Catherine Arguelles

  

CATHERINE

ARGUELLES

 (AKA CATHERINE HUNN)

Hi! I'm going to ask a few
questions for your interview. No
pressure -- answer as you are able!

1) You mentioned your pre-teen daughters
are your harshest critics (I can relate). What is the
harshest feedback you've received from them?

 Harshest from daughters:

when my older one said "kids

wouldn't do this!" Basically

trashing the believability of the 

whole book! I made some

changes and she went to the 7th

grade and realized kids actually

might do that... I

guess that sort of illustrates 

why we need an "upper MG"

category- there's a huge difference 

between 4-5thgraders and 

7-8 graders!

Yes! Huge! Luckily you were

vindicated. That time 😆 

2) Do you remember any of the

writing you did in your college

creative writing course? Anything

similar to your work today?

Yes! My final project for

Creative Writing doubled as a

final project for my Women's

Self-Defense class AND

included themes from Gothic Lit

class. It was a short story about

a woman using the skills she learned

in self-defense to fight off an

incubus. Kinda dark! It's similar

to my work today in that it's

fiercely feminist and features women/

girls using skills and smarts and

triumphing. I wonder if I still have

that story somewhere...

Love that idea! It's fun to hear

your writing personality has

stuck around.

OK, last one:

Is there an idea for a story you've 

been rolling around in your head

that hasn't hit the page, yet?

Yep! A few - my former agent

wanted me to keep doing

Contemporary MG with 

friendship themes, so I have

notes on a mystery set in 

the world of competitive 

swimming. I also would love 

to write one of those old-house

stories for MG, like, couple of

kids find old letters leading to 

answers to a mystery that was 

never solved kind of thing...

Also, my older daughter's BFF

has Alopecia Areata and lost

all her hair in 6th grade. It was

devastating and there are no role 

models or characters with alopecia in

 contemporary MG lit. I found one 

book from the early 2000s but it 

was preachy and uninteresting. I don't

want to write a book about alopecia, 

exactly, just have a character who's 

having her own story and happens

to not have hair, maybe in the 

swimming mystery.

Love this idea.

Characters in books and media

help normalize things, so much 💜

OK, one last thing.

I would be missing a huge opportunity

if I didn't mention that you hold

the dubious distinction of being the 

only writer on Twitter who went as 

my husband's date to his Jr. Prom.

As friends!!!! Haha that was a fun

time. I still sometimes can't

believe you married him! I mean

I believe it cuz you're both 

great but wow, high school!

Sometimes the world is a tiny,

weird place.

Thank you for taking the time to do this! 

Catherine and my husband 

Circa 1992

STANDARD TWEEP TATTLER QUESTIONS:

1) Where do you live?
 

Northern California – Sacramento area

2) What is the first thing you remember writing?

Specifically, I remember writing a story about friendly aliens when I was around 3rd grade. I think it was a school assignment, but I kind of ran with it…

3) Why do you write?

I’ve always been an avid reader, so nuggets of story ideas have come to me over the years in various forms. I didn’t sit down to write them until after my kids were born and I was a full time stay at home mom. I found that having a story in my head and something creative to work on was a good way to keep my anxieties at bay amid the more mundane tasks of motherhood. 

4) Have you published any of your work?

I self-published my first adult novel to Amazon in 2017.

5) What are you currently writing?

I’m focusing on Middle Grade. I’m doing some revisions to a contemporary feminist adventure, and just beginning to draft a post-apocalyptic MG in epistolary style. 

6) Are you currently querying?

Yep – I’m querying the MG adventure to agents, doing revisions in between rounds. I’m also querying a separate MG mystery/magic novel to publishers who accept unagented submissions. I had an agent who subbed that novel and then sadly left the business. I struggled to find a new agent for it so I’m trying the small pub route. We’ll see how it goes.

7) Finish this sentence (three lines or less):

IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT… is the first line of Madeline L’Engle’s middle grade masterpiece, A Wrinkle in Time! During this dark and stormy night, a stranger resembling Reese Witherspoon appears dressed in white sheets, and adventure ensues, forever marking dark and stormy nights as a literary device (of which I am guilty) to signify change and inner conflict.

