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 |  A place to talk about myself, my writing, and any upcoming projects. |
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Hello! I'm not really sure who is ever going to read this because I don't actually know anyone on this site and I highly doubt this is the sort of thing anyone would be interested in reading anyway. I'm writing it for two reasons. The first is for myself, so I have a place to sort of keep track of my progress on various projects and everything. The second reason is because I just got my upgraded membership today, and I want to try and make the most of it, which means finally getting around to using all of the features. On the off-chance that someone is actually reading this though, I'm going to do a little introduction here where I talk about myself and my writing and the sorts of things you can expect to read if you check this out. My name is Cat Voleur, I'm currently 21 years old, and I'm a professional writer. I got my first writing job a few months before I graduated high school. After that I spent about a month taking writing commissions while I looked for steadier work, and I was eventually employed as a ghost writer, where I spent about 3 years. I've quit ghost-writing very recently (and am consequently broke) to pursue my own dreams and perhaps establish a small following. I really enjoyed ghost writing because it gave me the freedom to travel and sort of choose my own schedule, but now I'm looking for something that I can take credit for. It's pretty sad to have steady writing work for 3+ years and wake up one day and realize all of the pieces in your portfolio are things you wrote as an angst-filled teenager. I'm going to take some time, edit some of my old pieces, write some new things, and try to see if anyone is interested in reading the things that I write under my own name. My commission and portfolio sites are, as of this moment, down for some maintenance work, but hopefully I'll be getting it back up soon with links to some of my work on this site. I also have a couple theme blogs run through tumblr and am currently the head writer of Toxic Bubblegum which is a zine published monthly put out by myself and my very talented friend, Alan Johnson. As for what I'd like to do in the future - I guess it just depends on what sort of opportunities I run into. I'm a big believer in just seizing the moment and going with the flow. The one thing I am sure of is that I'd like a career in writing. I sort of lucked into my first job, but now that I have a taste of being a writer I can't imagine being anything else. Ideally I would like to eventually have something published under my own name and become an author, but I'm willing to see where life takes me. I prefer writing in the horror genre, because that's where my real passion is. I look up to a lot of horror writers and if I could do anything, that would be it. I have the most experience writing in romance because that, unfortunately, is where the money is and that's what a lot of my paying gigs have been up to this point. I've been told that my strength is in fantasy. I don't know if that's true or not, but it's what most people tell me. I first got my account here a few years ago, around the time I started writing professionally, and I haven't done a lot since then other than upload a piece here and there. That's something I'm going to try really hard to get better about. I'd like to upload more stuff, get more active in the community, maybe see about meeting some fellow writers. Today is a very exciting day for me because I just purchased my upgraded membership. It was on sale or I might not have done it because I am, as I previously stated, broke. I've really wanted a membership here for awhile and I'm so glad that I finally did it because so far it really has been motivating me to get some stuff done. The first thing I plan on doing is uploading the most recent draft of Silence of the Lamps, which was the first thing I ever put up on the site, and it's undergone a lot of editing since then. After that I'm going to work on getting some more rough drafts up on here, and then maybe attempt to socialize, which is hard for me because even online I get really nervous reaching out to people. Anyway, if anyone read this, I'm sorry I babbled so long and thank you for your interest! Feel free to message me at any time if you want to chat or would like to have me read something or collaborate or anything. I don't bite, I promise. -Cat |
| Hey guys, I know I have been gone for awhile. I decided to take a couple days off, and it turned into a couple weeks off accidentally. I had a couple days of vacation/relaxing and then a lot of family drama, but I feel well rested and ready to tackle some exciting new challenges (possibly relating to the Iron Throne.) Sorry for the absence (especially if anyone has been waiting for responses to things) but I will be catching up on emails and stuff tonight before all the fighting begins, so you shouldn't have to wait too horribly long. Hope to talk to you all soon! -Cat |
