#WriterWednesday Interview with Catherine McCarthy
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I’d like to welcome author Catherine McCarthy to the blog for #WriterWendesday!
Things you never want to run out of:
Mascara, moisturizer, and good old British tea!
Things you wish you’d never bought:
Several lipsticks that make me resemble a corpse.
Hardest thing about being a writer:
Promoting one’s work is without doubt the hardest thing about being a writer.
Easiest thing about being a writer:
Revision and editing. Not everyone enjoys this aspect, but I love it.
Words that describe you:
Dark sense of humour, empathetic, nature lover
Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t:
At times pedantic, but also prone to time wasting
Favorite smell:
Woodsmoke
Something that makes you hold your nose:
Barbecued meat
Things you always put in your books:
Birds, especially robins and crows
Things you never put in your books:
Gratuitous violence
Favorite places you’ve been:
A secret chapel, hidden in a French gorge. Simply magical!
Places you never want to go to again:
Alcúdia, Majorca and most cities
Favorite books (or genre):
Magical realism and anything gothic
Books you wouldn’t buy:
Hard sci-fi or steamy romance
Favorite things to do:
Walk the Welsh coast path and visit ancient monuments
Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing:
Holiday on a cruise ship
The nicest thing a reader said to you:
When reviewing my recently published Gothic novel, A Moonlit Path of Madness, a reader said: "...her writing would shine on plain paper bound with twine. She is that good."
I couldn’t wish for more.
The craziest thing a reader said to you:
Though my work can be said to fall under the umbrella of ‘horror,’ I don’t see myself as a horror writer in the sense of violence or gore, nor do I advertise myself as such. I’m more concerned with providing a sense of creeping dread. So when one reviewer referred to my short story collection, Mists and Megaliths, as "About as scary as finding a fly in your orange juice" it really made me smile.
Besides writing, what’s the most creative thing you’ve done:
A few years back, I taught myself to sew. Since then, I’ve made everything from dresses to handbags.
A project that didn’t quite turn out the way you planned it:
I recently attempted to make a jumpsuit. The trouser part ended up huge, while the top half was tiny, as in several inches too small. Such a waste!
About Catherine:
Catherine McCarthy weaves dark tales on an ancient loom from her farmhouse in West Wales.
Her published novellas and novels include Immortelle, Mosaic, A Moonlit Path of Madness, and The Wolf and the Favour. Her short fiction has been published in various anthologies and magazines, including those by Black Spot Books, Nosetouch Press, and Dark Matter Ink.
In 2020 she won the Aberystwyth University Prize for her short fiction.
Time away from the loom is spent hiking the Welsh coast path or huddled in an ancient graveyard reading Dylan Thomas or Poe.
Let’s Be Social:
Find her at https://www.catherine-mccarthy-author.com/
