Center Stage with Cathy Holmes

Welcome back! I'm here with a new chat interview featuring creator, Cathy Holmes. If you're new to the series, please let me take a quick moment to explain the vision.

My aim with each mini-interview is to give a small glimpse into what makes up these amazing creators through a fun and informative format. Due to the technical difficulties encountered in the previous interview, I've limited the interview method to facebook messenger chat. I've also asked creators to come up with a question or two for themselves as this is to aim the spotlight on them.

My wonderful guest in this fifth episode has a natural knack for making readers laugh out loud with her witty humor and admirable use of sarcasm. She also possesses such raw talent in pulling deep emotions to the surface, effortlessly. Her multi-faceted writing makes reading her works such a welcome adventure.

A quick glance at Cathy's profile reveals she has everything from silly-but-clever articles featuring her beloved feline, Abigail, to heart-wrenching poetry, to gripping short stories. Three of those wonderful works have even placed in Vocal challenges.

I hope you enjoy learning about what goes on behind the scenes in Cathy's brilliant mind as we explore how she approaches the writing process.

Be warned, we're a bit of trouble together, so buckle up and hold on for the ride...

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We're starting with an exclusive look before the interview began, lol (it was too funny not to share):

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C: Psst..you awake?

H: Yes! Just finished putting in some window air conditioners. My old house doesn't have central air, and it's stupid hot here. Got my questions all ready!

C: Okay. Don't expect coherent answers. "Oh look, a squirrel!"

H: Hahaha. I edit out a fair amount of fuckery.

C: Thank God. So, whenever you're ready, I can go. I may get distracted by mother though.

H: That is fine...just tell me. Stuff comes up on my end too, so we can go with the flow!!

C: Okay.

H: I'll start off with a heartfelt thank you for agreeing to do this!! And welcome :) Don't worry about misspellings or forgetting punctuation. I'll edit for that before publishing. Okay, first question. Has writing always been a passion?

C: No, actually. When I was much younger I wrote a few simple poems but lost interest quickly and didn't get back into it for decades, until I joined Vocal. My brother Gerald is the one who convinced me to join, based on Facebook posts. That may sound ridiculous, but it's true.

H: Wow, that's pretty amazing actually as you are so good at it!! When did you join Vocal?

C: I believe it was August 2021 after being harassed by my bro for a couple of months. I finally gave in and entered one of the summer fiction challenges.

The first piece I entered was Flashing Amber for the Green Light Challenge. I guess it just took off from there.

I'm just gonna keep typing a sentence then hit enter just to drive you nuts.

H: Well, I am so glad he gave you that push to join! I think I was not far before you...I joined like the last day before the one dystopian challenge that summer.

And I encourage it...it's not a far drive.

C: Lol. I'm coming too!

H: Beep, beep!! Look out world!! So, what's kept you writing?

C: Oooh, good question. The obvious answer would be that I enjoy it. It's also a distraction from real life, which can sometimes be challenging, as we all know. I think mostly it's the community. I've made friends in the FB groups who I enjoy chatting and interacting with. I like sharing my madness, and it's a way to vent when things get a little too heavy.

H: Good answer. I think a lot of people who stick around on the platform feel similarly.

C: As you know, my elderly Mom lives with me. Taking care of her can sometimes be stressful. It's nice to have a platform to get that out. It helps me to keep my sense of humour.

H: And I love your sense of humor! Not your stress though. That's a lot to handle. You can use writing and the writing community as

Ignore the last sentence...hahaha

C: Yeah, I was wondering about that. Lol

H: I had 4 people just bombard the kitchen where I'm sitting. I was like STFU, I'm trying to concentrate.

C: Hahahah. Family are assholes.

H: They are...fuckers, the lot of them.

C: Oh man, we gotta post this whole thing.

H: Absolutely!

Is there anything else you'd like to add for that last question?

C: Oh dear. I have to go back and read the question. 🤣

H: Lol, let's just move onto question 2 since we both lost the plot..hahaha.

Where do you look for your inspiration? or does it find you?

