Author Bio:
Christened ‘The Hardest Working Woman in the Arts,’ Chicago native Cat Ellington is a highly distinctive public figure whose professional creativity extends a number of artistic fields, including music, movies, art, and literature.
A multi-genre songwriter, casting director, poet, and professional art model, the innovative Ellington who, in addition to contributing to the literary community as a consecutively published book reviewer, is also the author of the Reviews by Cat Ellington Complete Anthology series.
Outside of her professional element, Cat enjoys reading, listening to tons of music, cooking, baking, collecting charm bracelets, watching Lifetime Movies, sailing, jet skiing, playing tennis, and eating frozen yogurt — lots of it.
What inspires you to write?
Everything from my past life experiences to my present life experiences to my loved ones and their life experiences to complete strangers and their life experiences to my friends and my self-proclaimed foes to the Holy Scriptures to motion pictures to sound recordings to literature to the earth and all of its fullness, etc. There are many, many inspirations behind the Cat Ellington song work, the Cat Ellington poem, the Cat Ellington review, and the Cat Ellington work of nonfiction.
Tell us about your writing process.
I am an author of the analytical critique. And because of that, a ton of research is done by me in order to bring an examination into comprehensive being. No sooner than I begin to read a book through to at least the second chapter, than I am already gathering research and laying a foundation for its review in my mind. And yes, I go through a TON of paper in the review writing process as I write out so many notes: setting, characters, the book's body, the book's spirit, how well the works represents its respective genre, the author's writing skills, etc. My debut effort, Reviews by Cat Ellington: The Complete Anthology, Vol. 1, is representative of my vast note taking and the extensive research I do for every review that I compose. For with the Cat Ellington critique, there will always be something mentioned that will strongly engage the thought process, something educational that my readers will be able to gain great wisdom from. For it is the wisdom of my analyses in which I take tremendous pride. And I am grateful and humbled to be utilized as a creative vessel in that regard.
Who are your favorite authors?
Stephen King (who I playfully refer to as my "Maine man") is an author whose books have always possessed the power to encourage an up-all-night-reader in me. His Night Shift and Needful Things are just two examples.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
In 2005, I founded Quill Pen Ink Publishing, the issuing entity through which my literary work (specifically my considerable collection of poetry) would be published. Little did I know that the house would also produce my decades-old collection of film and literary reviews once they were restructured into book manuscripts.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I think that as long as there are authors writing books there will be book publishing entities (be they major or independent) in the business of distributing those works out into the marketplace for the public-at-large. Technology is ever-changing, sure, but no form of scientific knowledge, at least not in my own personal opinion, will ever stomp out the book publishing industry, just as no Internet outlet or social media platform will ever fully take the place of brick and mortar stores, print media businesses, movie theaters, bookstores, etc. Book publishing will always have a future, I believe. The methods of many companies may mold to adapt to the times, absolutely, but they'll always be around. And God knows that's a good thing.
What genres do you write?
Nonfiction
What formats are your books in?
eBook, Print
Website(s)
Cat Ellington Home Page Link
Follow Cat Ellington On Amazon
Link to Author Page on Smashwords
Author’s Social Media Links
Goodreads
Twitter
All information is provided by the author and is presented as it was submitted so you the reader get to hear the author’s own “voice” in their interview.
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