We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cait West. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cait below.

Alright, Cait thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I’ve almost always been a writer in some way. When I was a child, making up stories was a way to escape and imagine other ways of being. I always wrote fiction, but while studying writing in college, I was drawn to creative nonfiction, and that’s when I started working on my memoir, which is the project that has been most meaningful for me.

It’s called Rift: A Memoir of Breaking Away from Christian Patriarchy, and in it I wrote about growing up in a religious fundamentalist movement called Christian Patriarchy. I was homeschooled and raised to believe my purpose in life was to get married and have as many children as possible. I couldn’t go to college, get a job, or make decisions about my dating life. This was why I couldn’t leave home until I was twenty-five when I found a way to escape.

Writing the book was difficult because it meant facing years of trauma and painful memories. But it was also important for me to process what had happened and to make sense of it all. Creating the book meant taking back my voice and telling the story from my perspective.

Since the book has been published, I have heard from hundreds of people who could relate in some way to my story, saying that reading it made them feel seen. This has made it all worth it–to know my writing could help someone in the way that so many books have helped me.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

When I left home in my mid-twenties, I knew I wanted to go to college and study writing, which is exactly what I did. I studied both creative writing and publishing, spending time in internships where I learned how to work with other writers as an editor. After college, I continued working on my book and started a career as a book editor.

Being both a writer and an editor has given me a broader perspective on how we tell stories. I can balance the value of an author’s voice with the needs of their audience. My day job is editing books in a variety of genres, and I love spending time in stories, figuring out ways to enhance the writer’s style and ensure the writing communicates what is intended for the reader.

I write when I can in the margins of my time. I post regularly on my Substack and occasionally write articles in other publications, usually on topics related to religious abuse. This year, I’m excited to be back to fiction as I’m working on a novel.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

When I was a child, books helped me see how other people lived in the world, which was often in contrast to the high-control family I grew up in. Books helped me feel safe. But only a few books made me feel truly seen since I had such an unconventional childhood. The memoir Educated by Tara Westover was one of the only books that felt familiar in that way, and I wanted my own memoir to do something similar for other women like me. I wanted my writing to show them that they aren’t alone and that they deserve freedom from abuse.

The book is out now and doing its work, and I want to keep writing in a way that creates connection and community with readers. I’m working on fiction now, and my goal is that my stories will always make a difference in a reader’s life, whether that’s giving hope or comfort or encouraging someone else to show up authentically in their life.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

There is nothing quite like the feeling of having finished a writing project and being happy with it. It’s like taking all these internal spiraling thoughts that make me feel crazy, putting them down on paper, and rearranging them until it all makes a little more sense. Even if no one reads it, that feeling of having accomplished what I set out to create is what feels rewarding to me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.caitwest.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caitwestwrites/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/caitwestwrites/
• Other: https://caitwest.substack.com/

Image Credits

Headshots by Teri Genovese