Cat Winters's Blog, page 3

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.


I plan to post the link to the event right here on the day of my appearance, but if I forget, it's listed in the graphic above.

If your library, school, book club, etc., is interested in hosting me for a virtual v...

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)

Two-Sentence Ghost Stories (ages 11-14)

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

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...

YA Horror Live Chat

This Thursday, May 21, 6:00 pm EDT, Dawn Kurtagich will host ten YA horror authors (including myself) in a live chat! The event will stream live on the Night Worms YouTube channel , and viewers who comment will get entered into an incredible raffle filled with bookish horror treats.

If you can't make it during the livestream, you'll be able to watch the archived version later. I'll embed the video below.

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...

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...

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.
Sunday, March 15, 2020
Tucson Festival of Books
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

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

Happy holidays!

Happy holidays, dear readers! Thank you so much for your continued enthusiasm for my historical tales, and thank you for helping me celebrate the release of The Raven's Tale this year. If you're interested in purchasing a signed copy of The Raven's Tale this holiday season, please visit Fountain Bookstore in Poe's teenage home of Richmond, VA (or visit them online).

Behind-the-scenes, I'm hard at work on two different book projects as we wrap up 2019. I don't have any news to report about...

Results of My Epic 2019 Halloween Giveaway

Me, Halloween night 2019.On October 1, I announced my Epic 2019 Halloween Giveaway , in which one winner would receive a signed, personally annotated copy of one of my books. Because the prize is so rare and will take me a while to prepare, I made readers work to enter. People entering could post an original photograph of one my books with their favorite quote included, create fan art or original poetry or lyrics for one of my novels, or cosplay one of my characters.

The entries to this giveaway BLEW ME.../>The