May 2021 Member of the Month, Kathleen McCabe. Interview with Laura Engel, SDMWA President
LE: Congratulations Kathleen. We are delighted to introduce you as our May Member of the Month. How did you first discover SDMWA?
KM: I was taking a class with Marni Freedman when the concept came up. I attended the first organizational meeting.
LE: Have you always been a writer? If not, when did you start writing?
KM: I have been writing ever since I can remember. I recall trying to write a description of my (very messy) room as a child. I have kept a diary since 4th grade. I took writing classes in high school and college. I continued to journal throughout my life. But I never took it seriously until I started taking Marni’s class at San Diego Writers Ink.
LE: Have writing classes made a big impact on your writing?
KM: Absolutely. Writing “in the closet” does not bring feedback. Feedback makes the writing better. Classes teach technique and structure and dialogue, and so many things. And being in a group creates comradery with fellow writers, regardless of our genre.
LE: Kathleen, we would love to hear about what you are presently writing.
KM: I am completing a memoir. It has been six years, I think, since I started it. Before that, I had a different personal story I was working on, and part of it was adapted to a short story, “Thirty Bucks” and then produced in this year’s Memoir Showcase. Both are about being the mother of an addict. I have also been toying with an idea for a book of fiction.
LE: What are you presently reading? Do you recommend it as a good read for the Memoir Writers?
KM: I listen to lots of recorded books, alternating between memoir, non-fiction that I think will teach me something, and occasionally I treat myself to a mystery. Truthfully, the best books are better read than listened to. Some passages need to be read over and over.
LE: What are some of your favorite memoirs?
KM: “A Long Way Gone” by Ishmael Beah, “Running for My Life” by Lopez Lomong, “Dear Leader: My Escape from North Korea” by Jang Jang-sung are a few that are not on the usual list.
LE: And favorite authors?
KM: I don’t know that I have a favorite author, although there are some that I go back to confident of a good read. Celest Ng, Sue Monk Kidd, Luis Alberto Urrea. George Sanders’s “Tenth of December” was amazing. “Olive Kitteridge” by Elizabeth Strout is brilliant. “Housekeeping” by Marilynne Robinson is writing that I aspire to. And I love Louise Penny mysteries.
LE: Oh yes, I agree- excellent authors and books you mention here. Thank you. What advice would you give new writers?
KM: Keep writing. Take a class. Join a Read and Critique group. Take a chance and share your work.
LE: How can our members find you? Website, Social Media?
KM: My author website is in process. I am also an artist working in fabric, you can see my work at kathleenmccabe.art
LE: Thank you Kathleen. It is a pleasure announcing you as our May Member of the Month. We all appreciate you here at SDMWA and I am truly honored to write along side of you.