Catherine Stier with her first book,
If I Were President and the awards and publications celebrating this book.

Since then, I have been writing, writing, writing. I worked on my high school and university newspapers. During college I studied communications and worked on brochures for a big city’s travel bureau. I did a lot of writing on my first job after college, too, for a non-profit organization.

Then my life changed in a most interesting way. I got married and traveled with my husband to different parts of the United States and the world. We lived for a short time in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and West Virginia, as well as Italy, Spain, Chile and the Island of Curacao. While my husband worked at his job, I worked at mine -- I wrote. After lots of typing and revising on my laptop computer, my stories and articles began to appear in My Friend, Child Life and other magazines.

For more than three years we lived “on the road” in hotels or apartments. We could bring only the things we could fit in our suitcases.

Then we settled in the Chicago area. I began to work at a preschool program. And I kept writing. Sometimes I wrote about activities, songs or crafts I created for my class and sold these ideas to magazines. Sometimes, my inspiration came from my life with my son and daughter. I wrote the story “Flashlight Playground” for Highlights Magazine after my son and I visited a playground at twilight. I also wrote articles for women’s magazines.

How I became an author…
One day, I went to the library to look for a book for my preschool class about Presidents’ Day. I had a hard time finding one that would be just right to read to 4-year-olds. Some of the kids did not know what the President of the United States did, or that the president lived in the White House. I thought that there should be a book that told about these important facts. So I wrote one! I sent my manuscript to a publisher. They liked it, and made a book out of it titled If I Were President with wonderful illustrations by DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan.

So that is how I became an author. In 2007, my second book If I Ran For President was released, just in time for the excitement of the 2008 elections.  It features imaginative illustrations by Lynne Avril.  And guess what?  Because of that book, I received an invitation from the Mount Rushmore History Association to hold a book signing at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota during their Independence Day Celebration!

In 2008, I introduced my first fiction book -- and addressed a tough problem some kids face!  Bugs in My Hair?!  tells the story of Ellie LaFleur, who must deal with a case of head lice.  The book is full of fun pictures by illustrator Tammie Lyon.

Recently, I made a big move. I now live on the edges of the Hill Country in beautiful Southwest Texas with my husband, son and daughter. And I write all the time! In the last ten years, I have worked as a newspaper columnist and feature writer. I’ve taught writing classes for kids and grown-ups at a college. I even helped run a Teen Writing Club! Best of all, I still have opportunities to visit schools to talk about being an author. I am VERY happy that writing is such a BIG part of my life.