Author Q&A with Catina Noble

Catina Noble is an Ottawa author. She has over two hundred publications including articles, short stories, poetry and books. Her work has appeared is in a variety of publications including Chicken Soup for the Soul, Canadian Newcomer Magazine, Bywords, Woman’s World Magazine, Y Travel Blog, The Steel Chisel and many others. Her poem You Can’t See Me won first place in the Canadian Author’s Association (National Capital Region) poetry contest in 2014. Two of Catina’s books have won the Reader’s Favorite Seal of Approval; I’m Glad I Didn’t Kill Myself and Vacancy at the Food Court & Other Short Stories. 

My favorite place to write is a coffee shop. I find the chatter and people very inspiring. The atmosphere is calming but motivating at the same time. I might see a woman standing up to leave her table, she puts on a beautiful, shimmery purple shawl. All of a sudden that shawl triggers something in my writing mind so I jot down a description. I am always jotting down observations to be used later.

I usually start writing a new book after I have been motivated by a scene that unfolds before me. It might be something I experience personally or something I see. I once saw a bunch of crows in a parking lot while walking across a bridge. Just that one observation turned into one of my more well known short stories Counting Crows which is included in my book Vacancy at the Food Court & Other Short Stories. 

I have been wanting to write ever since I can remember. In grade three I made a book and brought it to school. Of course it was just a few sentences and pictures on a couple of folded pieces of paper and stapled together with a title and by my name of course. I gave it to my teacher and told her that I had written a book. She was pretty encouraging and showed it to the whole class and told me that maybe some day I would see my name in print.

Writing your first book can be overwhelming. There is so much to do and many people want to give their advice. The only thing I can advise is that you have to be persistent and keep going. No matter what, don’t give up. Eventually persistence will pay off. As for everyone’s advise, you have to try it on and see what works for you. What works for one writer may not work for another.

My latest book just came out (will go live any moment) on my adventure I had last year on trekking up to Everest Base Camp. It was an amazing experience.  The book is called Everest Base Camp: A Close Call. My next book I am working on is about my hiking adventure on the El Camino trail.

I actually just downsized my collection to about two hundred books. I had to get rid of some to make room for all my journals. I have been writing in journals for over twenty-five years.