Interview with Crime Writer Catherine Rymsha – S. 10, Ep. 7

The Crime Cafe

This week’s episode of the Crime Cafe podcast features my interview with crime writer Catherine Rymsha.

Check out our discussion about leadership skills and crime fiction writing.

You can download a PDF of the transcript here.

Debbi: Hi everyone. My guest today has a career in workplace communication and management. She teaches leadership skills and has a nonfiction book called The Leadership Decision which she published before her crime novel. Her crime novel is Stunning. It’s called Stunning, and in addition, she has given a TED Talk on the importance of listening, so listen up. You might learn something. It’s my great pleasure to have with me today, Catherine Rymsha. I hope I’m pronouncing that correctly.

Catherine: You are. Thank you. Yes, you are.

Debbi: Excellent. Wonderful.

Catherine: So happy to be here.

Debbi: I was going to ask you about that, and I’d completely forgotten, in the big hubbub of trying to get connected.

Catherine: That’s fine.

Debbi: You wouldn’t believe, people. Anyway, thank you so much for being here. What is it that made you decide to write a novel, and a mystery at that?

Catherine: I love murders.

Debbi: Who doesn’t?

Catherine: It’s so odd saying that, but I’m talking to an audience who understands that. I love crime, I love murder. Even as a kid, I was reading like the Fear Street books and R.L. Stein and Goosebumps, and then ventured into Stephen King and then started to watch everything on ID, and 20/20 and Dateline, and all of those shows that dig into it. When I was a kid, I always wanted to write and I fell into leadership and wrote a ton about leadership, which for some, that’s not the most thrilling topic in the world, which I understand totally. But then, I was pregnant when I wrote Stunning. It was a dream. It was based on a dream that I had, and I kept having the dream, and I thought maybe I should write this down and I just started writing. I would write before bed and just write, write, write when I had time and I wasn’t sleeping or working a real job, and that’s how it came about. It just felt like it needed to get out of my brain.

Even as a kid, I was reading like the Fear Street books and R.L. Stein and Goosebumps, and then ventured into Stephen King and then started to watch everything on ID, and 20/20 and Dateline, and all of those shows that dig into it.

Debbi: Interesting. So do you picture writing more books, or is this like your one shot ?

Catherine: I just came out with a textbook, also not as thrilling, very academic, but I want to get back into writing murder and crime and even if I could do something based on real life murder or crime. I think those are things that are interesting to me to explore next. But I do want to start getting into it and I keep saying that, and I thought all summer I’ll write another book. And now summer has come and gone and the book is not written. So I’m thinking, well, maybe in the fall. I say that and I laugh because I don’t know if it’s going to happen that quickly, but it’s more fun than writing leadership. I mean, leadership is important but crime and murder and making things up is way more fun.

Debbi: Making things up is fun.

Catherine: Yes.

Debbi: It’s its own form of work, but at the same time it’s fun work.

Catherine: It is fun work.

Debbi: Yeah. Your books – do you have a traditional, hybrid or are you self-published?

Catherine: I am self-published with my first two, but the textbook, I did work with a publishing company, so that was interesting too, to have that experience after doing two on my own and working with editors and beta readers and that whole spiel.

Debbi: The whole shebang, yes.

Catherine: The whole team.

Debbi: I was going to ask you about your publishing journey. What has it been like for you? Has it been what you expected?

Catherine: With the first one, it was a learning curve, because I wanted to find an editor and I found an excellent editor named Sandy. She was so great at walking me through the entire process because she’s very experienced and does a lot of writing herself and writes books for authors trying to get published for the first time, and she is just brilliant at everything she does. So with having her, that was amazing. I can’t quite remember how I found her. I think I just found her through an online platform or a Google search or something, but she was a huge help. So even though I found it a little overwhelming at times and expensive at times, she really made it feel worth it. And then with the second book, it felt like a breeze because I knew what to expect and it just went a lot quicker.

But I would say there’s so many tools out there, as you know, for authors to use and to benefit from and to get their work out there that it’s no longer … I can look back now and think it’s not as bad as what I thought it was going to be. It can be expensive and you sell books but I haven’t kind of broken even with it yet. So that’s been interesting too.

I would say there’s so many tools out there, as you know, for authors to use and to benefit from and to get their work out there that it’s no longer … I can look back now and think it’s not as bad as what I thought it was going to be.

