Tell us a little about yourself and your background? 

I like in Stratford, Ontario, Canada – a city which is famous for the Stratford Festival. I spent for the first quarter of my life growing up in this small town, but moved to Australia when my son was born and we stayed in Sydney for 14 years. We came back to my hometown for Christmas in 2013 and decided to stay!
My background mostly has been in the field of print (newspapers.) I am the Publisher of a magazine which I launched in November 2014 called Stratford Living Quarterly Magazine.
I have a son who turns 18 this year, a husband of 29 years and two cats named Rosie and Layla. I am the oldest of 5 children (two brothers and two sisters) and my Dad turned 80 this past December.

Which writers inspire you? 

I classify inspiration in two different ways: Authors who are still on the planent and author who aren’t.

In the Living category:
Ian MacEwan is one of my favourite authors who is currently with us. He inspired the title of my current novel A Mathematical State of Grace. I’m a big fan of the Jack Reacher series (Lee Child) and Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone mysteries. I love exploring characters who flesh out like Jack and Kinsey and this inspires me. Margaret Atwood Canadian too with such longevity and diversity. Stephen King, again diversity and integration of pop culture into his work. Paul Coehlo lifts my spirit.

In the passed on category:
Henry David Thoreau, Mark Twain, Stephen Leacock, Kipling, all of these I “interviewed” in my book “Interviews With Legendary Writers From Beyond.) Also Richard Adams, John Fowles – I could go on. So much inspiration out there if only I had more time!

Have you written any other novels in collaboration with other writers?

Sort of. I say sort of because my book Interviews With Legendary Writers From Beyond involved collaborating with authors who have passed via a psychic I created called Madame Delatour. I “interviewed” them. Otherwise, no.

When did you decide to become a writer?

Since I was a little girl I always wrote poetry and song lyrics. I even wrote a play once. Reminder to myself to dig it out. Writing is like breath to me. Cliché? Yes but honest.

Do you write full-time or part-time? 

I write full time, publish my magazine part-time.

Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you? 

With my current book A Mathematical State of Grace, for the first time the ending flashed in my mind first. So then I had to work my way toward the ending. It was really difficult – at times I thought I was never going to get there. My first draft was in 2010. It is a two book series, the first book was released on Feb. 14, 2015. The second book I am hoping will be out in July or August (fingers crossed.)

My first novel Three Friends started out as a Nanaimo challenge.

My second book Interviews With Legendary Writers From Beyond began as a Blog Column on a writing website, people use to send me names of subjects to interview. I put them into novel format and added a few more interviews.

What I’m saying is for each novel has a different approach for me.

Do you have a strategy for finding reviewers? 

No, but it sounds like a very good idea. Any advice would be appreciated.

What are your thoughts on good/bad reviews? 

Life is too short to worry about them. I take all reviews (whether good or bad) with a pinch of salt. One can’t expect everyone to love your work. I write because I have to – art is very subjective. What’s the old song? “You can’t please everyone so you’ve go to please yourself.” I think it was Ricky Nelson.

How can readers discover more about you and you work?

I have a website www.cathymcgough.com and my magazine can be found at www.stratfordliving.ca

Amazon Author Page http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8ZY70

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/203447.Cathy_McGough?from_search=true