Catherine Cruzan grew up in
Bloomington, MN, but California has
been her home since 1984.
She currently lives in Southern California
with a spirited yet cuddly
blue
celestial parrotlet
named Jasmine.
After graduating from
California State Polytechnic University in
Pomona with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, she has worked as an engineer for several major corporations in the Los
Angeles area.
Catherine’s interest in books began as a child with a voracious appetite
for reading. She fondly
recalls piling onto her parent’s bed with her two brothers while her
mother read the
Chronicles of Narnia,
Little Women & its sequels,
Nancy
Drew,
Treasure Island or
Black Beauty.
She moved on to
The Hobbit and
Lord of the Rings as a young
teenager, and Fantasy stories remain her favorite to this day.
Her writing career started with poetry and short stories published in
the school newspaper. As an
adult, she writes character driven Fantasy, Horror and Science Fiction
short stories and novels. Her
writing education includes
Long Beach City College creative writing
courses and the
UCLA
Writers Program. She
is currently a member of the
Greater Los Angeles Writers Society and
Orange County Writers.
Some of her other many interests include
Travel,
Steampunk,
Victorian London, her
Yamaha FZ6R motorcycle, Archery and
Tribal Style
dance.
RANDOM Q&A
Why do you write?
The short answer is: To placate my imagination.
If I don’t give the voices in my head somewhere to play – on the page,
in the moment, in the farthest reaches of time and space – they would
manifest themselves in other nefarious ways.
And no one wants that, folks, trust me.
Except perhaps the men in white suits trying to drum up business
in these hard times.
Ultimately, I’m happiest when I get to share a story with my friends.
I believe we connect with one another via juants into other facets of the
human condition which may be wholly unfamiliar to us except through
literature.
Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?
You have to write what moves you.
Forget about the marketing models, the angles and the platforms.
If you’re not enjoying the process, the product will certainly
suffer. It’s important to
me to be writing books I want read.
If someone else happens to enjoy what I do, it’s the icing on the
cake.
And always try to hone your craft.
Writing is a skill like any other.
It requires nurturing and growth.
Take classes, join writers groups, spend time with other
professionals, and most importantly, READ, READ, READ.
Read your favorite genre, read something unexpected, read your
resources when you research.
The more you learn, the more you grow.
The more you grow, the better your writing will be.
What do you like to read?
There are the obvious cannons – Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia,
Harry Potter.
I’m also a Wheel of Time junkie.
That series is like crack for me.
I love it. I also
love anything by Tad Williams, China Mieville, George R.R. Martin, Neil
Gaiman, Tim Powers, Terry Brooks and Raymond Feist.
I'm starting to get into Brandon Sanderson now too.
Piers Anthony got me through my teens.
Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, Ernest Hemingway and Isaac Asimov
also rocked my world growing up.
Other names
on my shelves include C. J. Cherryh, David Brin, Anne and Todd McCaffrey, DeAnna
Cameron, Cassandra Clare, Cherie Priest, Dru Pagliossotti, Barbara Hambly, Denise Dumars,
Tony N. Todaro, Ace Antonio Hall, Mike Robinson, Leslie Ann Moore, Aaron
Mason, Oscar Wilde, Emily Dickenson and
Edgar Allen Poe to name a few.
What can I say? I've got lots of bookshelves and I'm still wedging
the darn things in with shoe-horns, stacking them every which way,
standing them up and laying them flat.
When you open a drawer expecting socks, you get more books!
Visit me at
Good Reads
if you want to see what's on my nightstand on any given day!
Contact: CatherineCruzan(at)gmail(dot)com
Inca Trail,
Warmiwanusca Pass
Summit (14,000 ft)
B
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