| Hey guys, So I just wanted to give you a heads up about my game plan for here and things that are going on with me in regards to the site. I'm going to take next month off reviewing and requests obviously, since the Game of Thrones event will be upon us. I'll also be taking this month off after I finish my 15 PDG reviews and more than likely I'll be taking September off as well. I really like reviewing. I meet a lot of really talented authors doing reviews in here and I love helping out if/when I can, but it's gotten to be a little ridiculous lately and I'm starting to feel sort of burnt out on it. Part of it was from when I was doing the weekly Simply Positive stuff, which combined with the monthly PDG stuff was just a lot of reviewing to manage. That was about 55 reviews a month that I felt obligated to do, and then with requests that came in after I was meeting my goals it was a lot of work. The first few months I did it it was okay, but then as I started to make more writer acquaintances that way it got to be too much - especially with the amount of support I was trying to give to people and their projects. It was just one of those things, I wanted to answer as many questions as I could, I wanted people to be able to come to me with their projects at any time. If I focused on the reviews there were questions piling up in my inbox and if I was answering questions, deadlines were creeping in. I was reading several novels in progress (none of them in my preferred genres) and keeping on top of newsletter reviews and activity reviews and all sorts of stuff. I needed a distraction, and the part of me afraid of dealing with my personal stuff still needs that distraction, but maybe reviews aren't it. Either way I can't stay on top of stuff the way I want to, I can't offer as much help as I'd like to, and there are a few cases where I feel like people are becoming a little too dependent on me responding in a timely manner. I set the standard for myself too high in those early months, and now that I'm ready to scale stuff back it just feels like I'm letting people down. I was ready just to push through it, but this last week I realized that in the last year I have spent more time editing other people's writing than I have editing my own. What little progress I've made in the industry has been balanced out with so many projects that I'm putting countless hours into projects that won't ever have my name on it. (And that part extends past just Writing.Com - I also have done quite a bit of beta reading for self-published authors this last year.) It's not that I don't want to keep helping as many writers as much as I can, but if I don't put my own work first at some point, nobody else is ever going to. Reviewing isn't something that I'm going to quit entirely, but it is going to be on the backburner for awhile until I can learn to prioritize in a way that works with my personal and professional goals. The one exception to this is of course, Game of Thrones. I have been in the top 10 reviewers list two months this year, and August is going to be all about me channeling that energy and what I've learned into doing as many reviews as possible in the name of House Stark. The weeks leading up to that however, I'm going to be giving myself a break and working on my own stuff. I'm going to finish up reviewing the things I'm doing now and then it will be back to my own stuff. I'm almost ready to start the third draft of my manuscript, I've got contest stuff, and I have some short stories that I haven't been writing. So I'm going to do that until it's time for Game of Thrones, then I'm going to battle, and then I guess I'll just see how I'm feeling and where I'm at. Thanks everyone who read this. This post probably makes it sound like I think way too highly of myself and my reviews (which, maybe I do) but I've just been so afraid of letting people down with what little bit I can do to help out, since it already doesn't feel like much. Sincerely, Cat |
| Hey guys! I just wanted to thank everyone for all the wonderful wishes and attention today for my fourth account anniversary. I've had the account for four years but have only really been using it the one. If I had started using the account properly the day I made it I'd probably be a much better writer by this point  In all seriousness, I have learned so much from this site and from all of you. Getting feedback has made me a stronger writer and with an active year of responding to feedback, I'm finally starting to feel like I'm becoming a better person as well. All the amazing contests and activities on here have inspired some of my best work and the amazing community makes that work better all the time. I don't think I'd have made it this far as a writer without all the support I have gotten through here. I get to read so many talented individuals through this site and have my work seen by so many great writers, and I'm just glad every day that you are all in my life. So thank you. |
