Tough childhood, ex pastry chef, nature lover, owns a horse.  

Today I’m chatting with Catherine Ryan Hyde, the author of 27 best selling novels, including  the book I’m reading now, When I Found You, which I love, Pay It Forward (Have you seen the movie? It made me cry.) and Becoming Chloe.

Catherine, we want to peer into your life and your writing. Would you please tell everyone about yourself? 

I live in this tiny town, Cambria, California. It’s on the Central Coast, right on the ocean, pretty much equidistant from L.A. and San Francisco, but very far from both. Which is fine with me.

I have a dog and a cat who are more or less the same size and get along beautifully, despite the fact that the dog was an only pet for seven years. I also have a new horse. I’ve only had him for a few weeks. He’s not my first horse, but he’s my first after decades away from riding. But he has a lovely temperament and we’re doing fine.

A typical day may or may not include writing. It’s very feast or famine. It may include writing, kayaking, horseback riding, hiking, interviews or other content like this, social networking, communication with readers, or some lovely combination of the above.

What were you like as a child? How was your childhood?

I think I was a dreamer, and very much a loner. I wasn’t popular at all, so I don’t think I was a loner by choice. (These days I could do either, but I’m still a loner.) I didn’t have a happy childhood. My family was dysfunctional and chaotic, and I always felt a little lost in it. I became the child who blended in with the wallpaper. I guess I figured everybody was busy enough and had problems enough without me adding to their burden. I wrote when I was young, and I knew I wanted to be a writer when I was fourteen. But it took many years—a couple of decades, actually—before I was brave enough to pursue that dream for real.

I am sorry about your childhood. It seems that many writers have struggled with difficult childhoods. Perhaps that’s what put them on the road to writing.  

I feel compelled to write. I don’t know what I would do if I wasn’t a writer. Do you feel the same? Is writing a calling? If you weren’t a writer, what would you be? What did you do before you became a full time writer?

I really don’t want to be anything but a writer. It’s definitely a calling. I feel we all have something we’re supposed to contribute to the world while we’re here, and I know writing is my something.

At one point I figured if my ability to make a living as a writer fell out from under me, which is always a possibility, I would teach writing.

Now I’m close enough to retirement and have managed to squirrel enough away that I figure I’ll just always write, even if I’m not making much money at it. The only other thing I could potentially imagine for myself is being one of those park rangers who spend whole seasons up in fire lookout towers, alone with nature.

But of course that might be something that works better in my head than it would in the real world.

Before I wrote full time I was a dog trainer, a pastry chef, a shade-tree mechanic, a Hearst Castle tour guide and some other comically varied jobs.

You have many skills! Please send me your favorite pastry…

Do you have one or two favorite books, out of your 27 total? Which ones and why?

At first I didn’t. Then I wrote Becoming Chloe, and it was my favorite for many years. Now I have newer books—like When I Found You, Don’t Let Me Go, and Take Me With You, to name just a few—that I think are probably better books. At least, I certainly hope my writing is getting better as I go along. But I still have a heart connection with Becoming Chloe that can’t be left out when answering this question.

The why is harder. How can you really quantify a heart connection? But it seems to have to do with Jordy, the main character—the way he protects Chloe even when he needs so much protection, and the way he tries to prove to her that the world is a beautiful place, when he’s not at all convinced he believes it himself.

What is the legacy that you want your books to leave?

I think what I’m going for (and I really only see this in retrospect—I don’t set out with this kind of theme consciously in mind) is a more open and loving look at what it means to be human.

I feel that a book can be a look into the mind and heart of someone you might not want to know in real life. But, knowing them on the page, there’s that recognition of a common humanity.

I like to be vulnerable and open in my own life when it comes to letting people see that I’m a highly fallible human being. I think when we do that for each other, we all feel a little more human, and it becomes a more positive thing to be.

That would be a great legacy for me: to help my readers feel more human, but in a good way.

I am all for feeling more human.

