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Kathleen Van Doorn is an avid writer who found her passion for writing later in life. She was desperate to find a way to connect with her three-year-old granddaughter who lived a province away and began to write simple stories about Nana, Papa, and their dog Diesel. A few years later, Kathleen wondered how she would be able to keep up with her grandchildren’s reading levels without any formal training. The short of the long story is she made an appointment with an adviser at Vancouver Island University, and signed up for a degree program in creative writing. She hasn’t looked back.

NEWS

Kath has just finished a new Young Adult Novel called "What Were You Thinking?" and it has gone out for consideration to publishers.
In the fall semester of 2022, Kath took a Writing for Young Adults class with author, Professor Susan Juby. What began as one 2500-word story expanded a year later into a 150-page novel, with the expert editing, advice, and support by editor, Professor Joy Gugeler. The young adult novel follows 15-year-old Erin who, in the throes of losing her best friend Cassy to a term abroad in Italy, hastily agrees to be the part-time caregiver of Cassy’s grandmother Katherine. It soon becomes apparent Katherine has Alzheimer’s, though no one bothered to tell Erin, making for some surprising on-the-job interactions from being accused of accosting Katherine when she doesn’t recognize Erin, to finding Katherine on Erin’s doorstep in the middle of the night. Meanwhile, Cassy has stopped replying to texts and is rumoured to have left fashion school in Milan for a cult in Genoa; Erin’s father Daveis having an affair with a woman who sets pins at a bowling alley; her mom is dating a lawyer from her office; a boy named Jordan-Something with bizarre hair is flirting with her at the library; and her friend Tim is routinely being harassed by a trio of Grade 11 bullies. "What Were You Thinking?"is written in journal entries that relate a year in the life of a sarcastic but endearing “good girl” with bad luck.