Have you have you always known that like when you went to Lee, did you know you were gonna be a teacher or was that a l a little later, you know, into Jack State kind of thing?
Katie Ortiz: I always knew I was going to be a teacher. I've always been very creative. I've been into acting and art and painting and writing. And my
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: parents were very big on the like get a practical job first,
Charlie: Mm.
Katie Ortiz: then pursue your creative endeavors. And my mama was a teacher, so I kinda I was raised around that, and I just I grew up working in summer camps and daycares and just working with kids constantly. So it was just kind
Charlie: Sure.
Katie Ortiz: of the natural path to follow.
Charlie: so y you said a little creative and maybe even some acting. Were you like school plays and such back in the day?
Katie Ortiz: yeah, yeah, yeah. I was school plays and there were the covered bridge players in Aniana and we did a
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: performance of Dracula. And the craziest thing, this was like my junior year of high school, I played
Charlie: Okay. Okay. Okay.
Katie Ortiz: one of the main characters in Dracula, and someone that came, this guy that came to a performance, he loved it so much. He hired us to do a private performance. He had a grotto. like a cave that he would host these huge parties in. So he hired
Charlie: Okay, my gosh. This is this is real.
Katie Ortiz: us to do a private play of Dracula in his his grotto, for
Charlie: That's wild.
Katie Ortiz: a party. Yeah. As a seventeen year old, I was like, man.
Charlie: Yeah. How old was the guy?
Katie Ortiz: You know, great question. I mean, well into adulthood, I assume.
Charlie: Yeah, like d okay, did he pay y'all? Okay, okay.
Katie Ortiz: No, it was I don't think I don't think so, actually now that I think about it. no. No he did not. that's a good question. I don't know why I didn't think about
Charlie: Or he did or he did pay
Katie Ortiz: that.
Charlie: he paid somebody and you need to track them down and say, Hey, where's my money from the grotto performance of Dracula from high school?
Katie Ortiz: You're right. I've never thought about that. I was just happy to be there, honestly. I was just happy to have a good job. And and then I also worked for two years in a haunted house acting as well. Which is yeah, yeah.
Charlie: w in Alabama? Which one?
Katie Ortiz: it was called Phobia. It just
Charlie: Ugh.
Katie Ortiz: it was around for a few years in Aniana. but it it's always my fun fact when when you have to present
Charlie: Y yeah.
Katie Ortiz: like a fun fact about yourself. I'm like I worked in a haunted house. And I made a grown man like pee himself one time. So Yeah.
Charlie: What what that's what character were you?
Katie Ortiz: Do I
Charlie: D were you a certain character? Do you remember what you were playing in the hunt? I just think this is so funny. I w I
Katie Ortiz: yeah, yeah. I don't know if I was like a specific character. I just I do remember like dressing as a creepy little girl with like pigtails
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: and pajamas and things. and I was really flexible
Charlie: my gosh.
Katie Ortiz: so I would do like backpins and stuff while
Charlie: that's awesome.
Katie Ortiz: yelling and covered in blood. Actually totally off topic, but there was one night I was driving home and you don't get finished at a haunted house until like, you know, eleven
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: or twelve.
Charlie: Sure.
Katie Ortiz: And I decided not to shower before I left. So I'm like drenched in blood, fake blood.
Charlie: Ha ha ha.
Katie Ortiz: and of course, that is when there's like one of those road stops by police officers where they check IDs and insurance.
Charlie: my gosh, yeah.
Katie Ortiz: Yeah. Yeah. And the the cop came to my window and he wasn't looking at me at first. He was like looking at a notepad and
Charlie: Sure.
Katie Ortiz: he was, you know, license and registration, please. And then he looked up and like jumped backwards.
Charlie: Ha ha ha ha.
Katie Ortiz: And I really quickly was like, I work in a haunted house. I swear, I didn't kill anyone. Please, sir.
