One of the things I love about being in anthologies is that I get to meet authors, who I may have never met otherwise. With the current anthology that I am co-coordinating and an author in A Guide to Claiming a Scaredy Cat, has introduced me to some amazing authors! Such a great group of authors! ❤
I was able to chat it up with all of them. Learned lots about them. Learned the similarities and differences we had. Learned their likes and dislikes. Yet, another fun experience. So, without further ado, let’s meet an author of A Guide to Claiming a Scaredy Cat anthology.
Where are you from? Do you have children? Pet? Married?
I am from London, Ontario by way of the Toronto area, where I was born and raised. I like London much better. I have 6 pets – a beta named Arthur Curry (Aquaman’s human name); an unnamed pleco; a very large half-Manx named Terror; a domestic long-haired cat named Luna (who is as crazy as her name suggests); a pouty, cranky, 6 year old Corgi-Finnish Spitz named Toffee, who looks like a small corn dog; and, finally, my 4 month old Corso-St Bernard-Rottie mix, Micky. I’m training Micky to be a support dog for me; she’ll be a PTSD dog and physical support.
I am not married anymore. I walked out of an abusive marriage in 2005. It was mutually abusive and I refused to allow my children to grow up thinking that it was okay for Mummy and Daddy to yell, scream, call each other names and beat on each other. So I left and everyone has been much happier since. My kids are now 22 and 18, both are well-adjusted, brilliant and driven. I am, however, in the kind of relationship you find in a really good romance novel – the love is intense, overwhelming and deep; the sex makes me see stars ; he’s sweet, sexy, slightly geeky (and everyone will get to meet him at IYSAE); and, of course, there’s a complication.
Have you ever visited or lived abroad (overseas)? If so, where? Did you like it?
I got to go to Scotland in 2014! It was a 40th birthday gift (which was in 2013) and I didn’t have to pay a single cent, except for the tattoo I got done in Glasgow, which was my gift to myself.
Scotland is a major part of my heritage and it was a lifelong dream to go. I got to spend two whole weeks there (my friends really, really love me). It was amazing! I work with energy and so I not only got to see the history I got to feel it. I would absolutely live there. I hope to, some day.
Besides writing, what is your passion?
I have a couple:
- The people I love. I am driven to look after them as much as they look after me.
- Photography. M just bought me an almost-DSLR! It’s a Kodak Easy Share Z981, a real softball in the world of digital cameras but still a huge step up from the Olympus D-700. It’s a great camera to start learning how to use a DSLR on. I’m stoked.
- And last, but not least, is the dream my daughter and I share, the reason I went back to school and she is attending the University of Guelph’s Bachelor’s of Bio-Resource Management Program: our ranch. One part of the ranch will be about rehabilitating injured and abused horses and the other part will a live-in camp (we’re hoping a month at a time, maybe the summer for those who need it) for children who have been abused and are not being helped by the support the system offers. Those children who cannot be reached. I was one of those children. Having some place where I could work with animals, make connections with other living creatures and learn that I could be loved and love in return… That’s what I’d like to offer other children.
Biggest pet peeve?
My ex-husband. *laughs* We actually get along fairly well, now.
My biggest pet peeve is people with brains who don’t use them. Those who are intelligent but act and speak with ignorance.
What genre do you write in? Do you read mostly in this genre too?
I write paranormal thrillers with a lot of romance and sex thrown in. I also write erotica, just for fun. I tend to read a lot of paranormal – LKH, Kelley Armstrong, JR Ward and Kim Harrison are my favourites.
What inspired you to write books?
When I was in grade four, my class was challenged to write a short story without using the word “and”. My teacher loved my story and I realized that I could affect people with my words. I wrote off and on a little through my teens until my boyfriend (and first lover) insisted that I write out my fantasies for him. They were the most trite pieces of drivel you have ever seen full of fireplaces, bear skin rugs and cabins in the woods but I continued to write and improve upon that embarrassment. Then my stories started actually having character development and depth and I steered away from so much sex. A book was a challenge I set for myself.
If you could only have one book in your personal library, what would that book be? And why?
*gasp* One book?!? Can it be an anthology? Actually, it is an anthology: An Oxford Anthology of Shakespeare. I absolutely love Shakespeare. If you talk to me often enough you will get peppered with Shakespearean references from direct quotes to oblique ones. I’m on a (pretty much continuous) Messenger call with M right now and he said, “You want Shakespeare, don’t you?” *chuckles*
With the paranormal romance anthology, A Guide to Claiming a Scaredy Cat, will your readers see a different writing style or do you always stick to the same writing style?
I tend to write in an open omnipresent third person – that means that you are getting the inner thoughts and seeing the lives of more than just the MC, so, for instance, you’ll be seeing the thoughts and lives of both Sarah and Mike, not just Sarah in my story. I was going to try to write in closed third person but I don’t like it as much. (To be honest, I had one publisher say they’d be thrilled to publish Witch Hitlist I rewrote it in closed third person, only from Anna’s POV. Pfft) This story is going to be in my normal style, for sure.
And that was a roundabout way of getting to that answer. Sorry, people!
Now for the fun stuff:
Are you a coffee or tea drinker (Which do you prefer)?
Tea. If I do drink coffee, it’s gotta be light and sweet and preferably made light with hazelnut creamer. By then, I don’t think it’s really coffee anymore eh? Tea it is! I own a dozen or so different ones.
What is one food/beverage that you could never give up?
Cheese. I bet you expected that Ch sound to be the beginning of chocolate, didn’t ya?
Unicorn or Dragons- Which team would you be on?
Dragons. All the way.
If a zombie apocalypse happened and you had to choose two items from the following list of items, which two would you choose and why? Titanium baseball bat, running shoes, shotgun with two cases of shells, a novel by your favorite author, Samurai sword, a Knight’s armor suits, semi-truck filled with chocolate, or a puppy/kitten?
M says the bat and the puppy – the bat would last the longest without being loud or getting dull and the puppy would grow into a dog that would scent the zombies long before you. And I have to agree, so yup, what he said.
Nice chatting with you, S.E.Isaac!
Isn’t she awesome? I love her spunk & her honesty! Definitely, two things we have in common! ❤
To find out more about Catherine, her writing, her photos, and the work she’s doing with Micky check out her blogs:
<Whispers> She is on social media too!
After following Catherine and all of her great pages, be sure to find her and the other authors on the anthology’s Facebook Fan Page. ❤
One more thing, before I go, do you like winning things for free? (Yes, I said, ‘Free’.) If so, be sure to enter the anthology’s Cover Reveal Event giveaway. There are three amazing prizes up for grabs!!!
CLICK HERE TO ENTER ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Happy Monday, Happy Reading & XoXo,
S.E.Isaac
❤ ❤ ❤
Monster in the Cookie Jar 