Meet Kim Catanzarite

We were lucky to catch up with Kim Catanzarite recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kim, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

My mom, in her college years and for many years after, was a serious abstract artist. While I was growing up, her paintings were hung all over the house. I quickly gathered that this artistic quality, which could not be seen but was surely present in my mother, was something of great value.

When I went to college, I had no specific goal, no ambition for being there—except to steer clear of all business courses, which in my mind were a huge waste of time! I was there for the arts. Which ones I would pursue I had no idea. I started with art history, thinking I might follow in my mom’s footsteps, and while I loved studying the various masterpieces of the world, I lacked the necessary hand-eye coordination for good drawing and painting.

I enrolled in creative writing during my junior year. I was terribly closed up and vulnerable, not a good writer, not good at expressing my feelings. But I wanted very badly to be good and for others to tell me that I was good. I believed the professors who promised us newbies that we’d get better with time. Those same professors took our attempts at writing seriously, with respect, I believe, for what our talents could one day become if properly nurtured.

I grabbed onto writing, and it grabbed on to me, and we’ve been together ever since. I set up my life so that I could earn a living while practicing writing at the same time (as a developmental editor, copyeditor, article writer, etc.), and it has been amazing.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

My working life takes two forms. There is the author side, and there is the editor side. The author side leads a life of artistic pursuit in the form of novel writing. The editor side earns a living helping others reach their publishing goals, writing for blogs and magazines, and teaching online. I love all of the above pursuits.

As a writer, I tend toward speculative subjects. In the past four years, I wrote and published a science fiction pentalogy called The Jovian Universe. I also wrote the first novel in a dark fantasy (vampire) trilogy. What inspires me is connection—between people or beings (as in relationships) but also in between places, dimensions, philosophies, the universe we live in. E. M. Forster, one of my author role models, said, “Only connect,” and my characters grapple with how simple yet difficult that can be.

My novels are filled with struggle and drama and emotional intensity. The stories are both fast paced and character driven. They feature individuals who are at odds with each other, though they often want the same things for the world at large.

As a developmental editor (one who provides feedback on story structure, character arc, pacing, and more), I enjoy helping authors take their stories to the next level. Beta readers are good to have, but they don’t usually possess the knowledge to go as deep into the material as they need to. As a professional editor, I identify and point out the problem areas and suggest ways to fix or enhance those areas.

In addition, I’m a copyeditor and I teach copyediting courses.

I often write for Writer’s Digest magazine as well as my own bimonthly blog about writing craft and the ins and outs of self-publishing. I’ve been told that I’m great at pep talks, too, and that makes me really happy! Check it out at www.authorkimcatanzarite.com/blog.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Ability to focus—when you’re writing a novel, you need the consistent drive that will take you from beginning to end, even if it requires a year or more of your time to get there. Long-term focus is necessary and luckily, at this point in my life, it comes naturally to me.

Determination—this is a lot like focus, but not the same thing. Being determined is deciding you’re going to do this. I decided I would write a five-book series, and I didn’t stop until it was done. Every time I finished one of the books in the series, people I knew would say, “Are you going to take a break now?” and I said, “No, I have five books to write. After that I can take a break.” And that’s exactly what I did.

Love of what you do—I really believe that if you love what you do, you don’t work a day in your life. Find that thing that you can’t live without and make it your career. Home in on it, become really good at it, fulfill your potential. Even if it doesn’t work out monetarily, or if you don’t reach the level of success that you’d hoped to reach, you will have spent your time doing what you love. It took me years to become a good editor and to make a decent living as one—I worked a day job while I freelanced for many years—but I stuck with it because I loved doing it and it helped me become a better writer.

To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?

My parents planted the “college” seed in my mind at a very early age. I would go to college; there was no question about it. They sent me there and allowed me to take any classes I wanted to take. In other words, I was not told to “Go find a profession.” So, I pursued the arts for four years and discovered my love of writing and literature. That was truly a gift.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Stephanie Ciecierski (book fair photo)

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