C: What else has kept me on Vocal? Challenges of course. The opportunity to win a cash prize is a draw, but the best part is the challenge of writing things I wouldn't otherwise think of. Shit, put that with the previous question. I didn't realize there was a new one. There's that squirrel again.

H: Ahhh, it is a good draw for sure. And the prompts do pull things out of you that you might not have tried :)

C: Yes. Inspiration finds me. Perfect example I think is my latest piece Your Metallic Skin. The water boiled, the kettle whistled and personified it. I don't why, it just came to me.

Same with my older piece Swinging on the Moon. I wrote that in 5 minutes after standing on the balcony looking at the crescent moon.

H: Those are perfect examples not only for how inspiration can strike but at how your brilliant mind works.

C: Aww. Thank you, my friend.

H: Not everyone sees those things in the mundane and comes up with such deep thoughts.

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C: Thank you. As for the fiction challenges, I just mull over the prompt and wait for something to fall out of my head with the loose screws.

H: Hahaha! Perfect to describe it that way!

So, this lends quite nicely to the next question, if you're ready.

C: Lol. It's true though. Remember the recent limerick I wrote. Can't believe I don't remember the name of it, but it was about having the story in my head, but struggling to get it to print. Yes, I'll stop babbling.

H: No, you keep babbling. This is to showcase you, say what you want :)

C: Ok, thank you.

H: I feel that same way with fiction a lot...like I know what I want to happen...it's the how. So I let it stew.

C: It works most times. My bro has a process he follows (some kind of chart thingy). I'm like, nah. I'll just stew on this for a while.

H: Oh wow! Well, both of your processes definitely work for each of you, because talent runs in the family, and your works are always different and well crafted. I have to side with your stew method, lol.

C: Yes. Sorry Bro, you lose!

H: I can't wait til he reads this...hehe!

C: Ok, I'm ready.

H: Would you care to expand on that line of thought? The next question is: What does your writing process look like? Certain time of day, certain music or atmosphere, certain order...like characters first or just a random idea?

C: It's random, scattered and has absolutely no rhyme or reason. I noticed in your previous interviews, the interviewees discussed listening to music. I can't do that. I'd be typing the lyrics into the story, lol. Mind you, I have written a poem or two based on musical influences.

For poetry, it just comes to me and I type it up. For fiction, it takes a while for me to even get an idea for a plot (I won't force anything because I know I'd hate it). Once I get an idea for a plot, the characters just fall in place as I'm imagining the story. Does that make sense?

H: Yes, complete sense! I can identify with this so much!!

C: I'm sitting here in the living room on my laptop. Mom is watching TV, but it's all just white noise. I can drown that out (except when she speaks to me). I can't drown out music though. I get too immersed in it.

H: Yeah, music can definitely do that! If anything, I listen to instrumental but mostly just the chaos around me, lol. We are so similar in our plotting or lack of.

C: Plot, schmot.

H: Indeed. So do you like writing one thing more than the other? Poetry versus fiction?

C: Poetry is so much easier. I like the challenge of fiction and am proud of some of the stories I've written. I always knew I could write poetry, but never tried fiction until I joined Vocal. When the story flows like "Hero" for example, it is enjoyable. When I have trouble translating from my contrary brain to print, then it can get frustrating.

There are completed stories I have where I just wanted to give up. It felt like I was back in school doing homework. My most recent fiction for the mirror challenge was like that. That's why I took a break and wrote the limerick instead.

H: Well, you make both look easy. That can be frustrating for it to feel like a chore sometimes.

C: For you too?

H: Yeah, there are times when it does feel like a chore. I will come up with so many scenes and ideas but putting it down into words...a lot of work. Hahaha!

C: Indeed.

H: Poetry usually just flows.

C: And you do it so well. A Rare Day will always be one of favourites.

H: Aww, thank you for that. It's special to me.

C: My favourite genre to write is humour, of course.

H: And you do it with flare! I love your humorous pieces!

C: Thank you.

H: So, are there any genres or forms you shy away from? Or would like to try but haven't yet?

