Fresh Voices: Interview with Caitlin Whitaker

"we do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit." - E.E. Cummings

Welcome to the sixth edition of Fresh Voices. We are delighted to share with you the engaging voice of Caitlin Whitaker.

1. What is your ultimate writing goal?

My ultimate goal is to get published, make billions, and have all my movies made into blockbuster movies with Colin Farrell as the romantic lead. I'd also like to buy an island in the South Pacific and hire a team of nannies and maids to do everything for me so I can take really long naps on 500,000 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets.

You know something funny? I've never really thought about an ultimate goal; it's always just been one step at a time. The first step was to write a chapter. And another. I finished a book, finished it again (and again), and then started another one. My goal right now is to find representation with a good agent and then go from there.

2. Why do you write?

I write because I love to. It's the most obvious answer but it's the purest, simplest way to say it. I was this wildly imaginative kid who made everything into an adventure, which probably drove my parents up the wall. My little brother and I used to lay in the back of the family's rusty Ford Pinto (sad but true) and pretend we were in a submarine studying deep sea creatures (other cars). Honestly, we're lucky to be alive. Big old 18-wheelers were sharks and we'd pretend to shoot at them with harpoon guns. Amazingly, we were never run off the road by disgruntled truckers.

Putting all my crazy ideas on paper not only keeps me sane but feeds my soul. I love the sound of typing and the way the screen looks when it's filled with words. It's all very OCD, really. As cool as it would be to sell a million copies of each book and end up on the NYT Bestseller List, those things aren't motivating factors for me. My life is spectacular and writing is something I'll do forever, even if it never amounts to anything but a bunch of used up memory on my hard drive.

3. Your writing reminds me of a happy cowgirl - enough sass to be fun but she still has her boots on in case someone needs a whuppin'. Have you worked to achieve that voice or is it just a natural style for you?

I have no idea what that means. Honestly. In fact, I'm kind of freaked out by the whole whuppin' idea. As far as my voice goes, it's pretty darn natural for me. In WILL & MAGGIE, a love story about a 17 year old girl, I let myself be a little more descriptive and dreamy. I wanted the book to have an easy, hypnotic feel to really bring the reader into her first love experience. Justin, the teenage guy on the run in REM, is faster and edgier. As much as I love rhapsodizing about stupid things (purple prose is a weakness of mine), Justin wouldn't notice half the crap Maggie would in the same situation.

What you read on my blog is a lot like having a conversation with me. I talk too much, ramble, and love to laugh at myself. Whatever I'm writing at the time will have a small influence on my blog posts, of course. It's kind of like being an actor; I tend to hang onto some of my protagonsists characteristics even when I'm writing something other than the actual manuscript.

4. Who are your favorite authors and why do you like them?

I grew up on Stephen King. In junior high, I devoured the uncut version of THE STAND and was morbidly obsessed with planning my strategy to survive the end of the world. I read THE SHINING and PET SEMETARY and was utterly disgusted by the film versions (where the heck was the exploding boiler? Huh? HUH?). His characters are unbelievably real-- like you might actually bump into them on the street someday. I totally relate to characters with psychiatric issues. I finally sold my bookcase-filling hardcover collection on ebay when I got married and space was limited. I'm still kicking myself over that.

Other favorites of mine are Anne Rice, Wilson Rawls, Scott O'Dell, Laura Ingalls Wilder, J.K. Rowling, Shannon Hale, J.R.R. Tolkien, Suzanne Collins, Stephenie Meyer, Margaret Stohl, and Kami Garcia. Even authors who will probably never be nominated for a Newberry Award can be amazing story tellers, and that's what it's really all about for me.

5. What most attracts you to the life of a writer?

This has to be a trick question. I've always imagined the life of a writer to be a quiet one; sipping tea by a window and tapping away at a keyboard for hours on end. For me, I grab moments during the day when I can; perched at my breakfast bar on the laptop with kids hanging on my pants with complaints, snack requests, and dirty diapers. I've actually had love scenes interrupted by puking children and fights over video games. Some of my best writing happens late at night when I get the kids in bed and my fifteenth latte of the day finally kicks in. I have to peel myself away from the computer and force myself to go to bed sometimes. If this is the life of a writer, I am not attracted to it at all. I'd much rather have the life of a twenty-something hotel heiress, thank you.

I am excited about the concept of book tours, however. I love to travel and wouldn't mind taking a break from the kids once in a while.


6. If you couldn't be a writer but knew you were guaranteed success at a different career, what would you choose?

There were two other things I wanted to be when I was growing up (author has always been number one): forensic detective and pastry chef. Decay and maggots make me throw up and zombies are my single biggest fear (seriously), so I leaned more toward pastry chef. I was all set to go to culinary school when I met my husband at eighteen and everything went awry. Writing involves far fewer calories, however, so it's all good.

