Caitlin Walsh - Interview

Q: Please introduce yourself.
A: My name is Caitlin Walsh and I am from Rockford Illinois. I’m 25 years old and a graduate of Northern Illinois University. I have Bachelor’s degrees in psychology, sociology, and criminology. I’m legally blind, I am a musician, and an animal lover.

Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m working on my own blog currently, as well as a novel. I don’t have a working title for the novel but I’ve been working on it for three years on and off, in the last couple of months I’ve tackled it seriously and plan to publish. I’m editing it now, the story is finished. I had to flesh out a character that kind of got overlooked in the original draft. I’m also changing some locations around so things make more sense.

Q: Why did you decide to write your current work?
A: My current novel was inspired by a combination of V. C. Andrews works and Stephen king. I’ve always written for as long as I can remember, and it’s been my way of dealing with pain. My mother died in May 2016 just a couple of days after I graduated from undergrad. I threw myself into music after her death. I spent last year working on going back to grad school. I started grad school for rehabilitation counseling in August. Sadly the program failed me when it came to the accessibility quality. I couldn’t get my books in a format I could access in time, so I had to drop out. Then shortly after that my father had surgery, I’m living at home again because of financial reasons not to mention my dad needs me here right now. Writing is my escape. It’s what I have thrown myself head long into. I’m taking all opportunities to promote my work and I want to make this crazy author thing work for me.

Q: What genre do you usually write in? Do you typically write novels, short stories, poems, etc.?
A: I write all things. I have been working on the novel I’m currently wrapped up in for some time, but prior to that I’ve written short stories, poetry, songs, and other novels. I love writing psychological fiction, as well as horror. I feel I have a good understanding of the way the human mind works, I studied that very thing for six years in college. People have an infinite capacity for good and evil. I’m not one for the white or black idea, I like the gray, I like not knowing exactly how to feel about a character. I want to create characters who are so real that they jump off the page at you. My characters back stories bring them to life. Some of them may be bad people, people who do things that you wouldn’t, but once you read about their lives you may just find yourself understanding why they behave the way they behave. 

Q: What have you written in the past?
A: I have a trilogy of novels I have written that I don’t know if I will ever do anything with, or perhaps they will sit on a flash drive forever. I wrote them when I was a teen-ager so I feel they are so far behind my current writing abilities that I wouldn’t even know where to begin with them were I to dive into them again. I’ve written so much poetry I can’t keep track of it all. Poems come easy to me and I love writing them. I feel I push energy out of me when I write them, negative energy, energy that has no business living inside of me. 

Q: How long have you been an author?
A: I’ve been writing since I was fourteen. I started with a vampire novel, I know, so cliché, but everyone’s got to start somewhere. That book I wrote by hand when I could see better. Due to my writing method that novel is lost to me, I can no longer read it. Although I’m sure I would feel the same way about that book as I do about my trilogy.

Q: What made you want to become an author?
A: I’ve always loved creating a world I am in complete control over. Honestly over my life people have always told me what things look like, I have been forced to depend on other people’s perspectives. It’s nice to be in the driver’s seat, so to speak. It’s nice to be the one describing the world and having others be dependent on me.

Q: If you are currently supporting yourself from writing alone, how long did it take you to get to this point since you began seeking to make writing a full-time career?
A: I dream to support myself with writing someday.

Q: Have you self-published, traditionally published, or both? If both, do you prefer one over the other? Do you have any advice for authors seeking your chosen method of publication?
A: I have been published as a result of winning poetry contests. I have four or five poems that have been published. There are a few publishers I’m looking at for the publication of my current novel. I’m also looking at self-publishing. I plan to practice self-publishing with a couple of short stories before I even consider publishing a novel via that method. 

Q: Do you have any advice for beginning authors? (Please answer even if you are a beginning author yourself.) For example:  How do overcome writer’s block? What marketing tactics have you found to be the most effective? Any advice at all.
A: Advice for new writers, well, I would have to say when you have it go with it. Try not to force it, if you are inspired write, if you aren’t give yourself a few minutes to get it together. Read, read, and read!!! Always read. Learning from other authors will widen your horizons and make your craft better with exposure and time.  Don’t let convention bring you down. If other people tell you your writing is a pipe dream then you don’t need that person in your life. Live your life and be true to you.

Check out Caitlin's blog here: theatrical nature