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 About
Me
Catherine Chant is
an award-winning writer from New England. A technical writer,
computing & communications consultant and web manager in
higher education for fifteen years, she now focuses on writing
book-length romantic fiction and short non-fiction/fiction pieces.
Catherine is an active
member of the Romance Writers
of America (RWA) and the Society
of Children Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). She currently
serves as the webmaster for her RWA chapter From
the Heart Romance Writers, and as a website consultant for
the Lynch School of Education
at Boston College. Catherine frequently volunteers her time
to judge RWA chapter contests and to mentor other writers in
her chapter.
Previously, Catherine
was the webmaster and book review coordinator for Futures Mystery
Anthology Magazine and worked as a Senior Editor at Chippewa
Publishing LLC.
Catherine's work has
previously appeared in ApollosLyre, Twilight Times, MetroKids,
SchoolArts and RWA Chapter newsletters. She is currently working
on a new suspsense novel.
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Okay, the above is
my "formal" biography, but there's more to me than
just writing.
Web
Design Services
Are you a writer in need of a website? Maybe I can help.
My
Crochet Work
I've been crocheting for over thirty years. I specialize
in historical gowns for fashion dolls.
My
Family
My husband and I currently live in New England with our adorable
little boy. Also in our household is our spoiled rotten cat
Mersey, who seems to know she's
a purebred Maine Coon cat (and therefore deserving of some special
privileges in life). So, to take her down a peg, in June 2005
we adopted two adorable little boys, Rocket
and Rascal (aka "Peanut" because he was
soooo small when we got him--barely a pound! Peanut is the gray
one.). This picture shows "the boys" in the fruit
bowl they loved to sleep in together when we first got them.
They quickly outgrew the bowl, though!
Unfortunately our wonderful cat Rocket passed away in October
2005 during his neutering surgery due to complications from
anesthesia. Later it was discovered he has serious heart defects
that hadn't been detected yet because of his young age. We only
had him for three months, but he made a significant impression
on our family as a sweet, playful and very affectionate cat--and
one heck of a ball catcher! We will miss him a great deal--and
we thought Peanut would, too, but if anything, being the only
kitten has made him more of a "people" cat. He's extremely
affectionate, and no matter how many times Mersey whops him
aside the head, he still comes up to her and daintily touches
her tail, her head...anything to get a reaction out of her!
Update 2008: Because
we like to keep Mersey on her toes, we've recently added a new
kitten to our family. (Pictures coming soon!). Mimi is a former
feral that we rescued when she was barely 12 weeks of age while
rounding up all her relatives in a massive spay/neutering effort
I launched this winter to contain the feral colony that had
taken up residence in the woods behind my house. Happy to say,
all members of the colony have been fixed and are enjoying happier
and healthier lives thanks to Habitat
for Cats, who helped me with the trapping, neutering and
releasing. Now I have 4 new "outside" cats who come
to the porch every morning and evening for their meals: Greybeau,
Pete, Blackie and Happy. Others from the colony wander in and
out at will, but those are the 4 "regulars." I'll
post pictures as soon as I have time to take them. BTW, Peanut
LOVES Mimi. He's the perfect big brother and they play together
all the time. Mersey of course, even though Mimi is the spitting
image of her, is none too pleased with the new arrival and avoids
her at all costs. :-)
Our Travels (More
pictures coming soon!)
- '08 England
- '07 Gettysburg, PA, Frederick, MD and Harper's Ferry, WV
- '06 Lancaster & Hershey, PA
- '05 Disneyworld
- '05 England
- '04 Elmo's World (PA)
- '99 Paradise
Island, Bahamas
- '98 Bermuda
- '96 Colorado
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I worked for fifteen
years at Boston
College in the department of Information
Technology. (So no surprise that I'm back there now as a
web consultant. The place is in my blood! :-) ).
A quick synopsis: I received my B.A. in Mathematics from Boston
College and took part in a short-lived Computer Science M.S.
program there for a couple years.
Until the birth of my son, I was working as a Senior Communications
Consultant, for IT Communication Services at Boston College,
focusing on the IT
web site and user documentation (for print and for web).
Prior to this, the positions I held at BC included: Web Information
Services Manager, Computing Consultant and Supervisor of the
O'Neill Computing Facility (now known as the Campus Technology
Resource Center).
Going even further
back...
I started writing
stories when I was around 9 years old after becoming addicted
to Nancy Drew and the Dana Girls. I invented my own sister sleuthing
team (Joan and Brenda) and delighted my friends with the duo's
adventures.
In high school, I
progressed into poetry and sappy gothic romances. My eleventh
grade English teacher commented on one of my "short"
stories: "This should be a novel." WHY oh why didn't
I listen to her? Or anyone who throughout my high school and
college years encouraged me to study creative writing? (It would've
saved me so much time! :-) ).
For some reason I
had it in my head that writing, like acting (which I was also
involved with in high school), was a fun hobby, but the chances
of making a successful career out of it were slim. So I was
prodded toward the more practical careers like science, business,
and where I eventually ended up--computer technology. I got
an entry-level position at BC a week shy of my graduation ceremony.
From that point on, everything I learned about computers and
technical writing I owe to the on-the-job experience I received
during my fifteen years in that department (and my own motivation
for learning and self-teaching of course! :-) ).
It was also during
my time working at BC that I decided to seriously start writing
fiction. But it wasn't until the birth of my son that I had
the opportunity to leave the corporate world and focus full-time
on my passion for creating characters and stories to entertain
readers.
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