About Catherine Townsend-Lyon, Author:
Catherine a TKG Publishing Best Selling Author and the Prolific writer of the book titled; “Addicted To Dimes” (Confessions of a liar and a Cheat). It is a powerful memoir of her life, and all she has endured, battled, and much to overcome. Her 8 years in recovery from addicted gambling and alcohol abuse proves anyone can recover, turn their lives around and have a beautiful life in recovery.
Catherine’s insightful journey of gambling addiction, living with mental illness and disorders, and a survivor of childhood sex abuse and trauma, parental & verbal abuse into adulthood, seemed to have created a ‘Perfect Storm’ for addiction later in life, and set the stage for addicted behaviors & habits, as she used to ‘escape’ her painful past. Today she is well known and respected in the addiction & recovery online community, as she advocates to help educate, inform, and raise awareness of compulsive addicted gambling.
It is mainly what her first book is about. How one can turn to addiction when unhealthy underlying issues are not addressed in a proper manner. Her story is a haunting, dark, and sometimes hard to read journey of a woman clawing her way back to reclaiming her life back. Without polish or prose, Catherine gives the public an in-depth, insightful view of the dark side of gambling, and how she recovered. Her second and third books will release late 2015.
What inspires you to write?
What inspires me to write? Interesting question. Many reasons why I write, blog, and advocate is to be of recovery service to others. My book was purely a “spiritual intervention” as I didn’t set out to write a book or manuscript. I have always been a diary and journaling geek, but it came more important when I entered long-term recovery. I did however love to write poetry as a teenager, but then Life came calling. Today I write to share hope to others in recovery from this devastating disease called; Gambling Addiction!
My book however was inspired by, or what got me to write and see on paper, all the horrible things I’d done, been through, and almost lost my life twice from compulsive addicted gambling. I share in the beginning of my book, Addicted To Dimes, why I wrote my book. It was after I read a newspaper article of a woman who committed suicide in her Casino Hotel room. They rest? You’ll have to read my book for the, “rest of the story” . . . .
Tell us about your writing process.
How my first book became a book manuscript, thanks to a friend that is an editor of our local newspaper, and she needed a project for her finals in college. I just went and bought 5 notebooks of paper and starting writing about my life, and what I’d been through starting as a little girl. It just came pouring out of me for a whole year. So I guess I’m old fashioned in this day and age of computers. I didn’t even own a computer when I began to write all my words, instead I filled those 5 notebooks by writing what was in my heart and wrote by hand.
What advice would you give other writers?
I tell everyone when I’m asked this question, and the best advice I was given as a writer from my publisher at: The Kodel Empire Publishing Group (TKG) was, “write what you know, write with passion, and it takes many, many hours of book promoting to gain your readership!” . . . And boy was my publisher, Steve Laible exactly right! Advice to other writers? Look over your publishing agreements/contracts carefully. If a publisher promises to help promote your book when it releases? Get It In Writing!
How did you decide how to publish your books?
Of course I mentioned above as to why I started writing. And how my book became a manuscript, thanks to my friend Julie Hall, at our local newspaper. But, she took it a step father, as she faxed the first 50 pages of the manuscript to a friend of hers who happened to be a local publisher. He, (Steve Laible of TKG) called me and said my manuscript NEEDS to be published to help others who are afflicted with addicted or problem gambling, living with mental/emotional health issues like myself, and would give many a voice who also endured childhood trauma and abuse as I did.
And that’s how my book; Addicted To Dimes came to be! I became a writer and a first time published author on my 50th birthday!
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I feel now that many are self-publishing their books on there own through many fantastic self-publishing platforms, it has changed the whole landscape of publishing! The big publishing firms are no required to become a well known author any longer. Now a days, the big publishing firms won’t even look a manuscripts unless your already a NY Times best seller, a famous person, or even a well known reality or sports star. Very sad indeed.
On the flip side to this, self-publishing has it’s good and bad points. Bad? It has flooded the book market, so it takes a lot of book promoting creativity to get your books noticed. The Good? It gives many, many writers of all types a fair chance to share their craft as writers to the reading mass’s. Yes, Authors like, ‘E L James of Fifty Shades of Grey’ are a rare breed, an unknown going huge overnight, but a least we have that opportunity for our writings and books be seen, read, and enjoyed by readers. Much of this comes from my own business and experience as a Book Promoter myself.
What do you use?: Professional Editor, Professional Cover Designer
What genres do you write?: Non-Fiction, Recovery Writer, Memoir/Biography, Self-Help,
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
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Catherine Townsend-Lyon, Author Home Page Link
Link To Catherine Townsend-Lyon, Author Page On Amazon
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