Debbi: It does add up. Everything out there does add up. It’s incredible. So what is your writing schedule like then?

Catherine: I write at night. I have two twin boys who are two now. Like I said, I was pregnant with them when I was writing the book and publishing it. But now it’s trying to fit it in when I can. So whether it’s before bed, between classes at UMass or early in the morning if I wake up before my kids, then those are the times that I try to fit it in. I wish I had more time, which I know everybody says, to write, but I think it’s just that matter of discipline, committing to a schedule.

Debbi: It’s a matter of discipline. Yes, very much so. It sounds like you have a plan that involves catching time periods where you can, how you can pretty much.

Catherine: Yes. I was listening to another one of your podcasts about writing in the airport and even just having that pen and paper, and I think that’s the thing. I take voice memos and then I take a screenshot of what the voice memo picked up, because if I don’t remember this thought or idea, I’m going to lose it. I don’t often have pencils and paper around these days.

I take voice memos and then I take a screenshot of what the voice memo picked up, because if I don’t remember this thought or idea, I’m going to lose it. I don’t often have pencils and paper around these days.

Debbi: Yes. That’s true. I’ve done that myself actually. I find all sorts of things I wrote years ago that I forgot about. It’s interesting. What authors have most inspired you to write in this genre?

Catherine: I think it’s going back to that R.L. Stein starting as a kid. I think those Fear Street books, Goosebumps books really caught my attention. Also then in high school, I started reading Stephen King, as most high schoolers start to do. I shouldn’t say most high schoolers. I think at the time a lot of my colleagues and peers and friends were. I don’t know if Stephen King is as popular now with the younger demographic, although I want to make sure. I assume he is, but I think folks like that who were pretty mainstream and out there and being published and seen as real authors were the ones that got me kind of hungry to write, and now many years later, writing in this particular genre.

Debbi: Yes. I have to read those Goosebumps books sometime because I keep hearing about them. It’s a period that I didn’t because I didn’t have kids so there are all these children’s books that sound so intriguing to me that I don’t know about.

Catherine: I look back and I think – I didn’t mean to interrupt you – but I’m like, oh my gosh, I was reading some of this at 12, 13. 10 I think I started with some of these books, and they got their hooks in me, I guess.

Debbi: I think they can be equally entertaining for adults.

Catherine: Oh, totally.

Debbi: I like that. I love stuff like that, just to go off and read a middle grade or a child’s book or a teenage, a young adult just for something different, to get away from the adults for a while.

Catherine: Oh, a hundred percent. Gives you a new perspective.

Debbi: Yes. Your book is set in New England, correct? Which is where you are.

Catherine: Yes. I’m in Massachusetts in the greater Newburyport area, so if you’re looking at a map, right on the New Hampshire/Massachusetts line, and my book kind of bounces around with perspective. So it’s thinking about some activities happening years ago in Boston or even at Amherst, and some events happening here in Newburyport, and then some bouncing up to Mount Katahdin in Maine, and really just having some fun with playing around with locations and perspective and time. That’s where I tried to weave some of that into Stunning.

I’m in Massachusetts in the greater Newburyport area, so if you’re looking at a map, right on the New Hampshire/Massachusetts line, and my book kind of bounces around with perspective.

Debbi: That sounds like fun. I love when a book gives you a sense of the place where it’s set, and it sounds like it’s set in some pretty interesting places. I’ve been to Mount Katahdin. [Correction: It was actually Cadillac Mountain.] It’s really nice. We went camping there and I remember the shoreline reminded me of California.

Catherine: Yes. Beautiful

Debbi: The rocky shoreline.

Catherine: It’s beautiful. I mean, Maine’s got so many great spots, but that Mount Katahdin is breathtaking.

Debbi: Yeah. Wow. If there’s one trait or theme that tends to come out in your writing, what do you think it would … the most major theme or device or whatever you use in your work, what would it be?

