Please welcome acclaimed Author & Memoirist Cathy Rentzenbrink to the 'Clearing'!You can also Watch/Listen to Cathy's wonderful episode here:https://vimeo.com/chrisgrimes/cathyrentzenbrinkCathy Rentzenbrink had just delivered the draft of her latest novel when this interview took place. So, naturally enough, she was reluctant to discuss it beyond saying it was two years in the writing and two decades in its creation. Cathy is happiest encouraging other writers to write, on the credible assumption that ‘writers are people for whom writing is more difficult.’ Cathy herself is a fast reader and a slow writer, who spends lots of time considering what she can cut without loss from her first or later drafts. For her, as for most good writers, writing is rewriting.Paradoxically, at age 18, when her Irish father first met her English mother on the Quay in Falmouth, he could neither read nor write. Happily, he could both talk and sing and his words were an early inspiration for the young Cathy. In contrast, Cathy’s loving mother was very literate, as well as a 'love at first sight’ super romantic. Cathy says “all life is full of material” and the tragic material in Cathy’s early life was the traffic accident that put her younger brother into hospital after being knocked down by a motorbike, which led to the family’s agonising decision to turn off his life support system, 8 years later. In her early ‘career,’ Cathy was happiest when she was working in Hatchard’s bookshop. (It remains her scorched earth emergency option.) Cathy never wanted an office job where she might be expected to laugh at dodgy ‘jokes delivered by drunk men.’Instead, Cathy became a writer. And an encourager of other writers, at festivals and workshops. Meanwhile she has been married twice. She remains good friends with her first husband and supportive of her ‘current’ husband, a Dutchman with a difficult name for strangers to spell. Her only criticism is of Mr Rentzenbrink’s intolerance while driving, but allegedly this characteristic is present in all heterosexual male drivers and may perhaps be an essential element of the Patriarchy.Cathy’s body of work now includes novels as well as autobiographical books and how to start writing guides.  To quote Ovid, translated from the original Latin: “Be patient and tough. Some day this pain will be useful to you.”Cathy would like to be remembered as a Laugh rather than someone who’s ‘had a big paper round.’The only award that Cathy’s won so far was at 17 when she won the Snaith and District Ladies Darts Championship, with an additional award for including three treble twenties as a single score in that success. Cathy Rentzenbrink - one hundred and eighty!Cathy is 'passing the Golden Baton' on to fellow acclaimed Author, Kit De Wall. Tune in next week for more stories of 'Distinction & Genius' from The Good Listening To Show 'Clearing'. If you would like to be my Guest too then you can find out HOW via the different 'series strands' at 'The Good Listening To Show' website. Show Website: https://www.thegoodlisteningtoshow.com You can email me about the Show: chris@secondcurve.uk Twitter thatchrisgrimes LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-grimes-actor-broadcaster-facilitator-coach/ FaceBook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/842056403204860 Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW wherever you get your Podcasts :) Thanks for listening!