We’re looking forward to introducing you to Katlin Pacheco. Check out our conversation below.
Katlin, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. Have any recent moments made you laugh or feel proud?
I am really proud to say that I have published a book at 26 years old.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Katlin Pacheco and I am a proud Air Force wife, and I currently work as a communications specialist for a marketing company in Kansas City. As of October 2025, I became an author.
To be honest, I’m not even sure when or why it all started. I would read a lot as a kid. My reading level was always well above what the average reading level was in school. I loved stories. I didn’t even know it, but I was a writer too. My mother loves to tell this story about how I was given a writing assignment about Johnny Appleseed in school. It was only supposed to be maybe a paragraph or two, and she laughed and told me how I just kept going and turned it into pages.
I think that was the first sign that one of these days I would take up writing as a hobby. By the time I was almost in high school, I had written at least 2 or 3 manuscripts that were pushing 200-300 words. They were “beginner writer” quality I would say, as you would expect from someone who is still learning to write.
It was very common knowledge that I excelled in English. Everyone knew I loved to write. Even during English classes, people would pass their papers to me when they needed their assignment reviewed by a peer. It made me feel good honestly. I think this was just another sign that writing was, in fact, what I was meant to do.
So at the age of 26, an author was born.
I wrote and published my debut book, Outside the County Line. This book is a a story on love and loss, and a story on breaking free from expectations and writing your own narrative. My debut memoir is a heartfelt journey of breaking free from small-town expectations to create a life of purpose and adventure. From growing up on a farm to navigating love, loss, and self-discovery, I share stories of resilience, adventure and personal growth in my book.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
My book, Outside the County, is all about figuring out who you are and taking a stand and writing the narrative of your own life, regardless of where you grew up or what society should tell you to be.
I would say I was very obedient growing up: I did as I was told, I made sure I got good grades, I worked religiously around our farm. I was such a people pleaser it hurt.
So as I got older, I thought that’s what people wanted from me. I thought the world just wanted me to shut up and be quiet.
I can promise you now that I surely don’t give a damn. That is how Outside the County Line was born. I faced a lot of trial and tribulations: heartbreak, loss, abuse…the whole nine yards, and instead of the world telling me what I should or shouldn’t be, I wrote a story on how I was going to live my life, in hopes that other people would read my story and feel inspired to take control of their own narrative.
What fear has held you back the most in your life?
As much as I liked to write, I was scared of becoming an author. I told myself I wanted to be one, but I actually gave that idea up after high school. I went on to college to be a journalist, but found I didn’t really want to do that either. So I just thought I wasn’t meant to be an author. I’m pretty good at taking constructive criticism, but I found one thing I hated about writing was the editing process. I was scared of getting feedback on my writing because that perfectionist side of me wanted it to be perfect. That was another reason I gave up on the idea for awhile. I mean, what’s more daunting than putting your piece of work out there for everyone to see it. Now EVERYONE will give you their opinion, and there are definitely going to be people who won’t like it.
After I finally pushed that fear aside and wrote the book, I learned I was going to be okay with whatever people would say. I wrote and published a book. Only a very small percentage of people can say that. I’m open for feedback because all it is is a learning experience for me.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
There’s a lot actually.
“A really good book doesn’t need editing” or “You can make a lot of money”, but I think the biggest lie is “Self-publishing is easy.”
Self-publishing is, in fact, not easy at all. The time and commitment this journey takes is insane I’ve come to learn. I spent an entire year writing the book, then spent even more time editing and even rewriting chapters. That is just the writing portion…now you need to put it all together. I even put a huge financial investment in to this because I wanted it to be done right. I could’ve probably done the cover art myself, but I knew a professional would make it look so much better. Then you have to get the book formatted (which I also paid for because I wanted that to be done properly too). Once all of that is done and your book is finally published..now you have to market it, and that is your job for the rest of your days, besides sitting down to write your next project.
This whole journey was a huge learning process for me. I spent hours researching what I should do, what my best options were, and then planning it all out was another big part of this.
If you’re new to all of this, please don’t let it scare you. At the end of the day, when you hold your own hard copy of your book in your hands, it will all become worth it. Because you did the thing that most people are scared to do.
Self publishing is not easy, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll know what to expect for all your other wonderful projects you have up ahead!
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
Like I previously mentioned, I think there has been a lot of signs that I was born to do this. Coming up with words and stories people actually like is such a hard thing to do, but I find such joy and fulfillment out of it. I’m so happy to have found myself again and I’m doing what I literally used to spend all my free time doing when I was young.
I think what really shocked me during this whole journey was the amount of support and excitement I got from everyone…even before the book was even published. This really motivated me, and even created a bigger sense that this was what I was meant to do. I sold well over 30 copies of my debut book the first week after it was published. I know that may not be a lot to some people, but for someone who is just starting out…I’ll take that as a win.
I’m currently working on another project, and when I’m not writing, I get this pulling sensation. It’s like my laptop is calling me from the other room, “hey there’s a story in here!”. For awhile, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, but now that I’m writing again, feeling that odd pulling sensation just makes me feel like whatever I’m doing is the right path I’m supposed to be taking.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ktpacheco.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ktpacheco23
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katlin.pacheco.2025/
