November 2020 updates

I realized it's been a while since I posted any updates here on my website, so this seemed a good time for a recap post to share what I've been up to in recent months and what's in store for the future.

Cat Winters as Madame Leota.

First of all, thank you to everyone who attended Haunted House Paint & Prose: A Virtual Halloween Workshop! 

I love Halloween and really wanted to organize some sort of event that could be done safely and virtually during this incredibly stressful pandemic era. I was thrilled my sister, Carrie, wanted to join me in hosting an art and writing workshop held over Zoom on October 31. I materialized in costume as Madame Leota from Disneyland's Haunted Mansion to teach an atmospheric writing lesson, and my sister instructed participants how to paint haunted houses as Edvard Munch's The Scream. 

Click here if you'd like to see a video clip of my Madame Leota-style intro to the workshop.

More workshops are coming soon! Carrie and I enjoyed hosting this event so much that we've decided to teach combined workshops on a fairly regular basis. We're preparing for a wintry art and writing workshop right now and planning to have registration details available in the coming week.

In other news, I'm auctioning off one signed copy of The Uninvited in the Romancing the Runoff fundraiser to support the Georgia Senate Runoffs. All funds raised during the auction will go to the organizations Fair Fight, the New Georgia Project, and Black Voters Matter. 

Bidding is open until November 24, 9:00 pm EST. If you can afford to bid and donate, please go to https://www.32auctions.com.

I've been booking virtual school visits lately and really enjoying this chance to share my presentations with schools and libraries I normally might not get to visit in person due to financial restrictions or time constraints. 

If you work at a school and would like to book one of my virtual talks for Winter or Spring 2021, please contact Lisa Nadel at Lonni Lane Marketing. 

As far as upcoming books are concerned, I do have a project in the works, but I'm not able to announce anything publicly about it yet. I may be able to share that news sometime in 2021. 

Behind the scenes, I've also been working for publishers and a literary nonprofit as a fact-checker, proofreader, cold reader, and editor. It's been a nice, rewarding break from the intense pace of writing a historical novel a year, plus these opportunities have allowed me to contribute to the world of books—especially children's picture books—in ways beyond writing. After dealing with breast cancer amid a pandemic this year, escaping into the realm of books for younger children has been a balm to my soul.

Speaking of the cancer, I'm done with all my hospital treatments! I need to be on a daily medication for the next five to ten years, but, fingers crossed, the worst is over. Thank you for all the well wishes and encouragement during that ordeal.

Please stay safe and healthy, dear readers. 

Haunted House Paint and Prose: A Virtual Halloween Workshop Featuring Cat Winters and Carrie Raleigh

I'm so excited to announce that my sister, Carrie Raleigh, and I have teamed up to create a spooky virtual workshop that's doubling as a Halloween costume party! 

Here are all the details: 

Date: October 31, 2020 

Time: 2:00-3:30 pm Pacific / 5:00-6:30 pm Eastern 

Cost: $20 (Enroll through Eventbrite) 

Celebrate Halloween at a unique virtual workshop hosted by a pair of spooky sisters: Cat Winters, the award-winning author of In the Shadow of Blackbirds and other ghostly novels, and Carrie Raleigh, a professional art teacher with a Master’s in Education in Curriculum and Instruction. 

Through a guided lesson, Carrie will teach participants how to create a watercolor painting of a haunted house. Cat will then lead everyone in an atmospheric writing lesson that brings the interior of the house to life. 

All levels of artists and writers welcome! Halloween costumes are highly encouraged. 

The workshop will be held over Zoom. Participants will receive a link to the meeting room the day of the event. You must be 18 years or older to participate. (Cat Winters is offering a Halloween class for ages 13-18 through Outschool.)

Make sure to collect all of your supplies before you log on to the event. Participants are responsible for providing their own supplies.

WORKSHOP SUPPLY LIST: 

Bring your own . . . 

1. Watercolor paints 

2. Watercolor paper or heavy drawing paper 

3. Pencil with eraser 

4. Brushes 

5. Cup of water 

6. Paper towel 

7. Black pen (for writing and for use on artwork) 

8. Writing paper

Enroll at Eventbrite. Please see the Eventbrite page for full details.

More about your ghostly hosts:

Cat Winters is a critically acclaimed, award-winning author of seven historical/paranormal novels for teens and adults, including In the Shadow of Blackbirds, a Bram Stoker Award Nominee for Superior Achievement in Young Adult Fiction and one of Booklist's 2013 Top 10 Horror Fiction for Youth. She's been teaching spooky writing workshops since 2012. 

Carrie Raleigh currently works as an elementary art teacher in Southern California. She holds BAs in Visual Art and Psychology and a Master’s in Education in Curriculum and Instruction. Her art instruction background includes teaching high school art classes and online art classes for both children and adults. 

If you have any questions, please email Cat.

Online Writing Classes Starting This Month!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm now offering writing and publishing classes for ages 11-18 through Outschool.com. At this point, I've created and scheduled all my late-summer and fall classes and posted their details on my Outschool profile.

Here's an updated version of my previous post with the complete list of classes:

How to Become a Published Author (ages 12-17)

Spooky Writing Camp (ages 11-14)

Writing Chat with Author Cat Winters (ages 12-17)

Writing Prompt Thursdays! (ages 11-14)

Creative Writing: Let's Talk About Dialogue! (ages 12-16) 

Writing Spine-Chilling Scenes (ages 14-18)

Writing Memorable Monsters (ages 11-15) 

Two-Sentence Ghost Stories (ages 11-13)

Two-Sentence Ghost Stories (for Older Teens) (ages 14-18)

All classes will be held over Zoom. For more information, please follow the links.

