Apr 7, 2020
Cathy
Snodgrass was born and raised near Galveston, Texas. Her first
experience with desert was watching western
movies.
In
1976, driving through what was then Joshua Tree National Monument,
Cathy rounded a mountain and found herself looking down on the
'quaint' town where she and her then Marine husband would be
stationed. Cathy knew immediately this was home and made it a
condition of her second marriage that they never leave 29 Palms –
that was 40 years ago. Cathy will tell you, “I’m very heart bound
to the area”.
Describing a time she went back to Texas to
visit, she says she couldn't wait to get back to the desert,
feeling "smothered by all the green."
Over
and above her love of the desert landscape, Cathy loves the people
and the camaraderie and community that comes through being involved
in the 29 Palms Historical Society or those days she helped to
organize the annual Weed
Show.
Cathy
describes her ‘super power’ and how she used it and other skills in
her Civil Service roles on the Marine base. She started as a C4
clerk typist and worked her way to GS11, becoming one of the first
civilian paralegals in the Legal Assistance Office, then taking an
early retirement at 50.
An
author of a plethora of award-winning romance novels (under the pen
name Caitlyn Willows) Cathy says,
“The writing gods decree that you will write – and you do." Cathy
started writing in 1986 and was writing while working full time on
base, each day rising early and writing two hours before heading
off to work and then again for two hours in the evening, before
bed. She describes the life of a dedicated writer, locking herself
away on weekends - in addition to her weekly morning and evening
writing - didn't leave much time for fun or friends.
Without any formal writing training, Cathy just
began writing, later joining an organization that taught writing
where she says she learned a great deal about the process. Even
with that, it took Cathy 13 years of writing before she was ever
published. Cathy provides a cautionary tale of sorts about what her
life as a writer was like, taking a step back last year to regroup.
In doing so, or to quote Cathy, ‘letting the universe have it’s way
with me” and says she has found she is now happier than she’s ever
been.
With
more time in her schedule now and feeling no grieving after leaving
her writing career behind, Cathy works creatively in mosaics and
pottery. She has also become
a reiki master and has obtained a degree in spiritual
healing.