C: I might try anything. I'm not really sure how to answer that. I'm sure there are genres I've never heard of. Like I had no idea what Magical realism was until the Purple clouds challenge. Actually, I still don't know what it is completely.

H: I don't think any of use have that one quite figured out, lol!!! Romance or westerns for fiction? Paranormal maybe? Any poetry forms that intrigue you?

Also, good lord I need spell check right now. Came outside, and my son and the damn dog followed me...hahaha.

C: Sorry. I just had to step away for a minute.

H: No worries at all.

C: Speaking of spell check, I was getting the red line telling me that I was spelling humour and favourite wrong, but they can bite me because I'm Canadian.

H: Yeah, the interviews with Dean and Paul used lots of spellings my spellcheck didn't like when I was going through final edits. I was like how do I switch this to recognize them?

C: I think you know how my attempt at romance turned out, lol. Western. Probably not. Paranormal, maybe. Actually, isn't that what Fade to Black was? No? Frankly, I'm a little too lazy to write in any genre where I have to do a lot of research. I'm almost embarrassed to say that, but it's true.

As for poetry, most of my poems are a simple rhyme of free-form. I am interested in trying other formats just haven't gotten around to it yet.

H: Hey, no need to be embarrassed about that...your writing is allowed to be anything you want it to be. That's the beauty of it!

C: Thank you, I agree. Why force myself to write something I have no interest in? Mind you, for a challenge I'd probably try.

God, our spellilng sucks. You got a lot of work to do, my friend.

H: Yeah, hot mess express!! Yes, I think it's great to challenge yourself but only to the point that you still enjoy it, else why bother?

C: True. Like the In flight challenge. I had no interest in that one.

H: Yeah, me neither but for different reasons than for most probably, lol.

C: Ah. I'll wrangle it outta ya later.

H: I can share now but probably edit it out...I was having so much anxiety over my son flying for the first time without me that I didn't want to read anything about planes going down...

C: That makes sense.

H: Thanks :)

C: Oh dear. I forgot about haikus. I like those. Short and shimple. *simple. I swear I'm not drunk.

H: Short and shimple is my new favorite phrase!!

C: 😆

H: And I love haikus too!!! I love the economy of words and how they each have to have such meaning.

Are there are genres or styles that you absolutely won't do? Like, you think "hell no!"

C: I'd probably never write anything that fits in the Filthy community. Not much interest in political writing either, even though I do care and do have opinions. Funnily enough, it was some of my political posts on FB that started Gerald harassing me about joining Vocal. There are others that I have no interest in, but I'm not sure they're actual genres. Like Gamers or Geeks.

H: That is a little bit funny, lol. I think sometimes it's easier to narrow down what we don't want to do.

C: That's true.

H: That doesn't work for housework though...hahahaha.

C: Hahaha. Laugh/crying. Remember that meme!

H: Laugh/crying is right!! So, how about we do a fun question next?

C: I'm always up for fun.

H: Woohoo!! If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why? All the money, no obstacles in your way.

C: Wow. It would either be BC to visit my brother, or home to Newfoundland to visit the rest of the family. May sound simple, but those are the only places I want to go in the near future, and it would be a difficult decision to choose east or west. Mind you, it's because I haven't seen them in a while.

If my desire to see family wasn't an issue, I'd probably go to Ireland since I have ancestors from there. Damn, even that's about family. What's wrong with me?

H: Aww, family is important to you and that shines through. It's funny that we're talking about this right after you published a recent poem, Generations. I think readers can completely appreciate your choices.

C: Thank you.

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H: I hope you get to make those trips.

C: I'd like to go to Australia too, but I'm not sure I could handle the plane ride. Not that I'm afraid, it's just soooooo far away.

H: Oh, I hear that...I'd need to be drugged. Hahaha!

C: Or drunk.

H: Then I'd have to pee.

C: That's a whole new spin on "Stuck on the Highway for Six Hours...." (note to readers, this is another one of her hilarious personal pieces.)