I miss traveling around to schools, libraries, and festivals right now, so I'm really looking forward to this opportunity to virtually work with young writers!

Strange, Dark, and Haunting History Talk

On Thursday, July 23, 6:30 pm Pacific, I'm giving an online talk through the Monmouth Public Library that will be free and open to the public! I'll discuss the strange, dark, and haunting history that inspires my writing and explain how I turn historical research into historical fiction.

If your library, school, book club, etc., is interested in hosting me for a virtual visit, please contact Lisa Nadel at Lonni Lane Marketing.

New Online Writing Classes

Starting July 17 and continuing through the fall, I'll be offering writing and publishing classes for school-aged students through Outschool.com. I'm still working on getting all of my summer and fall classes set up, but you can find all new course information on my Outschool profile.

Here are the classes I'm currently scheduling:

How to Become a Published Author (ages 13-18)

Spooky Writing Camp (ages 11-14)

Writing Spine-Chilling Scenes (ages 15-18)

Two-Sentence Ghost Stories (ages 11-14)

Two-Sentence Ghost Stories (for Older Teens) (ages 15-18)

All classes will be held over Zoom. For more information, please follow the links.

I miss traveling around to schools, libraries, and festivals right now, so I'm really looking forward to this opportunity to virtually work with young writers!

My Post-Radiation Celebratory Swag Giveaway!

On February 11 I was unexpectedly diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer. On March 18 I underwent surgery to remove the tumor just as the U.S. was shutting down in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19. From May 27 through June 23 I spent every weekday morning at the hospital undergoing radiation.

It's been a lot to cope with, but I know we've all been dealing with insurmountable stress and hardships this year. I'm certainly relieved to be done with these stages of my treatment.

To celebrate the end of radiation, I'm running a book swag giveaway!

UPDATE: The giveaway is now closed. I will email the five winners on Thursday, July 2. Thanks to everyone who entered!

Five random winners will receive a stash of bookmarks, postcards, and stickers.

To enter, simply fill out the following form by 11:59 pm Pacific on Wednesday, July 1. You must be at least 13 years old or have the permission of a parent or guardian. I'll email five random winners on July 2. Good luck!

New Video: "Cat Winters Discusses the 1918 Pandemic"

Because of the research I conducted when I wrote In the Shadow of Blackbirds and The Uninvited, numerous people have been asking me about the 1918 influenza and how it ended.

I decided to answer several of those questions in a video.



Teachers and parents: Feel free to share my video with students.

For more information about the 1918 pandemic, I recommend exploring the CDC website 1918 Pandemic (H1N1 Virus).

I've also been hearing from many new and second-time readers of In the Shadow of Blackbirds. If you're looking for a copy of the novel, I encourage you to help independent bookstores by ordering through Bookshop.org.

A Virtual Author Reading

Because all my remaining March events got cancelled, I decided to create a virtual author reading. Since I didn't feel like reading from any of my dark historical novels at the moment, I chose instead to share some of the poems I wrote from the ages of 7 to 9. I hope it lightens the darkness a little.

Event Updates

Like many authors right now, I've reached the point where I've canceled all my late-winter/spring appearances, or the events were cancelled for me. It's heartbreaking not being able to travel right now, especially when my Tucson Festival of Books appearance was also going to involve a visit with my daughter at the University of Arizona. I'm going through a separate health issue right now and want to stay safe, plus I want to keep others safe by not traveling from state-to-state and potentially picking up the virus. So, I'm staying close to home for a while.

As someone who's written not one but TWO novels about the 1918 influenza pandemic, I'm definitely more than a little nervous about what could happen if COVID-19 spreads rapidly through the United States and elsewhere. My heart breaks for countries like China and Italy, where the virus has already overwhelmed healthcare systems.

Please take care of yourselves out there. Take care of the people around you. I know it's disappointing to cancel vacations and stick closer to home, but if we can all just stay put for a little while, it would help so much to keep the situation under control.

If you're curious about the 1918 flu pandemic and how it compared and differed from what's happening right now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has an excellent page with information and additional resources.

In case it's of any help, I'll close with this excerpt from my novel In the Shadow of Blackbirds. My protagonist's father sent her this letter in the middle of the 1918 flu pandemic, and now I'm sending it to all of you.

Winter 2020 Apperances

Here's where you can find me the first three months of 2020!

Saturday, January 25, 2020
Teen Bookfest by the Bay
American Bank Center, Corpus Christi, TX

Wednesday, March 4, 2020, 7:00 pm

Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing

3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., Beaverton, OR

In conversation with E. Latimer.

The following events have been canceled:

Sunday, March 15, 2020
Tucson Festival of Books
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
11:30 am: "Dread and Fear: Shivery Tales of the Odd and Peculiar" with Justina Ireland, Cat Winters, and Ransom Riggs
12:30 pm: Signing Area - Children / Teen
1:15 pm: Signing in the Mostly Books Booth (#242)
2:30 pm: "Disgrace & Deception: Poe Meets Guinevere" with Kiersten White and Cat Winters
3:30 pm: Signing Area - Children / Teen

(My daughter attends the University of Arizona, so my Tucson appearance will be extra special!)

Sunday, March 22, 2020, 2:00 pm
Hillsboro Historical Society's Annual Meeting
Coyote's Bar & Grill
5301 W Baseline Rd., Hillsboro, OR
I'll present a lecture on women's suffrage in Oregon and discuss THE CURE FOR DREAMING.