MFA Alumni Spotlight Cait Marie Haines

MFA ALUM SPOTLIGHT: CAIT MARIE HAINES

SNHU Online MFA Alum Earns Top Seller Badges on Amazon

BY ANNE-MARIE YERKS

Cait Marie Haines ’20 ’22MFA has a foot in many aspects of writing and publishing – she’s a YA/NA author, book blogger, reviewer for YA Books Central, SNHU peer mentor and more. But no matter what she’s doing, she always has a story to tell. A recent SNHU MFA graduate and Indiana native, Haines began her writing and publishing endeavors during her SNHU undergraduate program in forensic psychology. “I’ve always loved to read, and one day, while living at home, unsure what to do with my life, I started writing my own book when one I’d read didn’t end how I’d hoped. It was a moment of, ‘I’ll just write my own story and put everything I love in it.’ That book ended up being my thesis project, though it massively changed from when I initially began writing it.” The past few years have been a whirlwind of publishing and blogging for Haines. She’s the author of The Nihryst series, a YA/NA fantasy trilogy, as well as The Last Summer, a contemporary romance, and has earned two Amazon best-seller badges. “I cried both times,” she said. “The first time was with my YA romance “The Last Summer”, which released in June 2020. I hadn’t expected that book to do well because I’d released my debut fantasy, “The Lost Legends”, three months earlier, and many of my followers were only fantasy readers. But many of them tried it just because it was me, which was a strange thing to hear, and now they read all my contemporary romances, despite supposedly never reading that genre. To this day, it’s still my best-selling book, which really means a lot to me because I adore the story and characters. I put a lot of myself in it, and it makes me so happy that people love it.” Learning the craft of writing and editing helped her develop confidence, Haines said. “Prior to the SNHU Online MFA program, I didn’t have any formal education on writing-related topics. I jumped into this career headfirst, hoping my time as a book blogger and editor was enough to go on. And while those things helped immensely, I felt like I needed the education. If anything, I needed it to help with self-doubt.

This program taught me a lot and gave me even more to think about, especially on the business side of writing. Most importantly, it assured me that I had finally found the right path and that I was doing well. For someone who hated writing growing up, who hadn’t tried writing fiction until 2015, this was a big deal. I wasn’t entirely sure I knew what I was doing; I was constantly telling people that I was just winging it. To be so encouraged throughout this program, to be given the confidence to continue, made such a difference.” Haines is open about her physical disability, spinal muscular atrophy, which she manages along with typical obstacles such as time management. “I released eight full-length books and several short stories in two and a half years, and it took everything I had to balance it all. I tend to stay up reading until 3 or 4 a.m. more often than I should. However, I am working on a new schedule, where I only work on certain types of jobs on certain days and then schedule blog and social media posts a week at a time.” Now that she has graduated, Haines is focused on finishing book four of The Nihryst and beginning some new projects. “I’m also using this time to reorganize the behind-the-scenes stuff, like my ARC team and social media calendar. There are a few spin-offs coming, in both genres, and I’ll be exploring new genres soon. As of right now, I have several releases planned for 2023. I also have a book with an agent right now -- my thesis novel -- so I’m eager to see what she thinks of that. I have so many books started or planned, countless ideas, and I look forward to focusing on them and making them come to life. I’m very excited to see what the future holds.” Haines has some advice for SNHU students starting out in the publishing world. “Sometimes, it’s a really slow game, and you can’t let that discourage you. Also, remember that everyone has a different writing and publishing process. There is a lot of advice out there telling you that this is the correct way or that is the best way, and while those resources can be helpful, it’s important to find what works best for you.”