10 Questions With Candy Havens

1. What is your work environment like? Can you take us into your writing space in fifty words or less?

Candy: My office is what would be the downstairs formal living and dining area. I’m in the middle of a remodel, but the walls have been painted a beautiful butter color. I have a lot of art and celeb photos. The star of the office is a giant pink daisy by Andy Warhol. It’s huge and I love that lithograph.

2. You have a ten-minute free shopping spree in the world's largest bookstore. When time is called, what's in your cart?

Candy: Okay, first of all, this would be heaven for me. I love books. I’d hit the paranormal romance, classics (I’m on an Oscar Wilde and Shakespeare kick right now) and fantasy sections. Oh, with a swing by the magazines. I couldn’t name specific authors. That is never fair. But I would definitely have a list before I walked in. (smile)

3. Tell us about your typical day. How many hours do you write a day? How many days do you write a week?

Candy: Depends on the day and the week. I average about 45-50 hours a week with the fiction and non-fiction. That number can double if I’m on deadline for a project. I usually write my columns in the morning and work on fiction in the afternoon and evening. The day starts around 6:30 am and ends around midnight or one. Sometimes I have to preview a film and that can make for a long day. I write at least six days a week.

4. There are a variety of unusual beings in (your) world. Which was your favorite to write about, and why?

Candy: I have some new favorites with the Caruthers sisters’ series. In the first book THE DEMON KING AND I (in stores now) Arath is the demon king. I fell in love with that guy before the book was over. The one complaint I’ve heard from readers is that they wanted more of him. I love the two heroes of the next book, Dragons Prefer Blondes too. One is a human, the other a dragon. They both rock.


5. If you could be one of your characters, who would you be, and why?

Candy: It would be a tie between Bronwyn, my witch from the Charmed & Dangerous series, and her best friend Kira. They both have awesome powers and are just regular chicks.

6. What can we look forward to from your pen/keyboard?

Candy: I’m working on some new things. It’s been fun to have time to play and try something different. We will see what happens.

7. What's your guiltiest pleasure that few know about?

Candy: This was a hard one for me because I have a bunch of them. About every six months or so I take a weekend and watch an entire season of a TV show. Buffy, Angel, Supernatural and Gilmore Girls are some of my favorites.

8. Did Rhett ever come back for Scarlett?

Candy: Nah. They both moved on and learned from their mistakes.

9. What is the best and worst writing advice you have ever received?

Candy: The best was to trust my gut. The worst was that something written in first person would never sell, especially in a diary form. I sold two weeks later. (Smile)

10. Do deadlines help or hinder your muse? Tell us about your muse.

Candy: I do seem to work well under pressure. I don’t know about a muse, but magic certainly does happen. I try not to over think the creative process, but it always amazes me that these ideas just come out of nowhere.

Hearth & Home: Prioritizing for the Coming Months

My thoughts this morning are scattered. I’ve got so much going on, so many deadlines running, that the clock seems to be on speed-dial and I wish I could slow it down just a bit, especially with the holidays coming. I just turned in Bone Magic--book 7 of the OW series. I'm finishing minor revisions on Demon Mistress--book 6, and those have to be in by Monday morning. I'm finishing up Etched in Silver--the first novella I have due. I need to get a start on the second novella and the first Elemental Magic book...the former due 3/1, the latter due 4/15. So color me busy with a capital B.

Our living room has been turned into a kitten playroom. Our bathroom is the time out room but I think we’re going to be able to wrap that one up soon. Calypso and Brighid are bonding, which means Tara and Meerclar are getting a break from the youngsters as they focus on each other. The past two mornings have been playing the Chase Me! Chase You! game. Round and around they go, tumbling, play-growling, over the chairs, under the sofa, around the fireplace and back again. I forgot just how lively cats are when they’re babies—and it’s a lovely and fun stage to be witness too.

As I said, my deadlines have been pushing me to the point of forgetting other stuff. Or at least, turning a blind eye to other things. But I have to get some stuff done this coming week, along with revisions of Demon Mistress (very few, luckily), finish Etched in Silver—I hope by Tuesday, and start on the next project. I need to send out invitations to our annual Yule Open House. I need to buy a hook and a stud finder so we can attach said hook to a stud in the ceiling so we can anchor our new Yule tree with a sturdy ribbon so the kittens don’t knock it over. This will be the first year I’ll have worried about that in a long, long time.

I need to start buying the food for Thanksgiving. This year I’m breaking with my usual tradition and instead of a big turkey, I’m serving an herbed turkey breast and a ham.

As I make my to-do list for the next couple of months, it occurs to me how much I love the holiday season, and how busy I usually am during it because of work. I refuse to let the holidays pass me by without enjoying them.

But…deadlines won’t wait for you to trim the tree. Copyedits have to be in on time even if you’d rather sit with a rum toddy and watch a movie. Revisions must get finished even if you’d rather go shopping.

So how will I find the extra time to do all the things I love even though I’m absolutely swamped? Well, I’m going finish up my last writing-oriented obligation for the year in terms of workshops, signings, etc., and say no to the rest. I’m going to put all my non-book writing projects on hold. Blogging on my blogs—now a low priority. Answering email that’s not urgent/business/very-good-friend—not going to happen. I’ve finished most of the holiday shopping so that’s not really a worry. I have my holiday dresses and makeup, so that’s done. (Yes, I finally found a 'little black dress' in my size that's very flattering, with a flowing skirt. Actually--two different ones!).