Charlie: Which which might be like the worst thing to say in that situation. Like, no, I actually didn't kill anybody and he's like, it feels like she killed somebody Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: You know Yeah, that's exactly what someone would say, right? If they had. I mean, super incriminating.
Charlie: that's so good. That's so good. I just I don't know. I thought that was awesome. I've never met anybody who has worked in a haunted house. Or maybe I have, but you just don't know. They're just everyday people walking amongst us. We really can't trust you guys.
Katie Ortiz: Right. Yeah, yeah. Man.
Charlie: so along with teaching now, you're also an author. and we're gonna get into your book, the Okay, the Southern Sorry of Superstitious Witches, which
Katie Ortiz: Yes. Tongue twisters. Yeah.
Charlie: First off, a little bit of a tongue twister. Yeah. And also, I'm interested to hear about this because it sounds interesting. But I wanna know as a as an author, you know, you're a teacher and you talked about being creative. Was writing always something that you had a passion for, or did that kind of come later in life?
Katie Ortiz: Yeah, just a note on the title. Fabulous title, 10 out of 10. So glad I came up with it. But I did not foresee how much I was gonna have to say it and spell it. Like, wow. Yeah.
Charlie: Ooh, and then it's Yeah, superstitious. That was you that was mean to yourself.
Katie Ortiz: It was, it was in fact, and I have gotten it wrong many a times. And you would think I would know now how to spell it, but
Charlie: Ha ha ha ha.
Katie Ortiz: I do not. no, f I just I've always been so creative. Like that's that's just who I am, no matter
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: the medium. I was really big into art in school, but writing was always there. I remember really early on in elementary, I I couldn't have been more than maybe third or fourth grade, having a young authors conference at our school.
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: And I worked so hard on this book. You know, it was just paper folded and stapled and whatnot. But I worked
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: so hard on the book and I was so proud of it. And I I was so proud to read it to people. and I think that's where it kind of started. And I remember an author coming to our school to teach us about writing when I was in fifth grade. And I loved hearing him talk about it and the process and everything. And just having this tangible book that he wrote, which is I thought
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: was amazing. And I wrote some throughout college. I was part of kind of a journalism type thing in college. And there's a couple classes I had to keep up a blog. And I always really enjoyed that. And a lot of people always complimented me when I did and complimented
Charlie: Sure.
Katie Ortiz: my writing. But I've always been, more importantly, I've always been a very avid reader. I love to read. I read anything
Charlie: Okay. Okay.
Katie Ortiz: and everything. so I was reading back in 2022, and I just thought one day, you know what? I need to write one. I need to write a
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: book. And I just looked at my husband and I was like, I think I'm gonna write a book. And he was like, Okay. Yeah, why not?
Charlie: Yeah. and so now you have the Southern sorority of superstitious witches, which yeah, man, so hard to say.
Katie Ortiz: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Charlie: and you take this this idea of the Southern sorority and then you weave these other like elements into into the book. So if you if you could just take us down like the ideas of the South as a character and and what you're writing about with the South kind of bleeding into to everything that you're doing.
Katie Ortiz: my gosh, yes. So when I was planning out this book, I had read The Help by Katherine Stockett. And I
Charlie: Yeah, okay.
Katie Ortiz: loved she talks about how she uses the South as a character and like the weather and the heat and how it slowly makes the characters have more emotions and kind of gets them to their boiling point per se. But I just loved that and really this This book that's getting published is not my first book that I wrote. I
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: wrote a whole nother book before that and tried to query literary agents. You have to have a literary agent to represent you in order to get published.
Charlie: Yeah, I've heard. I the other authors I've had, being an author just sounds like maybe the worst thing you could ever do.
Katie Ortiz: Yeah, it's if you don't like rejection, probably
Charlie: Yeah, it's
Katie Ortiz: not the way to go. Or if you're not patient and you liked for things to go fast, not the career for
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: you. but I I did not get an agent for my first book. It is very lovingly on a shelf, collecting dust. but that book I it was also a witchy book, but I wrote it set Up in the north, and
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: there was part of me that was like slightly embarrassed about where I was. I think there's this like stigma of being embarrassed and thinking that where you come from is not cool, like regardless
Charlie: Sure.