| Hey guys, I have really exciting, really nerdy news that I would like to share with anyone who might care to read it. I am almost through my French lessons, and today I special ordered a book for myself, the first Harry Potter book in French. Harry Potter A L'Ecole des Sorciers When I was a little kid, one of my dreams was to collect the Harry Potter books in all the different languages. I saw the French editions, and I thought that they were just the coolest thing in the whole world. My parents never indulged this particular request because they thought I'd be devastated if they bought me books I didn't have the ability to read (and looking back, they were probably right.) It was something that I thought a lot about in High School, I was in my second year of AP French, but the school I transferred to didn't offer third-year French, and I decided I probably wouldn't be able to do it. The last couple years though, I have switched from traditional (accredited schooling) to independent studies. It's not the same as having a degree by any means, but I have been learning practical skills that I care about, and one of those skills has been foreign language. I'm not fluent in French yet, the way that I hope to be, but I'm able to translate it fairly well and carry on basic conversations. I'm almost through the online course and my practice books - and am finally approaching the point where all that's left is real-world applications of the language. My four-year old self would be so proud. Nearly two decades after declaring I would acquire the Harry Potter series in French, I am finally to a point where I'm not only able to order, but hopefully able to understand them when they come in. German, hopefully will be next. I'm a little over halfway through the course, and even though I don't have any additional study materials for that I have been watching plenty of interviews in German, and am able to pick up quite a bit of it. I'm glad to finally be making it through these things - especially since I'm supposed to pick up a Japanese class with my best friend this fall |
Hey guys, To show support for this awesome thing that ~Minja~  is doing (and earn a super cool MB, of course) I am here to write a love letter to the LGBTQ community.Here is the activity, if anyone else wants to participate in this cool thing (you have until the end of the month to finish): "Note: M B C H A L L E N G E For Gay P..." So here we go: My best friend of the last thirteen years is a transgender man in a hetero-queer relationship. When we first met back in the fourth grade, I would not have even been able to grasp the meaning of that sentence. We were just two girls who formed an unlikely bond over inappropriately violent video games. If you had asked me then what the future held for our friendship, I would have been right about a lot of it. I would have imagined us in our early twenties, collaborating on a graphic novel with intermittent Diablo breaks, drinking Dr. Pepper and Vanilla Coke respectively. What I would not have guessed was that she would actually be a he, or how tremendously proud of him I would be for his journey. He got to where he is in stages, and I just did my best to keep up and be supportive. Considering that I'm cisgender and in a long term, heterosexual relationship, my best wasn't all that much. I was watching my best friend in the whole world go through struggles that I never had to endure, and I felt a lot of times like my support could only ever help out so much. I wasn't overly surprised when he came out as bisexual, or as a lesbian, but I was really shocked when he came out as a man. I wish I could have done more or reacted better, but it was scary to watch someone that I cared about so much about go through a radical life change and feel so out of my depth. Luckily, there was a whole community of wonderful people who did know firsthand what he was going through. When he first started testing the waters with male pronouns I'm not sure either of us knew if it would last - but it quickly became clear that he was more comfortable with himself as a male, and in the end, it wasn't that big of a change at all. He's still the same awesome person, he's just more at ease now, and it shows. He is one of the most talented and confident people that I now. While I will probably never understand on a personal level what it was like to navigate the minefield that is gender identity, I know that it was difficult at times. I know how strong a person has to be to overcome the challenges that comes along with being yourself in a society with so little understanding - and it's one of the reasons why I have such an immense respect for the LGBTQ+ community. You have my support as a community, and as individuals. I believe in each and every one of you guys because you are courageous, beautiful, and unbreakable. Thank you for fighting in what you believe in, who you are, and who you love. I hope that one day we live in a world where no one has to fight for those things, and I believe that change is possible. Sincerely, Cat Voleur |
