Texas-based mom of two, Catrina Bell, may only have two novels released currently, but she’s quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with in the indie romance scene. Today, I sat down with her to discover what drives her as a new author.
Q: Who has been your biggest supporter(s) throughout your writing career?
A: Cheesy, but my husband. We have two kids and I work full-time, so any stretches of time I find to write – usually on the weekends or evenings – is almost always with his help. He also loves to help me brainstorm plot and character problems.
Q: Where do you draw inspiration from in your work?
A: A lifetime of reading romance, probably! I feel like I know the genre inside and out and love it so much. I try to infuse my stories with that little something extra I think might be new or fun, while staying true to what makes romance amazing!
Q: What does it mean to you to be an author?
A: It means the world. It’s self-expression and true creativity to me. I didn’t start writing fiction at all until I was 33 and my first child was a toddler. I sort of felt like motherhood had taken so much of *me* so I wanted to express myself in a new way. I started writing my first romance, daydreaming, worldbuilding, and it’s been non-stop ever since!
Q: What is your writing process like? Do you listen to certain music, snack, make loads of phone notes when inspiration randomly strikes, etc.?
A: I am very good at hyperfocus, but the environment and mood have to be right. The best brainstorming and furious notetaking is in the shower, in the car, or lying in bed. While writing, I love a playlist (lo-fi, environmental, or instrumental) but also just the din and chaos of a coffee shop really gets me in the zone for some reason. It helps that I can treat myself after every couple of sprints with a new snack or drink 😉 I have had a years-long routine of meeting other writer friends in a coffee shop (almost) every weekend here in Austin. They’re the best!
Q: Is there a genre or subgenre that you want to explore that you haven’t yet? Conversely, are there any that you’ll never write?
A: Mythic romance. I have so many ideas around this for both the Norse and Greek pantheons, but they haven’t quite coalesced to a clear outline for me yet. I also have an outlined and partly written sci-fi romance series that is sitting on my shelf. I don’t think I could ever write mystery. I love when stories have mystery, but keeping secrets is SO HARD. Maybe it’s a storyteller muscle I need to exercise more.
Q: What has been the hardest part of your career as an author so far?
A: Honestly, wrestling with (and seeing in others) this comparisonitis. By my nature, I’ve never been competitive. The one time I joined the tennis team as a teenager, I quit after my first tournament because I genuinely hated the idea of points and ranking and all that. But as an author, it is sort of baked into the system – bestseller ranking lists, number of reviews, star ratings, etc. Inherently, I don’t see other authors as competition, but the structure itself sort of tricks me sometimes into thinking, wait…are they? Logically, I know readers can read hundreds of books a year, that writing is an art, and no one story is for everyone. So, I do not enjoy that little whisper in the back of my mind to compare and compete. It is so weird and so not for me.
Q: What do you consider to be your greatest strength and weakness as an author?
A: I love to write believable and relatable characters and really cozy, found family stories. A weakness for me is probably villains! Ha, it’s the flipside of that, maybe. I either don’t want to write a villain at all and make them environmental or make the villains more one-dimensional. If I start to humanize them, I get stuck. That needs work, because I definitely think it’s possible to write good villains.
Q: Who is on your radar as someone you’d love to work with?
A: A really great agent! I don’t have any one person in mind, but I’d love to do translations and audiobooks for my books. I’m just starting out, though, so I figure that will come. It would be extra great though to work with an agent who could handle that and so much more. Self-publishing just the basics is already a LOT.
Q: At some point in our lives, we’ve all heard the negative comments: “You’re not good enough.” “You’ll never make it.” “This is the worst thing I’ve ever seen.” “You don’t belong.” How do you move forward when faced with negativity?
A: Basically, I try hard to protect my peace while creating a safe workspace for improvement. First off, I don’t read reviews! I mean, unless I’m tagged in them and thankfully I haven’t been confronted by much negativity thus far. The bits that do bleed through can REALLY mess up my headspace. Mostly, I am able to eventually rationalize it as, “Well, that’s just one person.” or even “They didn’t really get what I was going for, and that’s okay.”
At the same time, critique is important and always has been for me. Insulating myself completely would never help me grow, so I rely on two critique partners, several beta readers, and sensitivity readers. Their feedback is constructive and meant to help me improve, which doesn’t translate as criticism to my brain. Also, having multiple viewpoints helps me see if this is a one-person-opinion thing or a bigger issue. So, by the time the reviews come in, the story is already done and dusted. Reviewer opinions at that point are for other readers.
Q: What advice would you give to women who are wanting to write, especially if it’s something that others might perceive as “outside of the norm”?
A: Ultimately, write what you want to read (with caveats)! That’s the popular advice, and I think it’s good advice if you know what you are writing is outside the norm. But also, stay realistic and self-aware. I think it’s really important to self-reflect on your goals for writing. Do you want to write the book of your heart? Study writing craft and tell the story exactly as it is, whatever you want. Do you want to make money? You may be better suited to really studying formulas of bestsellers, hot sub-genres, and start learning from the really business-focused writers. Do you want to be truly seen (by writing the book(s) of your heart to great success)? That may be the hardest of all because you’ll need to be more critical of what your heart want (why does it want this? Is it an underserved market? Is it intensely personal?) then kill some darlings. Make changes so it fits genre and reader expectations just enough to still contain that essential spark.
But then you also need to learn the ropes of self-publishing and marketing which is a LOT of work completely apart from the work of polishing your art of writing. You could also do one first then the other. I did…I wrote a story no one has ever read for three years, then wrote fanfiction for two years, before I moved to self-publishing. We have our entire lives to write. It’s okay to choose one path and stick to it or change course completely, double back to the beginning or start digging a tunnel to the Underworld, ha! Your journey is yours alone, and I think self-awareness (what do I want out of this?) is an important first step.
I first discovered Catrina through an ARC read of Beastly & Bookish: Horned Up for the Holidays and I knew that she was going to be one of my favourite romance authors. Her characters were so easy to relate to, and she has a way with combining real world issues and a bit of magic to create really heartwarming stories. I haven’t had a chance to read Hot Button Issue yet, where roller derby meets the law, but if I’ve learned to expect anything from Catrina, it’s a beautifully crafted love story full of emotion and spice!
Described as “just delish!” by Catrina, her favourite read this year so far was Before the Chaos by Maggie Rawdon, a free prequel college sports novella containing brother’s best friend, forbidden/secret relationship, and setting the stage for a second chance romance. She actually lost sleep reading this, so you know it must be good!
Catrina has two more stories planned for release this year, so make sure you’re following her on Instagram or Facebook, or subscribed to her newsletter on her website, so you can keep up with all her updates and new releases!
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