Hi! I’m Catherine, and I’m your host on this web site.
About Me | About the Site | Featured Images
Résumé | Portfolio
My blog posts cover a wide variety of topics, but some of the most frequent are:
Catholicism: I consider the world as a Catholic woman who grew up (and still currently lives in) the Southeastern United States. I am a “revert” whose theology is conservative and orthodox, but my lifestyle isn’t traditional, and neither is my viewpoint. This means that sometimes, my opinions aren’t either.
Fandom: I’ve been involved with media fandom since childhood and participate in a number of different ways, from reading and writing fan fiction to attending conventions to participating in online discussions and more. There’s been a lot of change over the years, but it has always kept me sane and grounded.
Writing: I provide commentary about processes and techniques, and reflect on my writing style, projects and progress. I primarily write fiction in shared universes (including, but not limited to, fan fiction), but I also maintain this non-fiction blog as well as writing some original fiction; and I’ve had an article or two published at other locations.
About Me
I’m a fiftyish crazy cat lady, currently living and working in the northeast Atlanta, Georgia, metro area, even though I’m originally from eastern North Carolina. Yes, I have an accent, although it’s pretty mild. No I’m not a redneck, although I will firmly correct anyone who even suggests that barbecue could be red (or is made of anything other than chopped pork). This includes my husband.
During the day, I’m an employee benefits specialist. I’ve been in this field, in one way or another, since 1996. I currently work as a product associate (subject matter expert) for an independent general agency; in the past I have worked as a benefits specialist in government and corporate human resources offices, as well as an account manager for small group retail agencies.
Outside of paid work time, I’m a writer and an active participant in the Creative Writing sector of Signum University’s SPACE.
I’m currently working on the following writing projects offline:
- Standing in the Dark. Novel. Drafting.
- Tales from Winter Camp. Short story series. Drafting and posting.
I’m always practicing my Catholic faith; and I figure that if I keep practicing long enough, I may eventually get it right. I’m currently a parishioner at St. Margaret of Scotland in Flowery Branch, Georgia, where I co-host the Holy Ghost Writers group and serve as a reader of Scripture.
In addition, I volunteer every so often with Back Street Kittens as well as other worthy causes.
Politically, I’m an unaffiliated, slightly-left-leaning moderate. Many — but not all — of my opinions are consistent with those of the American Solidarity Party and No Labels. Economically, I’m a distributist. I support subsidiarity, small businesses, and widespread ownership of capital. Socially, I’m a Catholic feminist and subscribe to the consistent life ethic.
During my spare time, I enjoy photography, needlework, gardening, and hiking. I also occasionally do voice-over work and read all sorts of books. On a personal level, I’m married, a stepmother to five wonderful people, and am currently owned by a rescue cat full of tortitude.
About the Site
This site has been online, in some form or another, since 2003, originally at sonria.org, through a couple of other locations, and at collingwest.com since 2020. The domain name is a contraction of my surname.
I manage the site myself using a standalone installation of WordPress and Ron Angelo’s Asteroid theme, with significant customizations of the visual presentation. I also use several plugins. All of these are updated on a regular basis.
This is a personal web site, and I should make it clear that, unless I’ve specifically stated otherwise, any opinion you might read here is mine alone and doesn’t represent any other company or organization, including, but not limited to, my employer(s). There are some other important terms & conditions that visitors should know about.
As you can tell, I’m fairly busy, but I maintain presences at LinkedIn, Mastodon, Bluesky, and Facebook; I can sometimes be found at a few other sites as well. Please check me out here, there, or feel free to drop me a line if you’d like to chat more.
Thanks again for stopping by!
Featured Images
I frequently use featured images for the main page of the blog, in order to make it more visually interesting. However, using them on the excerpts page precludes me being able to give credit for the images via either a link or a caption. Below you’ll find the featured images from this site and their credits.