7. If you had to describe your writing in one word, what would that word be?

Pink. Next question please.

8. What's the best writing advice you've ever gotten?

Write for yourself. It may sound terribly selfish, but it's what works for me. I never intended to be a YA author, but my characters all seem to be around eighteen years old and I like sexual tension better than graphic encounters. I do drop the F-bomb in my first novel, but it would totally compromise the integrity of the scene to leave it out (you'll see when it's published). Anyway, I write what I want to read and it keeps it natural. Forcing my work to conform to a genre or a target audience would tick off the rebel in me and then things would get really nasty. Mama no likey.

Oh yeah, and Stephen King's ON WRITING. All of it. Seriously.

Caitlin Whitaker is an escapist mom raising five hooligans in rural Tennessee. She is married to a hot Marine, has a mad crush on Adam Lambert, drinks too much Diet Coke, and is allergic to house cleaning. Her first book, WILL & MAGGIE, is currently being considered by several literary agents while she plugs away at her second and writes mad notes on several others. You can follow her on Twitter; http://twitter.com/Saycaity (warning; she's a rapid tweeter) and keep tabs on her progress by reading her blog; www.saycaity.blogspot.com.

Thank you for reading this edition of Fresh Voices. Feel free to follow the Fresh Voices list on Twitter or nominate yourself or another author as a Fresh Voice. 

TJ on Twitter

Thos_Jefferson: No, I dare say he's not. RT @TylerFlorence Sure its great to have the government so involved in my life . Thomas Jefferson is weeping today.
Thos_Jefferson: Fake Thomas Jefferson quotes are filling up the Twitterverse today. Check those about which you're unsure at http://wiki.monticello.org/
CmdrSue: @Thos_Jefferson you tell him, TJ! Need me to bite any of them? (Yes, I am your lapdog.)
Thos_Jefferson: @cmdrsue I prefer to consider you, my friend, not as a lapdog but a fellow warrior in the twilight struggle to defend the spirit of '76.
Thos_Jefferson: @cmdrsue That being said, the answer is yes. And you can start by taking a snap @glennbeck. 

Fresh Voices: Interview with Quinn Katherman

"we do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit." - E.E. Cummings

Welcome to the fifth edition of Fresh Voices. We are delighted to share with you the spunky voice of Quinn Katherman.

1. What is your ultimate writing goal?

Whenever I hear the word “goal” I think of soccer. I hate soccer, all that running up and down the field while kicking a ball—what’s the point? To get the ball past the goalie and score? Stupid.

I don’t like keeping score when it comes to my writing.

My only goal is to write. Write and write and write some more. Every day.


2. Why do you write?

Well since my modeling career never took off, American Idol rejected me, and then Steve Jobs beat me to the punch on the innovative technology front, I just decided it was time to settle for something that would put food on the table. Let’s just say if wealth were measured in Ramen Noodles, I’d be rich.

Writing is an escape for me, I write to be free from the claustrophobia of daily routines. My passion for writing comes from knowing what it feels like to read a book or story and find bits of yourself on every page, as if the author wrote the book for you. I like making people laugh and that’s what I try to focus on in my writing because I want to break the perception that female writers aren’t funny by encouraging other women to exercise their funny bones.

3. Your writing is quirky and fun. Have you worked to achieve that voice or is it just a natural style for you?

Oh, stop! I’m blushing! But yes, it’s true, I am naturally this hilarious and amazing, or “quirky and fun”—whatever you want to call it. (Good thing I’m also humble.)

As a greeting card writer, I spend most of my days writing fart jokes and birthday puns, which inevitably contribute to my voice. I also come from a crazy family that I love, but things haven’t always been easy. I have found that humor fills emotional voids like concrete, whereas ice cream tends to melt (of course, ice cream is still my food of choice whenever I decide to eat my feelings rather than write them).

I’m still developing my voice; I like to think of it as being in the training bra phase. Good writing requires a debilitating amount of honesty and a level of self-awareness you can’t escape. These things take a lifetime to develop and I think the most powerful voices out there are the ones that never stop evolving.

4. Who are your favorite authors and why do you like them?

I like sentence writers. As you read their work each sentence makes you pause and marvel at the sheer genius of the composition, the artistic combination of words that couldn’t be placed in any other order and retain the same meaning. I had a teacher who called it “pondering the physicality of words,” which makes it sound like word porn and I’m totally into that.

Listing all of my favorite authors is nearly impossible, so I will narrow it down for the sake of my attention span, or lack thereof: Sam Lipsyte, Gary Lutz, Virginia Woolf, George Saunders, Sylvia Plath, Amy Hempel, Deb Olin Unferth.

