About Me — Cathylouise
Constantly exhausted chronic illness survivor with a passion for words that sometimes come together into readable sentences.
Hi, I never know what to write when it comes to telling people about me. I’m not much good at small talk and usually express who I am through my poetry. Anyway, we’ll give this a try.
I’m Cathy. I’m a 47-year-old mother of a teenage daughter and two dogs. I’m a writer, poet, ex-teacher, pagan, cosplayer and chronic illness survivor. Born and raised in East London within the sound of Bow Bells (making me a real-life Cockney), I had a pretty much uneventful life up until I moved to Plymouth for University at 18.
I completed a four-year teaching degree despite becoming very ill towards the end of the third year and spending much of that summer unable to complete the smallest task and being looked after by my parents.
I married for the first time in my 20s’ and filed for divorce after just a year. It was an experience that allowed me to see the best and worst in many people and the gift of being a part of my stepchildren’s lives.
Around this time, I realised I would never be able to manage a full-time teaching post. I had already put my writing on the back burner after losing what little confidence I had.
I completed a second degree in Theology and Philosophy after the break up of my marriage. Around this time, I met someone who helped rebuild my shattered confidence. While the relationship didn’t last, the friendship did, and although we saw little of each other towards the end of his life, we remained friends until cancer stole him away.
I married for the second time in my early 30s’ by which time all thoughts of being a writer had pretty much disappeared. I still scribbled ideas and poems, but no one ever saw them. Having my daughter changed my mindset, if not the time I had available.
By the time she was ready to start school, it was clear that she needed additional support. I stopped working full-time as a nursery deputy manager and started my next challenge as a freelance writer and tutor, allowing me to attend the many appointments, fill in the never-ending forms and be there when I was needed.
I have now run a mainly successful freelancing business for 9 years and began seriously thinking about writing fiction about 3 years ago when my daughter introduced me to Manga and Anime, particularly Black Butler. I have since published work on Wattpad, Vocal and more recently on Medium while continuing with the freelancing and writing my demon fantasy/romance novel.
When I’m not writing, I spend time cosplaying some of my favourite anime characters and attending ComicCons with my daughter. I’m also tentatively moving into the world of DnD, which may feature in my future writing, so what this space.
My poetry includes works on mental health, living with chronic illness, and my take on love poetry:
My non-fiction articles include a four-part series on freelancing:
How to Survive as a Freelance Content Writer
My fiction tends to be erotic in nature and includes demons and other creatures that lurk in the darkest corners of our imagination. It is now published under my pen name Lorelei_Sands.
More recently, I took part in the 100 Story Challenge
I’ve restarted a serial novel that I shelved in 2006
And started the 100 story challenge for a second time