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Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Spotlight Author with Candace Havens

Happy belated Mother’s Day to everyone. For all of my readers who are mothers I hope your day was special. Today I have Candace Havens visiting the blog.

Candace tell us about your latest/upcoming release.


She Who Dares, Wins came out in late March. It’s about a private investigator and bodyguard, who protects a professor when his life is threatened. Truth and Dare is my late April release about a forensic anthropologist who is involved in solving a crime and falls in love with a handsome rancher. Both books are fun, have a mystery element to them and they are sexy.

Besides writing, you are also very busy teaching workshops on writing. What sort of workshops do you have to offer?

I offer a variety of craft and career workshops on the Write_Workshop yahoogroup. You can get to that through my website. I teach classes and I bring in other authors, agents and editors for classes. We teach everything from the basics of writing to how to promote yourself as a writer. I also teach paid classes that are really intense workshops where I work one-on-one with the writers.

Every author that I have spoken to has their own writing process. Some spend weeks working on character building charts. Some use post it notes to plot their entire book. Other’s pull pictures from magazines and make a story board of sorts. What is your writing process and how long would you say it takes you when a new idea is sparked from sketching out the details to getting to THE END?

For the most part I’m a pantser. I just sit down and write. But my new editor likes to have some kind of a synopsis so I have something to work from if I get stuck. I’ve occasionally used the arch Jim Butcher talks about in his writing process where you hit the major story points and small scenes in between. But every book I write I do it differently. It depends on my mood and the type of book it is. Sometimes I write the end first. Sometimes I do a hodge podge of scenes and throw them together. Sometimes I write chronologically.

What is the hardest part about your job?

Time. I’m an author but I’m a TV and Film critic with weekly deadlines. And I’m going to graduate school to get an MH in Humanities. But it’s good because I can tell my students, if I can find the time, you can.

What is your best advice for aspiring authors?

Just sit down and write. Study your craft and take as many GOOD classes as you can. Spend your money wisely and invest in yourself.

You write several different genres, do you have a favorite genre out of the ones that you write? Maybe one that comes a little easier to you than others? Or do you love them all the same?

If I didn’t love everything I do, I wouldn’t do it. A year ago I had no idea it would be easier for me to write in my hero’s head, which has really surprised me. I’d pretty much done first person up until the first Blaze book, Take Me If You Dare. Now I love writing third person too. I love that we evolve and change as writers. I think that’s a good thing.

If you could pick one character that you wished you created from a movie, book or TV show who would it be and why?

Hands down it would be Selene from Underworld. When Kate Beckinsale came on the screen crouching down in that leather, I was sold. Love those movies, even when they are bad and she’s one of my favorites. Oh, and Mary Poppins but that’s a long story for another day.

Give us a glimpse into your writers life.

I’m not sure what you mean by this. But pretty much my dogs wake me up at 7:30 and I usually go until about 1 a.m. I sometimes have to write 18 hours day to keep up with everything I do. That’s why it’s important I love it. (Smile)

Where can we find out more about you and your writing?

http://www.candaceahavens.com/

Readers thank you for stopping in and Candace, thank you for being a guest on my blog.

See you next week.

Hugs

Micole

13 comments:

Rula Sinara said...

I love reading Blaze and the anthropologist falls for rancher set-up has me intrigued. Thanks for all the great advice, Candace!

Great interview, Micole! BTW, you're a winner over at my blog :) Happy Mother's Day!

Beth Caudill said...

Hi Candy.

You're workshops are great and all the work you do helping other authors is great.

Congrats on your three Blaze releases.

Beth Caudill
#WW

Candace said...

Rula, I hope you like the book. :)

Beth, Thank you.

April said...

You are truly inspiring.I am humbled by the fact that you actually take the time to respond to your fans and encourage them.Keep up the great work!

Candace said...

April, wow. You just made my day. :)

Donna OBrien said...

Candace!

Amazing that you find time to write with that busy schedule, but inspiring all the same. Not to mention the workshops!

I totally love and agree with your comment that writers are always evolving. Keeps everything fresh and new and hopefully better!

Congrats on the new releases!

Donna O'Brien

P.S. Happy Mother's Day Micole!!! Miss you!

desere_steenberg said...

Hi Candy ,

Your books sound unbelievable ! Thank you for a really nice post and for a really great giveaway I would be honored to win!!

And a huge belated Happy Mothers day to you aswell!

Desere

Kimberly said...

Evening!! Great interview ...

I have no idea how you find the time to do ANYTHING!! I feel like I can't even sit to write with my kids running around the house like crazed animals. :)

I'd also like to be Mary Poppins ... :)

Shelley Munro said...

Hi Candace. You must be a very organized person to fit everything in that you do. As you say, you have to love writing to put that sort of time into it.

Good luck with your new release. It sounds like a wonderful read.

Candace said...

Donna, Thank you. :)

Kimberly, I've been working at home for almost 16 years so I had to teach myself to write around the craziness. But I also bribed my kids a lot. I had to train my whole family to give me time to write.

Shelley, LOL on the organized thing. I am when it comes to deadlines and meeting them. But I wouldn't call myself organized in any other part of my life.

Thanks for hanging out with me you guys!

desere_steenberg said...

Thanks for hanging with us ! Your too cool !

Julie Robinson said...

Hi Candace, I enjoyed learning about your writing life. I had to google Jim Butcher's arch, as I'd not heard of it before, though the DH loves his books.

~Sia McKye~ said...

Nice interview ladies!

Candace, I enjoyed reading more about you. I enjoyed Dragons prefer Blondes. I haven't read this one yet. Intriguing to hear it's from the male pov. I love to see how you handle that.

"Kate Beckinsale came on the screen crouching down in that leather.."

I loved the drama of that too. Tough heroine and that's a favorite of mine. :-)

Sia McKye's Thoughts...OVER COFFEE