5. What most attracts you to the life of a writer?

Absolutely nothing. Do you think I’m a sadist? There’s nothing attractive about the life of a writer, unless you excel at self-loathing, lying and already hate almost everything, which I do. I think the best part about being a writer is knowing that as long as you have a pen and paper, you can survive. It’s tangible, portable, physical and emotional.

6. If you couldn't be a writer but knew you were guaranteed success at a different career, what would you choose?

A ninja.

No, wait—a unicorn!

NO! A gourmet chef…

Ugh, never mind. Do you have one of those career aptitude tests I can take?


7. If you had to describe your writing in one word, what would that word be?

I’m going to oversell myself here and call it “trenchant.”


8. What's the best writing advice you've ever gotten?

The one phrase that always comes to mind first is, “writers write.” It seems obvious, until you’re a writer that’s not writing.

I had another professor who was also an accomplished writer, and after class he used to say, “Well, it’s time for me to get back to my people,” referring to his characters in a story he was working on. Now when I write fiction, I strive to create the kind of characters that I want to come back to, characters that need me to finish their story so badly that leaving them alone for too long makes me feel guilty—I want my characters to be strong enough to make me miss them.

Quinn Katherman is a greeting card writer for American Greetings and lives in Kansas City. She is from Richmond, Virginia and attended The University of Kansas where she received a BA in Creative Writing and a BA in Communication Studies. Quinn has a blog, which you can find here, or you can get the condensed version by following her on Twitter or subscribing to her feed. Writing in third person makes Quinn uncomfortable, but she generally likes anything that makes her sound important. Quinn also likes unicorns, eating other people’s food (especially if it comes with a note that says “Do Not Eat”), the smell of new office supplies and drinking beer outside because that makes her feel outdoorsy.

Thank you for reading this edition of Fresh Voices. Feel free to follow the Fresh Voices list on Twitter or nominate yourself or another author as a Fresh Voice

Introducing The Two O'Clock Zone

A big thanks to Jeph Jacques, who went from good to great and demonstrated that there's nothing to it but to do it. Hopefully it means that if I keep at it I will begin to Suck Less.

Fresh Voices: Interview with Kristy Colley

"we do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit." - E.E. Cummings

Welcome to the fourth edition of Fresh Voices. We are delighted to share with you the vibrant voice of Kristy Colley.

1. What is your ultimate writing goal?

    I’ve always had this picture of Future Kristy (she’s cuter, by the way), sitting in her writing room, looking out the large glass windows into the forest, and spending day after day creating stories. I make small goals to help me achieve this vision (such as promising the Universe I’ll dye a strip of hair purple in July if I get an agent), but I wouldn’t say there is one Holy Grail of writing I’d like to find. I want that room, that freedom, those floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.
   Simple put? I want to write novels full time. I think it’s safe to say that becoming a published author is in that mix somewhere.
   I read Laurie Halse Anderson’s blog often, follow her Twitter and Facebook feeds, and think, “I want to be the mad woman in the forest!” I want to get excited about Skyping with a class in Ohio or Tennessee or New Mexico about my book. I want to know I am opening imaginations, letting people ask questions, and letting them feel things they haven’t before. So, apparently, I want to be Laurie Halse Anderson. Who knew?

2. Why do you write?

   As much as I always loved to read, writing makes sense as a hobby and profession for me. I love books, but I never confined myself to stories already told. In addition, I find myself like many writers: hearing voices in my head. (Good thing my husband is experienced working with mentally ill adults…) I think much like an artist feels compulsion to decorate a blank canvas, I have the compulsion to fill an empty page.
   I’ve always been “inside my head.” I spend a lot of time there. While I’m okay in crowds, a good public speaker, etc., I’m introverted by nature. And because I spend so much time up there (er, in my head, I mean, not the clouds), stories matriculate naturally. Some people might walk past something mundane and never think of it again. I find it fun to create entire stories and probabilities around them. In fact, I once wrote an entire story about a door. And you know what? It was pretty awesome! And I’m a fan of awesome.

3. Your writing is very witty. Have you worked to achieve that voice or is it just a natural style for you?

   I think it’s funny you use the word ‘witty’. It’s almost been my trademark. Most of my stories probably aren’t so different, they’re only told differently. By nature, I use humor as a shield. If you met my dad you would understand. (Although my mom is a bit of a question mark, too).
   I think when I first began writing, I wanted to be taken seriously, and that certainly translated into my writing. It was too stiff. Once I gave myself permission to have more fun, the writing wasn’t as stilted, and the characters blossomed in my mind. I don’t believe it was something I had to work toward so much as something I have to remember to allow.