H: HAHAHA! The sequel is writing itself.

C: Stuck on a plane for two days and I really need to puke.

H: I burst out laughing at that one.

C: Score! Yay.

H: You crack me up. Alright empress, what's one of your favorite books and why? And would you read it on a long plane ride...bahaha.

C: That's amazing how we got led to this question. I would say it's a book called Trinity by Leon Uris. It's a historical fiction about the Irish struggle. Catholic/protestant. It's been years since I read it, and I definitely would read it again since I've forgotten most of the story. Lol.

H: Oooo, I've not heard of it and now I need to hop on Amazon to look! What draws you to it?

C: I just like his writing style, and I was interested in the historical fiction genre. It's a great read, plus educational. I read several of his books. But it was so long ago, I don't even remember. One was Topaz. I think that was about South Africa.

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H: I do love historical fiction so I will definitely be checking this out.

C: Also, I think my Irish Catholic heritage is probably what drew me to Trinity and that author. My other brother introduced me to him.

H: Aww, another big brother moment impacting your reading and writing :) I'd be drawn to the same things...I like learning as I read.

C: It's a great genre.

H: It really is, and yet I've no interest in writing it. Too much work!

C: Yes! I agree wholeheartedly. As I said previously, I'm too lazy to do the research.

H: Lol, lazy or smart?

I think we've reached the last question! I can't believe we managed not to swear (much) this whole time!! We're such grown-ups.

C: Fuck yeah! Oops!

H: Ah, fuck it, we're at the end. So, final question, what do you want readers to know about you as a writer?

C: Firstly, that I have no idea what I'm doing. I didn't study creative writing in college. Damn, I can barely speak English, but yet I do manage to be creative and write things that sometimes resonate with people either emotionally or humorously. Heck, I've even managed to place in a couple of challenges, so I must be doing something right.

I think it proves that anyone can do it. You just need to have ideas that you can string together coherently in an enjoyable format.....what a steaming pile of crap.

See, told ya I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't even know what I'm talking about at this point. And so much for being coherent. What was the question again?

H: Lol, I love that answer. Sums up what it is to be Cathy, the writer. Honest, hilarious, just keeping it real and with a very healthy dose of talent too :)

C: I think the most important thing is to believe in your writing, but be open to honest feedback. None of us are perfect, and none of us will be somebody's favourite. Except me, of course. 😁

H: Well that exception was without saying :) and yes, I agree, that's great advice.

C: Did I pass? That was fun. And we almost made it without going completely off the rails.

H: Yes! And now, for the final last secret question, what is your favorite sports team?

C: That's too easy. Of course it would be the Toronto Maple Leafs, the buggers who haven't won a Stanley Cup since 1967, but get me hooked cheering for them every year anyways like a bloody junky. Bastards!

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H: This was so much fun! I love how wonderfully relatable you are. I think you will find so many people think similarly.

C: It was fun. I am truly amazed that we behaved ourselves. Damn, girlfriend. We're good!

H: We are so good. Was there any doubt!?! Ok, there was probably a lot of doubt.

C: 😆

(Cameras are still secretly rolling...)

H: I am so ready to get this one out!!

C: Can't wait to see the finished product.

H: Last question...do you like plain or swirly or fancy or bold fonts?

C: Lol. WTF? Write it in fucking German, if you want. Lmao.

H: I might now...

I like to pick the font for your name based on personality and there isn't one called fuck it.

C: Hahaha. Is there a lunatic?

H: No, and no crazy either, lol. I think I got one. *

C: Thumbs up.

That's all folks!

* If inquiring minds want to know, I did search for all those words in the font section, lunatic, crazy, etc. but couldn't find any. I settled on Oregano. I have no idea why I thought that fit, but it did at the time :)

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I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into Cathy's writing life. I highly encourage everyone to check out her stellar work. I'm sharing one of her poems that had a big impact on me:

Note: I was given permission to use the full chat string and change any misspellings. Chat interview conducted on April 13, 2023.

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Catch up on the last interview in the series and stay tuned for the next one, coming soon!