Cathy Cowin interview

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

A little introduction:

I’m a multi-faceted “creative” with a love of research and writing. I’m an attorney and musician. B.S. (Business – Computer Applications & Systems), M.B.A. (emphasis in Organizational Psychology), J.D. (emphasis in intellectual property and business law). I create computer-generated soundscapes on my synthesizer, and I’m a classically-trained pianist. I love playing with a band because of the ability to create something you can’t do without your friends. While I love to paint, I seldom have time. I have three “doglets” (they’re too tiny to be called dogs). Owning more than 400 types of tea might make me a tea snob, but I drink coffee too. I’ve been very happily married for long enough that I can’t recall what my life was like before him. 

When did your love of books begin?

That’s a hard question to answer because I don’t recall a time when I didn’t love reading. I fondly recall winter evenings, wrapped in what my family called a “cuddly” blanket, reading Laura Ingalls Wilder or Louisa Mae Alcott. The elementary school librarian got very upset when I wanted to check out the original of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” in fourth grade. 

When did you start to have the wish to become an author?

Wow, that question made something from long ago that I hadn’t thought about for a long time pop into my brain. I won a writing contest in fifth grade. I wrote a little story about a snail, and they had it bound and put in the school library. But really, it started with wanting to make the Bible more accessible to unchurched women. I wrote a modernization of Esther. I think it made me feel safe to have a guideline for the novel. More recently, I’ve created fiction based on some memory or experience that has been a muse for something that took on its own life. My husband likes to watch movies (i.e. stories other people wrote), and I keep him company while writing my own stories.

How have you found the process for becoming an author?

I like the phrasing of this question because I’m still “becoming” an author. The process is arduous. I’m always learning. There are droves of people that think they have a book in them, but becoming a published author in a traditional sense is like winning an NFL draft. There is a lot of work and patience involved. You give birth to this novel that’s your baby, and it’s a little ugly when it first emerges. You have to love on it and nurture it and let it grow. It takes commitment.

What would you say to those wanting to become an author?

Run! No, seriously, I would advise them not to buy into their self-perceptions of their writing ability. Do it for the fun. If you want to be published, be prepared to do hard things and hear hard things. Get beta readers and an editor willing to hurt your feelings. Then you’ve taken the first step on a long journey.

Tell us about your book/books:

I’m all over the place concerning genre and concepts. (Ooo, and I loathe writing blurbs, but here goes.)

·       I have a historical fiction out on Kindle Vella called “Captain Joseph: Slave to Sin”. It’s epic and based on an actual person who started out in a titled family and ended up being driven to sail a slaving ship. The beginning is Downton Abbey in reverse as a result of primogeniture. It’s a bit of a fish out of water on Vella where there are more vampire and paranormal novels than historical fiction. It’s got more “tell” than “show” for good writing (being honest there), but it’s a worthy conversation. How could “good Christian men”? Will Captain Joseph find redemption? Shameless pitch: first three chapters are free.

·       My book tentatively entitled “Espionage Skin Deep” is about a young, female executive that ends up on a slippery slope into corporate espionage. It’s with my editor right now. Two editors have loved the plot and pace, but it’s short on word count. When we’ve cleaned up what’s ready now, I’m going back to do deep character development.

·       While I’m waiting for the editor, I’m rewriting the novel based on a modernization of the Book of Esther tentatively entitled “This Changes Everything”. A young executive takes over his father’s pharmaceuticals empire, and his wife betrays him. In a depression after the divorce, he’s got to supervise interviews for the “face” of the advertising campaign for the company’s new wonder drug. He meets a unique young woman. When the company gets in deep trouble, will she help save him? Save the company?

·       I finished a novel I’m calling “Tea With Great-Great Granny’s Ghost”. It desperately needs a better title. (Please help!) It was inspired by a family rumor that my great-grandmother was a mortician for a time before she married. That, and my crazy love of all kinds of tea. This is a tea cozy mystery book with a ghost story twist. After Emma inherits the funeral parlor, she discovers Granny is still there in spirit. And there are more ghosts, each with one last story to tell. I consider it a success that I made several friends cry over a chapter.

·       I’m currently writing a book I can’t tell you about. All my beta reader friends have concurred it would need to be published under a pseudonym. I’m about 50,000 words into it and ready to bring the plot resolution together and I’m mad at it. Not in the right frame of mind to finish it. So, I’m waiting for inspiration rather than just making myself write every day. It has a story to tell me, and it’s just not ready to finish the chat…yet.

What do you love about the writing/reading community?

Bad timing to ask. (I’ve just gotten burned on Twitter with the flirts, the “You’ve just won a BMW” phishers, and the other people who ignore my request for no DMs with inappropriate communications that are not about my writing.) But you asked what I liked. The genuineness of writers supporting writers. I have a dear friend who is a published author and we beta-read and first-draft edit for one another. We call each other when we need to brainstorm about a plot dilemma. Those kinds of folks are a pure delight.

If you could say anything to your readers what would it be?

I’m hoping to get something queried and traditionally published that will be worthy of your time. In the meantime, I love comments, questions, and responses relating to my writing process. That next question is where you can do that if you so choose. Twitter is a bit more about marketing/followers. (Please follow me!) The blog is where I have more freedom and room for excerpts, updates, and crazy questions that come up when I’m researching.

Where can people connect with you?

·       cathycowin.blogspot.com

·       @cathy_cowin on Twitter (No weird DMs! Remember, very happily married!)