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