Page Created: 11/23/24. Last Updated: 11/23/24.
CAITLIN ROZAKIS / CATHERINE BECK
ONLINE
Website: <https://www.caitlinrozakis.com/>
SOCIAL MEDIA
Linktr.ee: <https://linktr.ee/caitlinrozakis>
BOOKS
Dreadful.....Fantasy Novel
Leah's Perfect Christmas (as Catherine Beck).....Contemporary Romance Novella / Hallmark Movie - Leah's Perfect Gift
Meeting Date: November 9, 2024.
Meeting Site: Barnes & Noble. Paramus, New Jersey.
Attendance: 24 + 7.
Meeting Program: Talk / Q & A w/ Fantasy / Romance Author.
Notes:
Barnes & Noble was confident that our speaker would draw a crowd, so we scheduled a separate 4:00 PM author signing in addition to the club event. Club members Philip De Parto, James Kim, and one other person attended. Fortunately the meeting turnout was good.
There was no Ice Nine pre-meeting discussion.
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2024 Philip J De Parto:
The monthly General Meeting of the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County was held at Barnes & Noble in Paramus, New Jersey on Saturday, November 9, 2024. Author Caitlin Rozakis was our speaker.
This was our second meeting at the store and we learned from the prior session. The zoom worked better (thank you, Claire) and we had a better turnout. Still couldn't make the pre-meeting Ice Nine session work. The store's 3:00 PM author signing was a disaster with only Philip De Parto, James Kim, and a passerby attending,
Corporate Marketing Consultant Rebecca Rozakis uses Caitlin Rozakis when writing fantasy and Catherine Beck when writing romance. Her first fantasy novel, DREADFUL, was an unexpected bestseller. Her lone romance book, LEAH'S PERFECT CHRISTMAS, a self-published novella, will screen as Hallmark movie LEAH'S PERFECT GIFT, later this month.
DREADFUL is a snarky, comedic fantasy about a would-be evil overlord who has lost his memory and has no idea why he has a princess in his tower, a dragon in the basement, and an army of orcs impatient for him to issue orders. The set up is based on a one-shot Dugneons & Dragons adventure that her husband ran once and then forgot about. The author believes that people are fundamentally ridiculous, that everyone is more complicated than the face they show the world, and that humor is best realized with normal people encountering bizarre situations. Comedic highlights include the garlic festival (a fungus wiped out all the vegetables except garlic) and the moat squid issues of toxic mollusk-ulinity.
DREADFUL is her first published novel, but not the first book she had written. Previous works included one done for NaNoWriMo ("It wasn't bad, it wasn't good, it was just...meh") and two steampunk opuses she wrote after the steampunk craze crashed. CAITLIN describes herself as the worst combination of a plotter and a pantser. She outlines her books in a spreadsheet (she organized her wedding plans in a spreadsheet and uses them for holiday planning), but disregards much of what she has outlined. She is a working mom and has to write when she can. Her favorite places to work are her porch or in a cafe.
The novel was published by Titan Books, a mid-sized UK publisher. Part of its appeal is that it is the first book released in America (as a Barnes & Noble Special Edition) to feature Sprayer Edges. Sprayers are the illustrations which appear on the side of a book opposite the spine. They had appeared intermittently on some British releases, but DREADFUL was the first time the format had been used in the US. The combination of cozy content and clever packaging made it into a runaway hit.
Caitlin is currently working on three books. She is doing publicity for DREADFUL, making final edits on THE GRIMOIRE SCHOOL PARENT TEACHER ASSOCIATION (due out in 2025), and writing the untitled book after that one. The plot for GRIMOIRE is that a normal couple's five-year-old daughter has been bitten by a werewolf and must enroll in a snooty New England school for supernatural creatures. It offers a satiric look at school supplies, educational politics and fund-raising bake sales. Additional notes can be found at the club website under 2024 - 11/2024 Meeting.
Meeting Notes:
Moat Squid - Toxic Musclinity
Good & Evil & Reversals
Writing to Courier Post (newspaper) in 5th Grade
First published story in 2007
First completed novel was meh work for NaNoWriMo
Eye of Argon
Wrote two unpublished Steampunk novels after steampunk was passe.
Couldn't write small
Opening DREADFUL scene based on one-shot D & D game run by her husband. She wanted to write about that memory-wiped wizard
Worst combination of plotter and pantser
Major rewrite of last third of book - had to be completely reworked
Everyone is more complicated than they first appear
What image do we present to the world?
Characters react in a normal way to a ridiculous situation
One character was originally two different people
Leah's Perfect Christmas was retitled by Hallmark to Leah's Perfect Gift
On movie set for two days
Self published Leah's Perfect Christmas. Producer saw her FaceBook post about the work, read it, and contacted her.
Day job was in corporate marketing. Recently laid off
Uses real name (Rebecca Rozakis) for her corporate writing, Caitlin Rozakis for fantasy. Catherine Beck for romance.
Novels and short stories require different skill sets
Short stories allow you to experiment
You are clearly making a reference, but no one gets it.
Wrote Dreadful 2016 - 2018. Querying to agents in 2019. Original agent left business, but agency replacement connected
Signed 2021 contract for 2024 publication
Issued by Titan Books, a mid-sized U K publisher
Sprayer Edges (designs on the side of the book opposite the spine) had appeared in the UK for several years, but not in the US.
Garlic Festival - What if all the crops had failed and there was nothing to eat but garlic?
Leah's Perfect Christmas just popped into her head. It is a love letter to New York
Only in New York - 200 tuba flash concert at Rockerfeller Center Ice Rink
Outlines in a spreadsheet
Organized her wedding and vacations on a spreadsheet
Writes in Google Docs and Microsoft Word
Working mom - writes when she can
Likes to write in cafes or on her porch
People are fundamentally ridiculous
Writes 5 - 6 chapters - then brings to critique group
What promises did I make to the reader?
Where do you think story is going?
Dreadful sold way better than anyone (author, agent, publisher) expected
Simultaneously promoting Dreadful, rewriting The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association, and working on next book
After she showed her new book to her critique group, she dropped 4 of the 8 chapters
Writes satire which is always bound up with anger
Tendency to over populate her books with characters
If you kill a character on the page, everyone mourns; if you kill a character in a draft, only you
Names