Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I teach at a community college in Texas. I studied creative writing under Caroline Gordon at the University of Dallas and hold a Ph.D from Texas Woman’s University.
I just released OUTSKIRTS OF THE WOODS, and I am nearly finished with a fiction novel entitled JOSEPHINE’S JOURNEY, which shares the journey or a young woman through the 1960s.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
OUTSKIRTS OF THE WOODS is a collection of my eclectic writings over many years.
This collection illustrates the changes of a spiritual seeker: Vedantic to Christian, Pro-Choice to Pro-Life, and Bohemian to Settled.
BERTHA’S BUTTER CLUB, a one-act comedy, jabs at every person who thinks they have the formula to make others lose weight. DYSLEXIC chronicles my many and long attempts to seek a cure. Other essays compare convicted murderers Susan Atkins and Karla Faye Tucker, and uncover the tragic deaths of two abortive women.
Also included is an essay based on a Caroline Gordon short story, my creative writing mentor at the University of Dallas. OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES: this one-act has a 13 year old pro-life debater who greatly loves her dad who performs abortions. The play is followed by DAUGHTER OF INDIA, a biography of my aunt, Sanskrit scholar Camille Svensson. At last comes poetry. One poem can hold a whole universe – finding love, losing love, reaching for God but touching a dark hole and discovering the true God.
This book covers forty years of love, disillusionment, and then finding love again.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write whenever I am able. Due to my teaching career, my writing time can vary wildly.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Caroline Gordon holds a special place here, but there are and have been so many other great writers.
What are you working on now?
I am nearly finished with a fiction novel entitled JOSEPHINE’S JOURNEY, which shares the journey or a young woman through the 1960s. It should be published soon.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I must admit I am new to this side of writing. I can see that promotion is not an easy chore.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just keep doing what you love.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Never give up!
What are you reading now?
Radical Son by David Horowitz, Avatar of Night by Tal Brooke, and Fire From Heaven by Maureen Flynn.
What’s next for you as a writer?
After JOSEPHINE’S JOURNEY, I plan to write a play I began five years ago, INTERSECTION.
It is loosely based on a murder in Hillsboro by the Clyde Barrow Gang in about 1932 (before Bonnie joined the gang). It is from the survivor’s pov.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Holy Bible
Jane Eyre (my favorite book of all time)
the collected works of W. B. Yeats
Author Websites and Profiles
Cate Murray Website
Cate Murray Amazon Profile
Cate Murray’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
I wanted to let everyone know that JOSEPHINE’S JOURNEY : Adventures & Misadventures
just went live on Amazon.
– – – – – – – – – –
In 1960, Texas Josephine McKelvey marries folk singer Jonathan Singer. She moves to San Francisco with him and begins her new adventures and misadventures, encountering Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Dr. David Smith, and Charles Manson. Josephine delivers a beautiful baby and enters U. C. Berkeley. She joins the Free Speech movement and learns that free speech is not the goal of its organizers. With the help of two wise women who have escaped prisons in the Soviet Union and Cuba, and another lady who was deceived by her civil rights group, Josephine discovers many social justice organizations have corrupt roots. Josephine & Jon covert to Catholicism, but Jonathan ventures away to sit at the feet of a Indian guru. The journey ends in 1969.