Katie Ortiz: of where you come from, I think. and when I was thinking about this next book, I was trying to think what is interesting about my life because they say write what you know, and I
Charlie: Mm-hmm.
Katie Ortiz: was like, man, what do I know? What do I know?
Charlie: Ha ha.
Katie Ortiz: and I was like, I'm you know, I'm not my husband, he his family is Mexican and they have this beautiful culture and just all of these amazing parts of their culture. I was like, man, I you know, I wish I had some kind of beautiful, amazing culture that I could integrate into this story. and I was talking to a friend, I have a friend that's from New York, and she was me and her were talking one day, and she was just talking about how when she moved down here. She was so so shocked and that the Southern culture was just so different and it just kind of hit
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: me like a light bulb. Like you're right. The Southern culture is so different and it's so
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: interesting. And there's so many parts of it that's so different than other parts of the US and other places. So I just I really thought with this book, I want to embrace that.
Charlie: man, I and that's what I love. You know, you grow up like in and around people and you don't realize, you know, how things are different until you're kind of confronted face to face with, yeah, you are right. We do do those things differently. Is there anything that sticks out in your mind that you got to write about in the book specifically that that kind of makes the South unique?
Katie Ortiz: gosh, there's so much. the dialect is obviously a big one,
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: which did have some problems with my editor. My editor and my publisher are from New York, and
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: my agent is from Canada. So, like, they're all from way up north.
Charlie: Ha ha ha.
Katie Ortiz: And so when I was writing my book and I would put all y'all, they were like, that is not grammatically correct, girl. And I was like, I
Charlie: They didn't You're like, Well that's what we say.
Katie Ortiz: know, but we actually say it, okay.
Charlie: Ha ha ha.
Katie Ortiz: Like that's what we say.
Charlie: Are your are your third graders allowed to say all y'all?
Katie Ortiz: Yeah.
Charlie: Ha ha ha.
Katie Ortiz: Yeah. you know, I try to I try to get them not to say ain't. but you know, the y'all, it is what it is. It is
Charlie: Yeah, good, good. Come on. Amen.
Katie Ortiz: what it is. and so all y'all was a big one, and there's just a bunch of dialect things that were very unique. And I incorporated things about the food and things about church and state, like how many churches there are, just constantly
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: all over the place. And the superstitions are a big one. It's in the title. It's a big one. My mama used to always on New Year's Eve cook beans and greens for wealth and health. Yeah, of course, right?
Charlie: Yep, of course, of course. Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: and she would like force us all to eat it whether we wanted it or not. Which now I
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: love some beans and greens. As a kid, maybe Not so much. But just things like that growing up, having those superstitions, I thought were so neat and unique.
Charlie: Yeah. I and and and then getting to write about it is so cool because you're you're finally like putting pen to paper and saying, even if it's in like a fictional way about a fictional story, you get to say these are the things that, you know, made me, but also like make the region that that I'm from. And I think one thing I've learned talking to people is you are right. Like sometimes no matter where you're from, you might feel kind of like, I don't know if I want to be from there. But when you like write it down and talk about it, you take a lot more pride in like being from there. which I don't know if you experienced, but I think is a cool thing that you can kind of gather from like really talking about for us, the South, and for other people just where they're from, which I think is a cool thing.
Katie Ortiz: Yeah, absolutely. embracing where I came from I think was one of the best decisions I made as an author and as a person. I think there's some kind of you know, you even see it on movies and TV, like when you get a certain age, you're like, I wanna move away. I don't wanna be here anymore. And then
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: you get older and you start to see things differently and realize how much that really created you as a person and how much of a part of you that is and how I mean maybe there are some bad or good things, but how much it really means to you, like how awesome it is where you came from and the people you came from.
