Judi Ketteler (’96) wants to be honest about something: She’s a liar. We all are.

That’s the central idea of her new book, “Would I Lie to You? The Amazing Power of Being Honest in a World That Lies,” out January 2020 on Kensington Books’ Citadel Press imprint. A culmination of years of self-examination, the work represents not just a person asking herself hard questions but also a career of finding the right words for myriad situations. 

But using words to publicly work out the tough stuff of modern living is old hat for Ketteler, who’s built a freelance career writing for clients such as the New York Times and Better Homes & Gardens. And though she wasn’t born knowing she’d one day turn phrases for a living, she can trace her love of writing back to an early age. 

“I have really distinct memories of laying on the living room floor with filler paper and Magic Markers, writing little books and telling stories,” she says. “But I’m not sure I knew [being a professional writer] was a thing until I was like, ‘Oh, this is actually a thing.’”

Her almost two-decade career is most certainly a thing now. Producing a wide variety of work ranging from content marketing material to video scripts to a regular column for Cincinnati Magazine (“Welcome to Middlehood”), the Northern Kentucky University English grad has become a go-to resource for clients in need of a good story. But the path that led her to the role was a bit … twisty.

Ketteler, a native of northern Kentucky’s Ft. Wright suburb, was the youngest of seven children raised in a home where college, though encouraged, wasn’t her parents’ first priority. So when the time came to decide on higher education, NKU’s clear advantages—she could live at home and get a quality education at an affordable price—made the school an easy choice. She enrolled at NKU as an elementary education major, but after taking a few engaging English classes, Ketteler realized she couldn’t see herself as a teacher.

“I suddenly thought, ‘I have to be an English major,’” she says. “‘I don’t want to take elementary education classes. I want to read books and write papers!’” She remembers the joy of walking across campus, from Landrum to the administrative building, dead set on changing her major. “It just felt right, and every single class I took I enjoyed. The professors were so accessible and gave great feedback. I can’t say enough about that.”

Ketteler immediately settled into the English program, then set her sights on graduate school to continue the educational experience. She was accepted to Miami University’s English MA program (this was prior to NKU launching its own), where she prepared for a life as a professor. But, with an academic career within reach, she discovered she didn’t actually want that for herself. “I just kind of dreaded teaching,” she says. “All I wanted was to be in my seminar classes.” 

After graduation, she found work as a proofreader at a package design agency, a job in which she picked up copywriting skills to meet company needs. Then came the recession. The agency let her go; she found another job quickly, but that one ended in a layoff, too. That’s when Ketteler decided to forge her own path. 

“I’d been laid off twice, and I thought, ‘Well, I’m not going to get laid off again. I’m just going to be a freelance writer.’” Ketteler attended networking events and took jobs she knew would grow her skill set. “I managed to get this freelance editing gig with Design Magazine,” she says. “I literally didn’t know anything about writing for a magazine, but I learned on the job. That’s really what showed me the ropes of how you go about working with an editorial staff. Once I understood that, I thought, well, I can just pitch these articles to nationals. I started local and, pretty quickly, started pitching national magazines.”

Seventeen years in, it’s obvious her career path led to a good place. Ketteler is in demand for her copywriting skills, and she remains a common name in newspaper and magazine pages, where, usually in essay format, she explores ideas from a first-person vantage point. Which is how she arrived at the honesty book.

“I want to be an honest person,” she says. “It’s a really important value, and I hate when I think that people are lying to me. But yet I struggle with it, because it’s really hard to be honest all the time. So I feel like my whole life I’ve had this push and pull with it—wanting to be honest, ashamed when I’m not honest, frustrated with others’ dishonesty. All these competing forces.” 

She watched in outrage as political figures (one in particular) overtly abandoned truth, then turned her attention to those within her bubble and, ultimately, herself. “I decided to pay attention every day for one month, to notice every decision I was making,” she says. “I decided to keep this honesty journal, and I wound up pitching a story to the New York Times. As I was writing it, I was like, yeah, I want to write a book about this.”

The resulting narrative starts with the author’s first-remembered lie (in second grade, during confession) and winds its way to the present, where family, friendships, work situations and social media test even the most valiant truthteller’s struggle to keep it real. Along the way, Ketteler pulls in experts from a variety of fields to weigh in on the importance of honesty, finally finding her way to a deeply personal look at self-honesty—how we lie to ourselves and the impact it has on our happiness.

“When you take your life and decide to just be completely honest, it’s liberating but it’s also really scary,” she says. “But if you decide, ok, I’m going to reflect on it, you really have to commit to doing it.”

So what’s next for Ketteler? The book release and promotion are obviously front and center, and her career as a freelancer keeps her busy—sometimes, with two young children in the mix, a little too busy. And, though she hasn’t started it yet, she already has an idea for a follow-up to the honesty book. Which is all part of what she wants aspiring writers sitting in Landrum today to know: Never mind the naysayers—there’s plenty of work out there for English majors.

“Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t make money writing,” she says. “You can make money as an English major. It’s not some pathetic decision that means you’re relegating yourself to a life of poverty.

“Know your worth. Know the market value of things. Work with good clients. That’s how you do it.”