| Hey guys, Just wanted to say that, with the Game of Thrones event coming up on the horizon, I am getting totally stoked for my team, House Stark.  Normally (hopefully my queen doesn't consider this treasonous talk so close to the event) but outside of Writing.Com events I usually see myself as House Targaryen. It might be my inclination to warmer weather, my love of dragons, my short temper, the fact that I sometimes wear bits and pieces of my various Daenerys cosplays to game night - but there isn't a lot of doubt among my family and friends which house I'd belong to in Westeros. Even my boyfriend (who is very much a Stark) gets me "fire and blood" merch over "winter is coming." This year though, I'm feeling a deep connection to House Stark. I don't know if it's in preparation for this event or what, but I have been all about the dire wolves lately. I have my shiny new Stark Sigil journal that I'm writing in with my Ice replica pen. I have my Sansa dress pulled from Storage to celebrate the new season of the show coming up, and have my Lady, Ghost and Greywind stuffed animals chilling on my bed. I'm even knitting a Stark blanket this year instead of starting with Targeryen like I had originally planned. I feel much more in harmony with my Westerosi Northerner this year, and I am all about House Stark. I feel really good about the event this year, and I just want to let out some of this pent up GoT energy while I'm still feeling this optimistic so that I have something for reference if/when my optimism falters. I also feel a lot more on my game. Going into my second year of the event, I know a little better what to expect, and have a better grasp of the time commitment that it will take to kick ass this year. Plus, I feel a little more balanced. Originally I was a little wary about the event - I have a lot more on my plate this year than I did last year, and I thought that would be a challenge. However, now I feel like I'm a little more practiced at balancing event obligations with real world obligations. Between completing reviews for 2 well established review groups and competing actively in the "Around the World" event, I feel like I'm in some pretty good shape for this year's event. Around the World is taking a break for Game of Thrones, and I will take a break from Simply Positive reviews those month - and that should open up time that I already have integrated into my schedule. That combined with cutting back on my achievement/trophy hunting, and I can practically taste the iron throne. I also feel like the team is strong this year. We've got a great new team graphic, members lined up, and the energy feels good. I feel motivated and excited to really give the event my all this year. Winter is coming, and for once, I feel prepared! |
| Hey guys, I twisted my wrist a little earlier in the week. It wasn't bad, but I was told to take it easy for a couple days and avoid things like, well, writing and typing. That's why I have been absent, and it's why I haven't gotten to a lot of the things I said I was going to this week. However, I am back online now, and it's not like I have been completely idle. I got a lot of brainstorming, research, and studying done. I am planning on pulling an all-nighter tonight (I was planning on doing that anyway so I can keep the same sleep schedule as my boyfriend this weekend) so I'm hoping to make the most of it and get a lot of catch up stuff done. In among all my typing and stuff, I plan on getting some reviews and such done - I've got quite a few PDG slots left for this month and I'm hoping to get them done shortly, so if there's anything yo guys would like me to read through and give a lot of feedback for, this would be the ideal time to ask. Anyway, hope everyone is doing well and I should be talking to you all very, very soon. All the best, Cat |
| Hey guys, I talked about this once before (and I admit, sitting down to type this blog I am experiencing a bit of déjà vu) but you guys always give the best advice, so here I am again. I received an email which contained a review for an item that I intentionally set up so it couldn't receive ratings/reviews (which I thought might be a good sign that I wasn't really looking for feedback on it.) The item in question is a review of a novel I read. I have it included on my portfolio because it's a good example of what my promotional reviews used to be like before I started doing in-depth critiques on a daily basis, and I like having it around fr comparison. I set it not to get reviews because I've learned a lot since I wrote, and even though it's not perfect, it's also nothing I intend to go back to. It marks where my review level was at the time, and how I felt about one of my favorite books directly after reading - a time I'm happy to have saved. In an abstract way, I think it would be almost flattering that someone took time out of their day to write a review for my review of a book they've never read, especially when considering that they don't get review credit for it or anything (since it's not technically a review.) On the other hand, receiving an email containing such a critical review for a piece that specifically doesn't accept reviews is... well... not ideal. It happens though, right? I guess my biggest annoyance is that I can't quite tell if I'm being trolled or not. It was written well enough and many of the points made about the style of review are quite valid. On the other hand, the review spiraled out into political opinions that were very brazen considering that they related to my piece in no way and the rest of the review only by stretching the imagination. It ended on the sort of note that, out of context, I 10/10 would say was an internet troll. I suppose I just respond to the review courteously in a way that doesn't invite too much debate, right? That's the sort of advice I got last time I posted something like this, and it's the best thing that I can think to do right now. In any case, thank you guys as always for reading and for the support. It is always appreciated, especially in situations like this that make me uncomfortable. I am trying to learn how to cope with difficult situations and handle criticism better, and this might be a good learning experience for both of those self-improvement challenges. All the best, Cat |