Charlie: Hey Southern Fried listeners. Just want to jump in real quick, like I do every episode, and thank you guys for listening. without y'all's support, we wouldn't have the show. You know, without people listening, we wouldn't keep doing it. And so thank you so much for clicking on this episode, listening to this interview with Katie. Hope you're enjoying it as much as I enjoyed getting to talk with her. having like I said, having authors on the show, it's just so fun. So I really enjoyed getting to sit down and talk with her. Thank you to you guys for listening. Thank you for Soul Grown. for continuing to partner with Southern Fridays as we put out these episodes. It means the world. So thank y'all so much. Now let's get back to the show. okay, so it's the southern sorority of superstitious witches. take us a little bit through the plot of of the book. Like what what is somebody who's picking up this this book gonna expect?
Katie Ortiz: So my like fast tagline just to to hook people in is that
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: it's about Southern women using witchcraft to fight the patriarchy.
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: but to really dig into it, I I'm a big podcast listener. I was listening to a history podcast. I'm also a history nerd. I think it was called Things That You Didn't Learn in History Class, possibly.
Charlie: Yeah, I've heard about that, yeah.
Katie Ortiz: Yeah. Fantastic podcast, 10 out of 10, recommend. but there was an episode titled Lucy Stone about Lucy Stone. She was one of only seven women invited to test out co-education for the first time at a university. And she
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: was faced with discrimination and sexism and all kinds of things. So I was listening to that. I knew I wanted to write a book in the South. I knew I wanted to write a book with some witchy elements. and like fantastical elements. And so I just kind of combined those things and thought, wouldn't it be cool if these women were invited to test out co-education in the South?
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: And when they're faced with this discrimination, they use Southern folklore and magic to fight against it.
Charlie: Yeah. that's so cool. and so then it it takes you on the journey of of them. what is the like how much they're witches. So I'm I'm interested when I when I'm trying to figure out how much like magic is there, how much like like is it scary or is it more like, you know what do they say in Harry Potter? Avada cadabra.
Katie Ortiz: So I my my mama just read my book for the first time and she was scared to read it. She was like, I
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: didn't know if I was gonna like it because she thought sh it was gonna be scary or too witchy or witchcrafty or whatever.
Charlie: Sir.
Katie Ortiz: And she loved it and she said, my gosh, it's not at all. Like it's not super dark or or you know, too much of the witchiness or anything. It's it's women coming together. It's about mostly the sisterhood and them fighting for their rights and the witchy magical parts are more of just done out of necessity and what they need to do in order to survive, really.
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: But as far as like on the spectrum of Harry Potter to like supernatural,
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: I would say it's like I don't know, somewhere in the middle. They're they're not shooting anything out of their hands or wands or anything.
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: but some some fantastical things happen. Yeah.
Charlie: Okay, good. h how did you find as you're as you were writing, not about just about the the women of your stories, but about the South, how did did you find it easy to kind of be authentic in that writing or did you kind of have to like dig deep and like remember things of your past, or was it kind of easy to to bring that up as you were writing?
Katie Ortiz: Little bit of both. I mean there were some things that obviously just came natural, but you know, like you said, you get so used to where you live, you almost forget the unique parts of it.
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: I really consulted my friend from New York a lot and was like, what is unique? What is different? What do we do down here that stands out to you, or what do we say that stands out to you? and that helped a lot. So I'd say a little bit of both. I mean there's some things that's always gonna come natural to me, like the grammar and the yawl and my characters drinking sweet tea, you know.
Charlie: Sure.
Katie Ortiz: but I I did have to dig a little deeper, for sure.
Charlie: Good, I like that. well I I hope people it's is it out yet or is it coming out?
Katie Ortiz: It's coming out. It's going to be out in almost a month. We we're close.
Charlie: Okay, it's about that. Early October, right?
Katie Ortiz: Yeah, early October, October sixth. Yeah. But it's available to pre-order now.
Charlie: very good. So very good way to kick off Halloween season, you get the Southern sorority of superstitious witches. but Katie, I also when I have my guests on on the podcast, you know, it is Southern Fried, and I think it's only fair to make sure that you're at least a little Southern. So if if you would indulge
Katie Ortiz: Mm-hmm.