Catherine: I think it’s perspective. When I teach, and like I said, I teach leadership and management, and I talk often about perspective that people can look at a leader and somebody can think they’re amazing and excellent, and some people can think they’re a complete dud, and it’s always the debate of who’s right or who’s wrong. And this is where, when I wrote Stunning, I talked so much about perception is reality, and how do you understand behavior from a business and management standpoint that I wanted to incorporate some of that into Stunning of like, okay, here’s the perception of one person and how they’re thinking and seeing a situation. Here’s the perspective and thoughts of another person who is going to see that situation in a very different and unique way. And if you’re trying to think about peoples’ sides to stories and making your own assumptions and conclusions and your own perception of what’s going on or what’s happening, I think that was one thing that I try to get across in leadership is that there are different sides and different perceptions. That was one thing that when I wrote Stunning, I wanted to be kind of factual of dates and times, because I just tend to think like that. But it was also the matter too, of thinking, Hey, this is how this person is seeing something that’s going to come up with a murder, and this is how this other person’s going to see and experience it, and how do you as the reader make your own conclusions in starting to think about what’s happening or what’s going to unfold.

I teach leadership and management, and I talk often about perspective that people can look at a leader and somebody can think they’re amazing and excellent, and some people can think they’re a complete dud, and it’s always the debate of who’s right or who’s wrong.

Debbi: Yes. It’s interesting playing with peoples’ perspectives and perceptions. It’s key to writing a mystery, really.

Catherine: It totally is.

Debbi: It’s exploring peoples’ psychology at the same time that you’re telling the story. Pretty cool.

Catherine: And I think for some of the books and even the crime shows or murder shows that I watch or listen to and what have you, I think the ones that have characters that have opinions or perspective and you feel like you can relate to them or that you would be their friend in “real life” are the ones that really do resonate with me the most, so trying to think about what that looks like for my own writing .

Debbi: Absolutely. Really. What advice would you give to somebody who would like to write for a living?

Catherine: I would say find a good editor. Like I said, my editor Sandy Wendell has been absolutely phenomenal. She’s just an expert in this, and I think if I hadn’t met her, I don’t think I would’ve done more. I still work with her. I beta read for a lot of other folks that she’s editing for, and I have a great relationship with her. I think it’s a matter of finding an editor and doing your research, because I did use one website and I found an editor for my fiction book, and the editor on there charged me an incredible amount of money to edit it and they didn’t edit the book. It was a bit of a nightmare and thinking of saying to this editor, you didn’t edit it. Oh yes, I did. And you have to then go through line by line and try to …

Debbi: Oh my God!

Catherine: Self-edit and then try to talk to the company that joined the two of you together by saying hey, I just spent $2000 or $1800, whatever it was at the time, to have somebody look at this.

Debbi: Oh, my gosh.

Catherine: And I thought it was a nightmare. They did side with me because there was so much not done in the book, which would’ve been very embarrassing to put out there. But I would say if somebody’s thinking about getting into this, find a good editor or find another author as a peer or a mentor to walk you through the process, and then it doesn’t seem as bad or scary.

Debbi: Have you ever considered joining a writer’s group?

Catherine: I have. And I did it more when I was, I say younger in writing, maybe in my college, early twenties when I was writing a lot, but not really doing anything with it. I am involved with a writers’ group now on Facebook, although I hate to admit that I don’t really do much with it, but I can see the people’s conversations and comments and what have you, and gatherings and things that they do. And I think, gosh, I really should do more of this because this could be of a huge value and then I just don’t. But I would say that those types of groups and support, to your point, can be incredibly beneficial in trying to navigate this and understand it, especially like the marketing of books after it’s all said and done because that’s its whole other monster.

Debbi: Oh, yes. I don’t think people really have a sense of how much work authors do in terms of marketing their books. It’s just incredible. And especially now when there’s just so much to choose from, it’s almost like you’ve got the paradox of choice at work here. It’s like okay, which one of these things is really best for me?

Catherine: Right, right, right.

Debbi: I suspect what it comes down to is you have to pick something that you think works for you and is actually making connections or something to that effect. That’s just my theory.

Catherine: I think it’s a good one. It’s a good theory to have.

Debbi: It’s all I can ever suggest to anybody. Find something that seems to work for you and lean into that. Is there anything else you’d like to add before we finish up about your books, about what your plans are? Anything?

