Krissy Rasmussen is a freshman English, sophomore honors English and creative writing teacher. For the last decade, Rasmussen has been writing her own books. To the literary world, she is known as Kristen Kehoe.

Why did you decide to become an author, and how long have you been doing it?

     I don’t know if it was a conscious decision… yes, I decided to go publishing, but for as long as I can remember, I have been writing stories. It’s one of those things that I did as a kid … Some people sketch and some people run around and for me it was just always little stories, and so I have actually been publishing since 2010.

What’s your inspiration for being an author?

      I remember just loving books. The first time I read a book that I loved, “Black Beauty”, I remember liking it, but I couldn’t tell you much about the story. I remember sitting down and reading, “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” in the Kennedy Middle School library. We got a day to find a book to read … I remember thinking how amazing it was that I could relate to the main character.  I remember reading Sandra Cisneros, “The House on Mango Street”  [and] having the simplicity of the language change my life, and then from there, it sparked.

What is your favorite book you’ve written and why?

     At the time, they all felt like they were going to be my favorite but if I had to go back, [it would be]“Tell Me Something Real.” It took place in Albany … It’s very obvious that the setting is West Albany High School, although I don’t say that.  It meant a lot to me, [and] I think that it might be one of the truer novels that I’ve ever written.

What is your most popular book that you’ve written, and why do you think it was most popular?

     “Tell Me Something Real” hit number 24 on the Amazon charts. I think mental health is so taboo to talk about in some places that when an author addresses it, it can be really freeing for people…they feel connected in a way. I think that it’s also the scariest [piece] that I’ve written because I don’t ever want to take something like mental health or poverty  struggle and make it a trope.. Clearly, that’s not what happened, [it] was very successful. I had one [book], it’s more adult, [called]“Vertical Lines” and it was selling half a million pages a month on Amazon through their Kindle Unlimited for a while so that was pretty popular for a little bit.

Where can people find your books?

    I didn’t know there was one in the West Albany library, so I guess there, and they’re for sale on Amazon either through the Kindle or physically. I think you can buy them at Smashwords too.

Are you writing / brainstorming a new book?

     I am, I have like six [books] in the works right now. One of them is set in [Lake] Tahoe, one of my favorite places…it’s where I met my husband. I’m actually trying a nonfiction based on the six word memoir on teaching, [too].

How has being an author helped you as an English teacher?

     I really want kids to like writing, so I struggle when they just don’t want to try. I try to always make something a little bit fun and I try to remind myself that writing is an exercise that does nothing but help people if they can do it. It’s demanded in schools, it’s a very arduous task that some people hate, I would just really love for them to see the joy in writing, which is why we spend a lot of time reading in my class too, if one person sees themselves in a book, and it sparks just a little bit of joy, and like, “Oh, maybe I’ll read a second book” that would make me very happy.

Why is it important to you that you write books?

It is a compulsion in the best way. That even when I feel down and even when I feel unsuccessful or like a failure. The very last book I released didn’t do well, people were really critical, it just kind of fell to the wayside. But even with that negativity, the physical act of writing and creating characters on paper, it feels like something that I have to do no matter what, even when they’re not successful.