Charlie: me, I'd love to dive into the Southern Fried Survey with you if that's okay. Okay,
Katie Ortiz: please do.
Charlie: all right. So first question Southern fried survey. Do you have a favorite Southern word or phrase?
Katie Ortiz: Gosh. Favor. I mean, you know, there's the bless your heart.
Charlie: Yeah. Yep.
Katie Ortiz: that's a a tried and true. Beyond that, I mean, all y'all is great. I don't know I don't know if this is just for the South, but there was a line that I used in my book that I I really loved. And it was I don't know if I would trust you if even if you or I don't know if I could trust you even if you poured piss out of a boot with the instructions written on the hill.
Charlie: Okay. I I don't know if I've ever heard that, but that's southern. That's definitely not from anywhere. Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: mean to me it sounds very southern, like very just someone's like fishing and spitting tobacco out and they're like I ain't trusting you to pour piss out of a boot with structures written on the heel, you know?
Charlie: That yeah, I you can imagine somebody's grandparents saying that to
Katie Ortiz: Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
Charlie: Okay. I love it. That might also be my new favorite southern word or phrase. all right,
Katie Ortiz: Thanks.
Charlie: you talked a little bit about sweet tea in the book, but I gotta know for Katie, how sweet is too sweet?
Katie Ortiz: Ooh, that's a fantastic question. I mean it's gotta be sweet for sure.
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: but I'll tell you sometimes when I go to McDonald's, I do have to get the half and half. Sometimes their
Charlie: Yeah man.
Katie Ortiz: sweet tea is just it's hitting a level that's almost syrup at that point. And listen, I'm Southern man. I love some sweet tea, but wow, I tell ya that
Charlie: Yeah, they do. I don't and you know, it's like you go to McDonald's, you go to a fast food place like that, and everything is like so they have systems for it all, right? It's so programmatic. And yeah, sometimes you'll go to McDonald's, you'll you'll get a large sweet tea and you're like, They they just dumped a whole vat of sugar in this and they're trying to kill me.
Katie Ortiz: Yeah, for sure. I mean they just took it and went for it. Yeah.
Charlie: okay, great answer. do you have as we continue the sur the survey, do you have a favorite fellow southerner?
Katie Ortiz: gosh, favorite fellow Southerner. Man, that's an interesting one. I have a lot of Southern author friends that
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: I very much love and adore. Elise Burke Brown, she's fantastic. She has a series out based in New Orleans, which is fantastic.
Charlie: All right.
Katie Ortiz: Chloe York, she's fantastic. And then, you know, I have to give a shout out to my nana and papa.
Charlie: There you go.
Katie Ortiz: And they do make the best cornbread in the South.
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: I might be biased. but also I think it's true. So
Charlie: I mean you never had my mom's cornbread, but but I
Katie Ortiz: Wow.
Charlie: I understand that y'all's is probably fine.
Katie Ortiz: Let's let's get together, we'll have a cornbread cook off. It'll be fine. And we'll see.
Charlie: And we'll see. I like this. In on New Year's when y'all would do beans and greens, would y'all also have cornbread? Yeah, you have to.
Katie Ortiz: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was it was beans and greens and then the cornbread it was like something about the gold of the cornbread was something too like there
Charlie: Yep, yep. Supposed to give you something.
Katie Ortiz: was yeah, each one had its own meaning something. honestly I still let my mama take care of that and I just go over to her house and I eat it. And I I
Charlie: Amen.
Katie Ortiz: just eat whatever she hands to me 'cause I assume that it's it's for good luck. I don't know.
Charlie: Yeah. Would okay, well I'm I was gonna save this one for a little later, but you've brought up cornbread. So I've gotta ask you if you go to a meet and three and you get your food and at the end they they ask you cornbread or roll, are you cornbread or you roll?
