South Tempe resident Cathie Cameron had a dream to hold her own book in her hands one day, and that time has finally come.
Cameron just released her first book, Dead Enough, a dark novel set in the east Valley.
“Every now and again, I have these stories in my head,” she said. “And I’ve never put them down on paper, so I just decided to start writing.”
Cameron said her husband, Gordon, self-published a technical book on Trizics, which encompasses a relatively new concept of technical innovation. After watching him wade through the process of publishing his book, Cameron was inspired to write her own.
“It was really my husband who influenced me, because he spent four years writing the technical book,” she said. “After watching him go through the process, I thought I would do the same.”
Cameron and her husband are originally from Scotland, and have lived in Tempe for 15 years.
Cameron said she initially developed the concept for her novel after watching her mother suffer with dementia before she passed away 10 years ago.
“The book is a horror-thriller,” she said. “It has to do with the concept of what you experience when you go through losing your mind. It was mainly influenced from watching my mother – your ‘self’ goes away.”
Although Cameron said she did not write much before, other than technical reports for her professional career in litigation, she always had ideas for stories.
“It (the idea for her book) just came to me,” she said. “I think I’ve always had a knack for imagination.”
In Scotland, Cameron said she wasn’t exposed to a wide variety of authors. However, she began to discover more literature while her kids were going through high school.
“I would read all of the books my kids were assigned to read,” she said. “I read just about everything.”
Now, Cameron can find her self-published book on bookstore shelves, and on Amazon.
“My husband self-published and he went through a huge learning curve,” she said. “So, I self-published my book.”
Cameron said many people aren’t aware of self-publishing, a service Amazon now provides.
“There are a lot of people just discovering self-publishing,” she said. “You can do it through Amazon, but I decided to do it myself after watching my husband go through the steps.”
Cameron already has ideas percolating for her next book.
“The next book I think I’m going to will be short stories for teenagers; stories that are horror but have a comical aspect,” she said.
“For me, it’s a hobby. I’m not going to make any money from it; it’s just something I enjoy doing.”