| Hey Guys, So, there has been some rough stuff going on lately in my personal life. A lot of fights with loved ones, a lot of over-the-top drama between friends, and all of it has been made worse by my inability to deal with emotional situations like an adult. Instead of dealing with those things, I have been trying to improve myself in other ways and be productive where I can. For the first several weeks it felt more or less just like my other avoidance techniques of the past, but I feel like slowly I am actually starting to get better and make progress. I've lost a little weight, I'm to a point where I'm understanding conversational basics in a new language (while refreshing my second language), I've read more classic literature, I've done 50+ hours of charity work since April, my place is clean, I've gotten some important personal stuff done, and I'm eating a little healthier. I feel like where I've really shown the most progress though is in my writing. I'm still not getting as much done as I'd like to, but I'm writing every single day. It feels more balanced now and I feel like it's really showing. I'm updating my portfolio, editing pieces, going through my older stuff, uploading new stuff, and I feel really good about it. You guys know I've been getting a little more recognition on the site recently, which has been really cool. A couple of my most recent entries have been about features/awards and I thought it was just a good luck streak. Well today I got a couple nominations for the 2017 Quills Awards - which was crazy. Plus both of them have been for nonfiction items which is also kind of crazy, since I've never really considered nonfiction to be my strong suit. It might still just be good luck, but it's starting to feel more like my hard work might be paying off, and it's given me a lot of encouragement to keep going. So, with that all being said, I have just a couple more updates about upcoming projects and such. The first, I bought myself one of the Merit Badge/Awardicon binders from the WdC shop on here. It's something I've been wanting to do for awhile and it's something that I also think I'll be really proud to have in my office. I think having the physical versions of the MBs and Awardicons will be a really great motivational tool for me, and will hopefully be the inspirational kick that I need to push through my rough days. The second is that I will be proceeding with this blog. I have been working on designing a new one actually that's a little cleaner, more focused, and newsletter-y but that will have to wait. Written in Blog is actually one of the items that has gotten nominated for next year's Quills award. The third is that, after I get caught up on my email, reviews, I'll be switching a few of my portfolio items to private while I edit them. They should be back to public by the end of the week (and with any luck, some of the other items that are already on private will go public by then as well.) And finally, I'm going to keep this up. I've been a little more active on here and it feels pretty great. It's something that I'd like to do my best to stick with because I do feel like it's really helping me organize my writing and stay productive - not to mention it's a great support system. You guys have been so incredibly supportive of me and my work and I really do feel like it's been helping me. Probably more than you'll ever know. Thank you to everyone for reading this and for your continued support. You have all been awesome, and hopefully I will be back soon to share some progress with everyone. All the best, Cat |
| Hey Guys, Just wanted to share some more awesome news with everyone - there have been so many awesome things going on here on the site lately it's been hard to keep up, but I am making an effort to do so 
Won the 2016 PDG award for Best Flash Fiction! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** I have been so busy with other site activities that I barely even knew it was award time - I certainly didn't expect to win this gorgeous trophy. It's an honor and I just wanted to express my excitement with everyone. (Also, while I'm doing a little bit of bragging anyway, I'd like to let you guys all know that my most recent Reviewer MB was received for coming in #10 as WdC's most active reviewer during the month of May. I guess doing weekly and monthly group reviews is really paying off, that's the highest I've ever ranked!) As a heads up, around reviews and contest participation this month, I will be doing some more portfolio editing. I probably won't be getting any new pieces up this week, but I do intend on cleaning up some of the items that are already public in my portfolio, and maybe making a few of my in-progress pieces public as well. Thank you guys for reading and hopefully I'll get to talk to you all very soon, or will at the very least, see you around in the forums. All the best, Cat |
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