Katie Ortiz: definitely cornbread. I mean, if I'm at the cracker barrel and they're like cornbread or biscuit, I'm going cornbread. For sure. Yeah.
Charlie: Okay, good. G and can I say something to Cracker Barrel, which maybe they're listening, maybe they're not. I I had the head chef of Cracker Barrel on and I should have told him this. I think and this is blasphemy, but I think their biscuits are too buttery. I think it's a I think it's a little much.
Katie Ortiz: man. Wow. That's a hot take.
Charlie: I so I get the cornbread. I just feel I don't know. And I know that that's crazy and I'm probably my southern card might get revoked for it, but I think there's just too much
Katie Ortiz: Yeah.
Charlie: going on with the Cracker Barrel biscuit. All right, people?
Katie Ortiz: Wow, wow. I I have not heard that ever said before. That's that is interesting.
Charlie: It's a bad take. Sure. Okay, well I'm gra I'm glad you brought up Cracker Barrel. Southern institution, great place. Cracker Barrel or Waffle House?
Katie Ortiz: Cracker Barrel. Ten out of ten for sure.
Charlie: Okay. Didn't even hesitate.
Katie Ortiz: yeah. I mean that's I I don't even know if that's a serious question. I don't
Charlie: Well now it's debatable for sure.
Katie Ortiz: Well, yeah, okay. I just no, Cracker Barrel, I have never been to a Cracker Barrel and not liked what I ordered. I mean, just
Charlie: But have you ever been to a waffle house and been disappointed by the experience?
Katie Ortiz: There's a lot of experiences you could have at a Waffle House. I mean
Charlie: that's what I'm s that's what I'm saying.
Katie Ortiz: you're definitely in for an experience for sure.
Charlie: Sure. all right. What is do you have a favorite book? I I love getting authors on because I try and be a reader. Am I am I great at it? Maybe not, but I try to be a reader. Do you have a like a favorite book that is based in the South or by a southern person?
Katie Ortiz: goodness, I have so many favorite books. Are you kidding?
Charlie: Yeah, I know. And that's yeah, again, unfair, unfair.
Katie Ortiz: Yeah, unfair. I have to go back to The Help by Katherine Stockett.
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: 10 out of 10, fantastic Southern book. gosh. Let me think. I know I mentioned Elise Burke Brown. Her book Chase Harlem is very good. It's set in
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: New Orleans. Fantastic. the Indigo Girl. It's set in Charleston.
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: And it's very good. And it's about the beginning of indigo crops in Charleston and and fantastic. It's based on real people and real things, so also fantastic.
Charlie: Okay, very good. I'm gonna look all those up. this is a question I really like because I like to see how people answer it. Is there something about you that's least southern?
Katie Ortiz: I don't watch football and I don't like bacon.
Charlie: Bacon. Well, that's fine. I mean,
Katie Ortiz: Yeah, I know.
Charlie: we all have to have our where we miss you know, where we miss the mark.
Katie Ortiz: Ha
Charlie: so you're not at all excited about this upcoming Saturday, the start of college football?
Katie Ortiz: I'm excited because it's fantastic background noise when I'm reading and taking a nap.
Charlie: Okay. And I can understand that. I can understand that. There's something about getting getting some chores done while while football's on.
Katie Ortiz: Yeah, I mean it's just it's fantastic noise in the back. it's pretty consistent noise, so it really blends well with the environment. I do like the food though, like during football
Charlie: There you go.
Katie Ortiz: season. I'm already planning on making some Buffalo chicken dip and some sliders. So, you
Charlie: Of course, of course.
Katie Ortiz: know, it's it has its perks for sure.
Charlie: I think you know what, I think it's fair to say, you know, there's the phrase, what is it? it's like, this is maybe awful, but when people are like, My culture's not your costume, which I get. I understand where they're coming at from. Maybe I should say to people who don't like football, like you, Katie, you can't have tailgate food unless you watch football, right? But that's probably unfair. That's probably unfair.
