MORE ABOUT WHO I AM
I’m Catherine Gregory, and I’m a writer. (Yikes, that sounds like an introduction at one of those 12-step programs. Do they have 12-step programs for writers? They probably should.) Oh, sorry . . . my mind wandered. It does that sometimes.
As long as I can remember, I’ve loved to make up stories. When I was a little girl I used to make up plays and act them out with my dolls, or some of the pretty figurines at my grandmother’s house, until she caught me and took them away before I broke them. Not that I broke things very often. And my dad got to be really good at gluing stuff back together. The occasional shattered knick-knack notwithstanding, my love of creating stories continued until the time that I learned how to write, after which I spent a lot of time over the years putting my thoughts down on paper. Mercifully, my handwriting was really bad, so no one can actually read the stuff I wrote when I was eleven years old. That could be embarrassing.
During my ninth grade year, a turning point in my budding career came via two pivotal events. First, I was introduced to the work of James Thurber, through which I realized that writing didn’t have to be so deadly serious all the time. (Yeah, my dolls tended to meet rather grim fates.) Second, I received an A+, and a lot of attention, for an essay I wrote entitled “The Importance of Nasty People in Maintaining a Social Balance.” (Don’t worry, it was intentionally humorous; I don’t really believe that people should be nasty to each other.) This showed me how much I enjoyed writing from a more humorous angle. The fact that it helped my GPA was icing on the cake.
Professionally, I’m pretty much an academic groupie. By that I mean that I typically get a job wherever my husband is teaching. I’ve been a secretary in departments as diverse as purchasing, athletics, and philosophy. I’ve also been a church secretary. Early in our marriage, I spent a year working in the bookkeeping department of a bank. I learned firsthand just how dirty money is, and gained an appreciation for really strong soap.
Over the years I’ve written several plays that have been produced by our community and church. While that is sort of my first love, I also enjoy writing novels. I find that a novel has a unique advantage over a play: you don’t have to worry about finding a director, a cast and a place to perform it, not to mention costumes and make-up and lighting and sound and – well, you get the idea.
I work in several different genres, but I particularly enjoy writing contemporary faith-based romantic comedies. I like romantic comedies because they’re fun, and I think we can all use more fun in our entertainment. They’re contemporary because that way I don’t have to worry about historical inaccuracies. (Hey, if I wanted to do research, I’d write nonfiction.) They’re faith-based because that is who I am. I am a Christian, and that is reflected in what I write, even if it isn’t explicitly stated. I don’t preach. I write stories exploring everyday people living everyday lives, and I address those themes from a Christ-centered world view. If you like those kinds of stories, you’ve come to the right place.
Now for some of the personal data. I have a wonderful tech guy who does all my computer/website/really hard stuff. He also has the most amazing blue eyes. I’d run away with him in a heartbeat if we weren’t already married to each other. We have three daughters, a singleton and fraternal twins. (I could fill half a dozen web pages on the group dynamics in our family alone.) We’ve also been blessed with two wonderful sons-in-law. My husband and I currently share our lives with an adorable Great Pyrenees puppy and several barn cats. I love baseball, the music of George Gershwin, vanilla bean cheesecake, roses, art deco, and everything written by James Thurber. I never ride roller coasters. I sing tenor, which my daughters have always found amusing. I’m always ready for a foursome of bridge. I have a weird gift for coming up with silly rhymes off the top of my head. It makes for a great party trick, but I’ve never figured out a way to make money with it.
Thanks for visiting my website. I hope you’ll take a moment to email me and tell me what you think. Blessings!