An Inspired Chat with Cat Voleur

Cat Voleur shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Hi Cat, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
I just got off the road, so lately I’ve been making sure that I spent a little more time with my rescue cats. Sometimes that looks like laying in bed an extra fifteen minutes and listening to purrs, and sometimes it’s taking long lunches so I can play with them. I’ve also been trying to spend more of my leisure time at home, reading or watching movies, because those are both activities I can enjoy with a rescue on my lap.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Cat Voleur. I’m an independent horror author and freelance book formatter. I specialize in modern epistolary works, which includes stories that are told as forum posts, text messages, etc.

With my writing, I try to make each story different than the last because I always like working on something new.

With my formatting, I try to make sure that I can offer other authors the tools to try something that might be out of their comfort zone as well.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
I think most people have a better vision of me than I do of myself. One thing that draws me to writing is that I get to explore a lot of different facets of my interests and reflect on the paths I might have taken. But there were a lot of people in my life, friends, family, teachers, etc. who all knew that I was going to go into writing long before I did.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
There was a time that I did give up.

I worked so hard to get my first book written and edited to the best of my ability and sold to a press, and at that time I thought that I had made it. The book was the first in a three part virus trilogy and I’d gotten it accepted right before the country went into lockdown. Suddenly the press didn’t have any interest in telling a story about a virus.

It wasn’t just that it was a setback, it was that I felt so powerless. Everything felt so out of my control.

I took a long break from writing professionally after that. But I kept writing for myself, and the realization that I’ll always be writing no matter what was enough to send me back.

Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? Is the public version of you the real you?
I think for the most part, the public me is the real me.

In the interest of being a professional, I do try to curate a mix of good thoughts to bad thoughts. These days I feel hopeless a lot more than I care to admit. While I’m certainly not above posting the occasional doom-thought, I don’t think it’s necessarily helpful to put every bad thing I think about the future onto the internet.

But I think the pattern of posting more positively has started to bring hope to me, as well. There certainly is an element of faking it till you make it being relevant when trying to maintain a positive outlook online.

Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What light inside you have you been dimming?
One small thing that I have been battling with is my own preferences.

Part of being an author is marketing, and the marketing classes have a lot of rules about what does and doesn’t sell. I see it sometimes when I’m trying to outline or choose new projects. There’s a voice in my head that asks whether or not presses and agents and audiences at a large scale will be interested in elements of a story that I want to tell.

For the most part, I’m pretty good at silencing that voice when it comes to my writing. I’m okay if my stories are more niche, as long as they feel more authentic to me.

Where I do feel that light dimming is in the marketing, and presentation itself. A great thing about self-publishing in between my press releases is that I get to choose art that I feel best represents me and my projects. But I do find that my tastes seldom line up with current trends in book covers. It’s definitely a tough line to walk, and I find that I’m not always as excited about choosing covers as I used to be.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://catvoleur.com
• Instagram: @catvoleur
• Linkedin: Cat Voleur
• Twitter: @Cat_Voleur
• Facebook: Cat Voleur

Image Credits
Grim Poppy Designs
Ruth Anna Evans