Friday, September 17, 2010

Cathryn Louis Interview





1: What is the most productive time of the day for you to write?
  Evenings – after 6 pm. My daughter is doing her homework; dinner has been enjoyed; hubby is occupied; television is off. The atmosphere is quiet and calm.

2: Do you start your projects writing with paper and pen or is it all on the computer?
  Mostly computer now. I still carry a notebook and a pen – just in case I get in the mood to make words flow across the page. I haven't used them in a while though.

3: What do you draw inspiration from?
  It probably sounds cliché – but everywhere. My experiences, books I've read, movies I've seen, everyday occurrences. The inspiration for the scene in Second Best, believe it or not, was a cat stalking a bird in my back yard.

4: Do you set goals for yourself when you sit down to write such as word count?
  I set a goal for time. My goal is no less than 1 ½ hours every day. In that time, I may be writing on my new novel, a short story or even a blog post. I find if I try to constrain myself to writing a particular thing, I get blocked. If I try to constrain myself to word count, I get blocked. So I just let it flow and see what happens.

5: Are you a published or a self published author and how do you come up with your cover art?
  My first novel is self-published and the cover is very simple – a gift from my daughter. How does one refuse such a thing? I chose not to.

6: What drives you to choose the career of being a writer?
  I've been in technology all my career, but I've got reams of stuff that I've written over the years for my own amusement. So reading with my daughter inspired me to pull some of my writing together into a coherent story. The next thing I did was get a writing coach so that I could learn the craft of writing. The first result is Sunrise on the Pier. I loved writing the book. There's something about visualizing a story in my head and making it visible to readers through words that I simply love.

7: Do you own an ebook reading device?
  Certainly! A Kindle of course. :)

8: Who are some of your favorite authors and What are you reading now?
  There are many authors that I read and have read, but can't say that I have a favorite. Of course I'm a big fan of Mary Stewart, one of the grand dames of romantic suspense; and I also love espionage fiction. There are also many new (to me) authors that I'm reading, many of whom are indie. Great indie authors out there – it's hard to name just a few. Now I'm rereading Mary Stewart – as a student of the romantic suspense technique.

9: What do you think of book trailers and do you have any plans to have any?
  I think it's a wonderful idea. I may do some – when I can tear myself away from the page.

10: How did you come up with the title of your latest book? 
The title of the book is the name of the painting that Jarin paints. He is the hero in the story. So it could be anything – name the painting, name the book.

11: What are you working on now that you can talk about?
  I'm working on a new novel, also about people associated with Skye Pointe, the fictitious community I created in Sunrise on the Pier. It's a completely different story with completely different characters, so it isn't a sequel. I'm also finding my voice in short stories. I post them from time to time on my blog.


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