8) Which activities do you like to participate in, in the Twitter writing community (VSS365, etc.)? 

I like pitching events! I got my first agent from a #PitMad like, and one of my CPs got a book deal that began with a #PitMad like. I try to participate in all the pitching events my ms qualifies for. Even if I don’t get any likes, I always get new friends and followers. I also check#mswl regularly to see what agents are looking for and find new agents or editors that might be a good fit for my ms.

9) Do you have any formal training/education for writing?

Yes, I have a BA in English and took a Creative Writing course in college. But that was a long time ago.

10) Do the people in your life know that you write?

Yes – my mom is my first reader because she’s the gentlest, followed by my husband because he catches factual errors, and then my daughters because they are HARSH.

11) Tell me about the people in your life. Family? Pets?

I have two tween/preteen daughters who absolutely influence my middle grade writing! They really help me with slang, style, kid interests, and keeping it real. Now that my older kiddo is reading YA, we read some of the same stuff and I LOVE it. My husband is fully supportive of my writing, and he provides the fantastic benefit of having a spouse who has health insurance, which is a privilege many writers don’t have. I’m very lucky. Oh, and we adopted two kittens last year: Sirius and Lupin. We adore them.

12) Where do you wish your writing to take you?

Geographically, I’d love for my writing to take me to cool travel locales! I love the idea of doing a book tour where I can drive around the country and do signings, or go to one of those cool Cons or festivals like ALA or Book Expo. Non-geographically, I’d like for writing and editing to be a legitimate part-time job. Something that brings in a little income and introduces me to cool people and places. 

13) What did you expect when you joined the Twitter writing community? Did it turn out as expected?

At first I expected that I would read every tweet from all of my followers all the time! I wanted to soak up as much info as possible. That lasted about a day. I still learn a ton, though. The biggest benefit for me has been learning about writing diversely from people from cultures other than mine or from oppressed/marginalized groups. It’s helped me be more thoughtful in my writing. I’ve also learned lots of good writing tips like eliminating filter words and other revision strategies.

14) Where do you write?

At home, on my laptop at the dining room table. I have a desk in the guest room but it faces the wall and is a bit cramped. I like open space. I have trouble writing at coffee shops because I get distracted, but sometimes I can work at the library, particularly if I’m editing.

15) How much time do you dedicate to writing, weekly?

This varies SO much for me. Drafting a WIP, anywhere from 0-20+. When I had an agent and was hard-core revising it was more than 25. I don’t feel like I need to work on a WIP every day, but I do write something or do something writing-related nearly every day, even if it’s just checking #mswl or reading an article about writing. I just volunteered to be the PTO President at the middle school, so I find I’m writing a lot of emails and letters asking for things! It’s not the same as creative writing, but I work pretty hard to use correct grammar and make everything sound good. As for my WIPs, even if I don’t write every day, I can’t just wait for the mood to strike. Sometimes I have to make it happen because I have time even when I’m not feeling it. 

16) Do you have other talents?

I am a fantastic marshmallow roaster. I never burn them or drop them in the fire. Crisp and brown every time.

17) CHOOSE ONE:

A. I do not mind when other writers ask for advice.

B. I’d rather keep to myself!

A!

I am a mom and an active member of SCBWI in Northern California. The Writer’s Digest Annual Competitions of 2015 and 2017 each brought me an Honorable Mention award for Children/Youth Fiction. I've worked in fundraising and middle school counseling, which turns out to be the perfect combination for serving on the PTO of my children's schools. When I'm not writing, editing, actively parenting, or screaming at the PE teacher who told me male privilege isn't his fault, you can find me peacefully volunteering in classrooms, safely navigating my minivan through the middle school dropoff lane, or researching ways to train my kittens to stay off the kitchen counter. I've self-published an adult novel that boasts a readership of nearly all of the residents at my mother's senior village, but my heart is in middle grade fiction.

Links:

Community 92 (adult spec fic): http://bit.ly/2n3mC92

Twitter: @arguellescath

Facebook: arguellescath

I'm recently open to taking on editing projects! Details here: catherinearguelles.com