Catherine: So, again, ready to go back to teach in a couple weeks with school just around the corner. Like I said, I don’t think I’m ever going to write a textbook again, but I would say that’s been a pretty thrilling experience. But the one thing that I’ve noticed, especially since I do a lot of I’ll say beta reading for people who are working with Sandy, is that so many people have so many great book ideas, and they put so much into their books. Some of the books that I’ve beta read for her have been brilliant. And then sometimes you get these books from people trying to write and publish their first book and kind of check that off their “bucket list”. And it seems like people try to – and I hate this expression but I’m going to use it – boil the ocean.

People with that first book. I think they’re trying to get everything in it in order to have it be representative of them and their life and their writing and their expertise and how brilliant they are. I get it because people have lives. They want to share that. I mean, the point of being a writer is thinking about those connections and considering how you can change the world or bring value or whatever that might look like to someone’s noble cause in doing this. The reason I bring that up is because I think for people who are considering writing or even other writers, it’s just a matter of understanding. You don’t have to do it all in one book. You can write another, and there’s nothing wrong with writing articles. It doesn’t always have to be a book. I think that’s one thing that I’m thinking about a lot is that you don’t have to always write a book to be a writer. There are other ways to write too.

The reason I bring that up is because I think for people who are considering writing or even other writers, it’s just a matter of understanding. You don’t have to do it all in one book. You can write another, and there’s nothing wrong with writing articles. It doesn’t always have to be a book.

Debbi: Absolutely correct. Absolutely. I just did a book review for a local newspaper for the first time in, I don’t know how many years. It’s been a long, long time. So it was really kind of a cool experience to do that. Just to be able to do that

Catherine: That’s cool. That’s awesome.

Debbi: Well, it’s been a pleasure talking to you. Before we go, I just want to ask, do you think it would help authors to take leadership courses or to learn more about leadership in general?

Catherine: Ooh, that’s a great question. I never thought about that. I think everyone can benefit from a leadership class, and it doesn’t necessarily need to be like an MBA level seminar of struggling through 12, 8, 16, whatever the week amount is. There’s so many great podcasts and webinars on leadership out there that people can benefit from. But I think even where an intro course can be beneficial is trying to help people think about their own behavior and how they are perceived, like we’ve been talking about, but also trying to understand where they could make small tweaks in how they interact with others that can make them more effective. People always say I want to be a better communicator. Well, that too is this huge loaded word. Well, what does that look like? I think this is where authors can think about how they show up when they talk or represent their book or on social media, and how are they seen as leaders themselves? So I think there’s benefits in understanding how you want to be perceived and what you want your own brand to look like.

One thing that I talk about with my students a lot is what’s your leadership brand? Some consultants and academics call it a leadership legacy. I like the idea of a brand. How do you want people to define the value that you bring? And to your question, I think that lens can be applied to writing and being an author. What do you want people to feel when they read what you write? How do you want to be perceived? How do you want people to talk about you when you’re not there? I think those can be all important parts of leadership, but also in being an author.

Debbi: That’s great what you’re saying. You’re reading my mind a little bit.

Catherine: Oh, good. Perfect.

Debbi: We’re kind of vibing here. I definitely get what you’re saying and it’s really good advice.

Catherine: Oh, good. Hope it helps.

Debbi: Oh, I think everybody could benefit from learning about leadership skills and how to take responsibility for your own career. Learn to use your strengths, lean into your strengths rather than trying to do everything, all that kind of stuff, delegating when necessary.

Catherine: Yes. All those loaded things.

Debbi: Yes. All those things, but I want to thank you so much for being here and talking with us today. Thank you for sharing your expertise now with us. Everybody should watch your Ted Talk

Catherine: My pleasure. Thank you.

Debbi: What’s it called again?

Catherine: Want to become a better leader? Here’s how. Just listen. So a little play on words there.

Debbi: Just listen. Yeah, just listen. Always good to listen.

Catherine: Yes.

Debbi: So I’ll just put in a quick plug while we’re at it for my fundraiser. I’ve started a team to raise funds for the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation. I have dystonia, so I know what it’s like. I know that there should be more research done to find a cure for this condition. I will include a link with the show notes and hopefully, it’s free to join the team. You don’t have to pay anything, but if you can join the team, it helps show support for raising money for this condition that people don’t know about. A lot of people don’t know about it. It’s a movement disorder, in case you were wondering. So in any case, on that note, I will just finish up by saying that our next guest will be Tom Fowler. And until then, take care and happy reading.

*****

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