In honor of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), I’ll be running a series of interviews with writers who have tried their hand at the NaNoWriMo challenge before. Hopefully, their words will lend other writers advice and inspiration as they attempt the feat of creating a 50,000-word manuscript in 30 days.

Our first volunteer is Catherine Hicks, a graphic artist and web developer. Catherine has participated in NaNoWriMo three times so far, and “won” – that is, completed 50,000 words – all three times. She has self-published two of her NaNoWriMo novels, and the third book, a non-fiction work, is currently on its way to becoming a school textbook. Catherine lives in the Bay Area with three “babies of the furry kind” (I can only assume she means werewolf babies) and is pursuing an Art Therapy certificate in graduate school. Find out more about here at her website.

It allows me to have a goal and focus on my writing in a way I never have the time for during the 11 months out of the