Katie Ortiz: I mean, you know, I enjoy the noise of it while I'm reading a good book.
Charlie: Sure, sure. all right, and then my last question for you on the Southern Frida survey, I ask every guest this question because you know Southern Friday's all about exploring the south, talking to people who make it up. so if we switch places, if you became the host of Southern Fried, who is somebody that you would want to get on the show that you just would think is great for Southern Friday?
Katie Ortiz: Okay, I mean I have to throw it to the authors again, you know, my
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: local author, indie authors, Elise Burke Brown, Chloe York, they're both fantastic local indie authors. I'm doing some book signings on my book tour with Maggie Rapier and Julia Olivia, they're both fantastic Southern authors.
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: so yeah, any any of them, more authors.
Charlie: Love it. Love it. Yes. As many authors, I I I really do. I love how the South can be captured in writing. and like you've talked about, how it can be its own character. So it's just so interesting and
Katie Ortiz: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Charlie: love getting those authors on. Katie, plug the book. Where can people get it? Tell them about the book tours. take some time, plug it right now.
Katie Ortiz: yeah, so it's available for pre-order, and pre-orders do phenomenal things for authors. I know you're sitting there thinking, why would I pre-order it when I can't get it yet? But listen, it really, really helps us authors. It helps to tell the bookstores how much they should order and where they should put it in the bookstore. It helps to tell your publisher how well it's doing and how much of a print run they should do for it.
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: It really gives an author the best chance at making bestseller lists and all kinds of things like that. So pre-order it. You can get it anywhere, anywhere you get books. Amazon, Books A Million, Barnes and Noble. I personally would love if y'all could pre-order it from Thank You Books from Birmingham.
Charlie: There we go. Okay.
Katie Ortiz: I have a pre-order campaign going with them. So if you pre-order my hardcover through Thank You Books, You will get three free art prints, a signed copy, and wait for it, a cornbread recipe card from my nana and papa. Yes, best cornbread in the south, and you'll get it.
Charlie: that's the best giveaway. That's the best thing I've ever heard.
Katie Ortiz: Thank you. I was so happy. So happy. My nana and Papa were like, yes, go for it.
Charlie: that's genius.
Katie Ortiz: yes, so go pre-order it, get you some freebies, make you some cornbread. speaking of cornbread, I'm going on a book tour. I will be in all over Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia. I will be at Thank You Books in Birmingham, I'll be in Huntsville, I'll be in Auburn, Albertville, Gadston. a somewhere a city somewhere in Georgia and
Charlie: Ha ha ha.
Katie Ortiz: I'll be in Chattanooga, Tennessee as well. And during my book tour, I do plan on bringing some cornbread and sweet tea to all
Charlie: Okay.
Katie Ortiz: the places for people to have and to try and whatnot.
Charlie: That's good.
Katie Ortiz: You know, getting the vibes, getting the spirit.
Charlie: Yeah.
Katie Ortiz: So I would love to see some more readers and if you listen to this podcast And that's where you heard of me from. Please let me know when you meet me in person. I would love to know.
Charlie: Well, awesome. Y'all go support Katie, the Southern sorority of Superstitious Witches. Pre order it.
Katie Ortiz: Yeah.
Charlie: and Katie, thank you so much for joining me and getting a talk on Southern Friday.
Katie Ortiz: Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me.
Charlie: Well that concludes this episode of Southern Fride. Y'all go support Katie and the Southern sorority of superstitious witches. I tried again. Failed again. go pre-order the book. Be on the lookout. Maybe she's coming to a town near you. You can go meet her. tell her you heard about her on Southern Fride. That'd be really cool to make that connection. Thank you guys so much for listening. Like, subscribe, share, repost, tell somebody about it. Helps us grow. Please, it really does. It's a huge help when you can do that. Or even Even bigger help, download the episode. That's huge. Maybe download it. Maybe hit hit download. Help me out. Help Southern Frida out. Help the South out. You love the South? Help them out. Alright. Thank you guys. And as always, y'all come on back.