Speaking of being human, I noticed that you love to hike, take photos, travel, and kayak. Obviously, you love the outdoors. When did this love of the outdoors come about? Do you feel that your love of the outdoors and your love of writing are intertwined?

I can’t honestly say when it came about, but I have an eye for natural beauty. I’m not so crazy about man-made things. Cities will always be ugly and stressful to me.

Nature is more like church. I find a connection there. I get calm, and I feel as though I’m part of everything and vice versa. And once you find that feeling, you will seek it out as often as possible.

At first I think my love of writing was less intertwined. It was more that I went out into nature and recharged, and then came back inside and used that juice in my writing. But the two are becoming more and more intertwined with books like Take Me With You, which is set in great part in the national park system, and The Long Steep Path, which is a collection of nonfiction essays really about life in general, but often about hiking.

Also the one I’m working on now, but I’m not even halfway through the draft, so it’s too soon to talk about it. But the two elements are finding ways to converge, there’s no doubt about that.

I love walking. Nature helps center me, re – charges creativity, and calms me down, so I understand exactly what you’re saying. 

Your five pieces of advice for writers, published and yet – to – be published, would be…

1. Don’t write in a vacuum. Allow reader feedback right from the start. It stings, but it’s unavoidable. Better to thicken your skin early on.

2. Don’t subscribe too tightly to anyone else’s process. Most writers will tell you that it’s a must to write every day. Probably good advice, but I don’t write every day, and I make it work. If you’re getting words down, you’re doing it right.

3. Make up your mind you won’t let rejection stop you. You will get rejected. It doesn’t mean your work is bad, it just means it’s not what that editor is looking for on that day. It’s impossible not to feel bad, so go ahead and feel bad. Just don’t let it stop you.

4. Never, ever argue with a reviewer. Never make anyone feel that their opinion is wrong, or that they have no right not to like your work. Even if they are overly snide or hurtful. How can you stop others from being snide or hurtful? You can’t. You will only end up looking like a sore loser. Walk away. Complain to your best friend. Offline.

5. People are more likely to buy a book by an author they like, so be careful what you put out online. Be human, be honest, be interesting. Don’t act like you’re any better or worse than those with whom you’re connecting.

And don’t say, “Buy my book, buy my book, buy my book.” Just be yourself, and occasionally share book news, such as an award or good review. If the readers like you, and get to know you, they’ll probably buy your book.

I see that you have been traditionally published and now publish with Lake Union, the publishing branch of Amazon. Can you talk a little bit about your publishing history and why you chose to go with Amazon?

I also have indie editions and indie books. So I’m pretty much the consummate hybrid.

I chose to go with Amazon because the traditional adult US publishers were no longer an option. They were not taking a chance on me anymore. So indie seemed like my only option.

Then one of my indies took off, and Amazon Publishing came to me, and they were the best thing that could have happened to my career. I feel very lucky to have them. Before they came along I was struggling to make the mortgage payment. Now there isn’t one.

What are three things you are most proud of, and yes, you can include your Pay It Forward Foundation!

My biography as a whole. I love that I’ve climbed Mt Katahdin and hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu and then shared a dais will Bill Clinton as a public speaker. And that I’m adding being a horse owner back in, right around the time I turn sixty. I read it and I’m reminded that I’ve led an interesting life so far. I think you can’t ask for much more than that.

The fact that I have a great relationship with so many of my readers. They email me and I answer, and we correspond. They join me on Facebook and we get to know each other, and support each other day to day. It’s a wonderful community.

And yes, my Pay It Forward Foundation, and the way that phrase and idea has spread.

What will you be doing in ten years?

This. If I’m lucky, this.

Thank you so much for your time and honesty, Catherine.  I’m looking forward to reading another one of your books. 

Visit with Catherine here….

My website: http://www.catherineryanhyde.com/

My blog: http://www.catherineryanhyde.com/blog/

My photo site: http://catherineryanhyde.photo/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cryanhyde

Facebook profile: https://www.facebook.com/crhyde

Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Catherine-Ryan-Hyde/55974126195