4. Who are your favorite authors and why do you like them?

   I love talking about other authors!
   As I stated before, I’m a huge proponent of Laurie Halse Anderson. I have honestly had dreams about meeting this woman. In one dream, she was even my mother. (Think that’s weird? Tip of the iceberg…) Not only do I admire her beautiful writing, but I admire her as a person. I love that she tackles these big issues in her books. They are relatable, touching, and stick with you days after. They’re the kind of books you have to run around asking if anyone else has read them because you must discuss! And as I said before, if you read her blog, you feel as though you get to know her. She’s always kind, even on politics and the multiple attacks against her books in schools, and very fair-minded. I respect her more than any author I’ve read or personally know
   The first book of Maureen Johnson’s I ever read was Devilish. Now, if you’ve read it, you know the MC, Jane, is a fantastic protagonist. I think reading her was the first thing that made me realize that it’s okay to give more humor to my writing. That it was often more fun to have a witty MC than to have a respected one. And they even sometimes go together.
   In addition to this, I love many YA authors – Carrie Ryan, whose prose is so elegant it’s easy to forget she’s writing about zombies, or Suzanne Collins, who is so alluring and chilling, even in the same passage. But I can’t forget Jane Austen. Is that cliché? Oh well, cast me in with the lot of them. I’m an Austen fan. Persuasion makes me swoon, and Pride and Prejudice feeds my need to read. (Clearly I’m not a poet. You can thank me later.)

5. What most attracts you to the life of a writer?

   I know many authors don’t like the business side of things, but I’m the opposite. In fact, sometimes I daydream about being an agent. *GASP* I’m also a masochist.
   Not only do I love creating these worlds and people and problems and solutions, falalala, but I love making it more than flowery words and daydreams of cupcakes. I want to make my stories the best they can be, sleepless nights and all. And again, I want that room with the glass windows. I’m not afraid of hard work, but I sure do hope it makes me happy when I do it.

6. If you couldn't be a writer but knew you were guaranteed success at a different career, what would you choose?

   I’d keep it all in the family. I’d still make my way in the world of literature. If I couldn’t be a writer, I think I’d want to make that dream come true for others. As I’ve always loved the editing side of things, I could see myself hopping on one of two trains (both fast moving): The Agent Train, or The Editor Train. The real question is: If Agent Train leaves Submissions platform and 8:03 going 49 mph and…okay never mind. I don’t like math.


7. If you had to describe your writing in one word, what would that word be?

   Yowza. No, that’s not my word. Just…an exclamation of having to make this decision. 
   Perhaps that word would be Honest. No matter what I’m writing, I want it to be authentic. I want those secondary characters to pop in your mind like you’ve seen them before, you just know it. I want that protagonist to have a face and motive so clear, you’d think she was stalking you while you read. I want my villain to be so possible in real life that it gives you shivers down your legs. Most importantly, I want the message to feel real. There’s nothing worse than having a great story, great premise, and destroying it with dialogue and relationships and emotions that just don’t fit. I don’t want anyone to fault me for writing an unbelievable character. Even if what I’m writing is crap, at least it’ll be really honest crap.


8. What's the best writing advice you've ever gotten?

   I’ve received so much writing advice that I think I hear the little synapses of my brain screaming at me to stop. Much of it’s helpful, but they’re just weaves in a tapestry. There are volumes out there filled with excellent writing advice, and much of it is good.
   Not to sound arrogant (although I’m sure I will), but what helps me most is myself. If something isn’t working, doesn’t feel right, sound right, or is plain confusing…I give it time. I try to trust myself. There are days when I want to throw in the towel and say to my manuscript, “Forget it! I’m the only one committed to this relationship!” There are days when I lust after other manuscripts and wonder why mine isn’t as awesome as that. The fact is that I let myself experience these things. If you try to push away the natural feelings that come with writing, they will get worse. This isn’t to say that I don’t wallow or complain. Ask Jen Stayrook. She’s one of my best friends and a critique partner, so there’s a whole lot of honesty going on there. But the fears and insecurities and worries will pass. Trust yourself as a writer. I try to let myself experiment, fail, and succeed in my writing. It’s okay to take risks and come out with a piece of junk. It gets better. If you keep at it.

About Kristy:

I grew up in a tiny town in rural Missouri, and I think I’ll probably always be that Midwest girl deep down. I’ll always want to dig my feet in the mud and walk around barefoot and pick apples in September. I’ve lived in Utah for about six years with a short stint in England. Oh, my husband is one of those Hot British Men that Stephanie Perkins is always talking about.

As stated earlier, I’m a huge fan of anything awesome, and Sue London is certainly in that category. You can find me on Twitter, Facebook, or on my blog. At my blog, I aim to please, so if I’m not on target, please adjust your target. (I also have a wonky sense of humor).

Feel free to check out my current work in progress, a YA high fantasy called SINNERS. A rough Chapter One is posted, along with a description, and links to other novels in, around, or under my belt.

Thank you for reading this edition of Fresh Voices. Feel free to follow the Fresh Voices list on Twitter or nominate yourself or another author as a Fresh Voice