I suppose, I just need to pace myself, get enough exercise (I’m actually doing pretty good on that score now—at least compared to what I’ve been doing for awhile), try to get more sleep, and balance out what time I do have. Forego parties where I have nothing invested for small gatherings at home and with friends. IOW: me, my work, my family first this season. Then friends. Then everybody and everything else.

And now, a few personal notes:

• Demon Mistress is available for pre-order on Amazon.com, and the release date has been moved from July 2009 to June 2009!
• Night Huntress is coming out in under two months—January 6, 2009.
• And starting in March, my paranormal mysteries will be re-released, one every other month until the entire five-book set of Emerald O’Brien mysteries is back out, with new and stunning beautiful covers. Which means that yes—Legend of the Jade Dragon will be back in print.
• Also, here's a lovely slideshow of our gurlz—meet Brighid, who was Luna in her last life. You can read her story—and the story of how we missed getting Keeter back by fifteen minutes, on my LJ blog.
  

So back to the subject today: tell me—rather than allow stress to eat you up this holiday season, how are you going to manage the balancing act to give yourself the most leeway possible?

Yasmine

Look what I've found!

You'd never guess it, but I, Kate Austin, the world's happiest single middle-aged woman, have found a man. Yep, after being single for almost all of the past 40 years (I started dating when I was pretty young!), I've found a man I'm seriously considering spending the rest of my life with.

Now that may be because the rest of my life is (relatively) short - things might have been different when I was 20. Or 30. Or 40. But now? It seems possible when it never seemed possible before.

I mean, I loved being single. Every minute of it. I was never lonely, unhappy, scared. I had plenty of dates, never any shortage of short-term men in my life, and I liked it that way. I liked the variety. I love first dates, just the same way I love interviewing for a job. I always get the job and I always get the man. I just don't usually keep them. I loved being able to pick up and go anywhere at any time without having to worry about someone else's schedule. I loved doing whatever I wanted whenever I wanted to. So a man? Full-time? Maybe permanent? Not for this Witchy Chick.

But he's good for me in all kinds of ways. He's an Aries like me, so he's got lots of energy. Let me rephrase that. He has more energy than me and everyone I know put together. Unlike me, who's happy to sit around the house for days, he's a doer. "Let's go for a walk,", "Let's go sightseeing," "Let's go to the gym." Or swimming. Or play some football. Or try some boxing or martial arts. I love all that stuff, I just won't do it on my own. So he's been great for my physical fitness. I spend two hours three times a week at the gym and it feels fabulous.

The good thing is that he works evenings so I can get up in the morning, do all the things I need to do before he's up and about. And that's the way I've always worked so there's not much difference there.

He's the baby of seven - and his six older siblings are all sisters. So he gets women. Completely. And he's a shopper - maybe even more of a shopper than I am. And he learned all kinds of things from his sisters - like how to straighten my hair when I got a new haircut. All to figure out exactly where my eyebrows should be plucked. He does the dishes and everything.

And he's a gentleman - when we step across the street, he puts his hand on the small of my back, makes sure he's on the traffic side so if a car is coming too fast he can save me and sacrifice himself. I know I sound a bit facetious but I'm not. It's charming.

Hmmm, what else? He's funny. And he's adorable. And because the title of this post is LOOKwhat I've found, here's a picture of my lovely man (wearing my cowboy hat).

Kate

Morning Thoughts

A few weeks ago I decided to be happy. Things weren’t going quite my way and I found myself miserable and slightly bitchy. There. I said it out loud. My problem was, I had no idea why I felt that way. I made myself sit down and write all the things I was grateful for, and how many ways I was blessed. I woke up the next morning, read the list and decided to be happy.

It was as easy as that. Now I won’t lie and say my life isn’t without its troubles. But I have my beautiful family and work that I love. I have amazing friends and life is mostly good. I’ve been listening to some CD’s about the laws of attraction and bringing what you want into your life with good thoughts. So I thought it would be fun on this particular morning, as I gear up to do my first television interview about my books, to talk about what we want.

What do you want to focus your good thoughts on?

I have so many things right now, from multiple book contracts with different publishers, to my son having a stellar time at this first college audition this weekend. I also want to have an extremely successful book signing this weekend. (You can see details on my website about when and where.)

So what do you want?

Terey at the Movies

With the final quarter of the year upon us, it's movie-viewing season with a vengeance. Halloween / horror movie month has just departed (though you couldn't tell it by what's still on many of the satellite channels), Thanksgiving movie & specials time is here and Christmas movie month is dead ahead. So rather than going out to the movies, let's stay in and take a look at what flickers across my old-fashioned, low-definition, soon-to-be-obsolete television screen on VHS, DVD and good ye olde reruns every holiday season -

With or without the blessing of my long-suffering family. *grins*

October:
I love to check out the Disney channel throughout October for their month-long moviethon. A number of the newer movies really don't strike my ghouly bone, but some of the older R.L. Stine Goosebumps movies and silly but fun things like The Littlest Vampire (who can't get behind flying vampire cows? *grin*) or Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire are just a good time. The same is true for some of the Hallmark Movie Channel movies like Monster Makers (completely silly but I love it). And of course there's always Casper, the Harry Potter movies, Scooby Doo, Resident Evil & co. ...

Oh wait. Those latter movies belong in a different category you say? Not really. I wouldn't show them to little kids, but some of the more intense HP movies might be too much for the youngest set, too. These are for me and I have a good time with them.

There are quite a few more - probably hundreds - but these are just a few of the things I saw this year during October.

November:
Thanksgiving doesn't really bring out the movies in me, rather it finishes out the Halloween season and starts up Christmas - and the all important Figure Skating Season.

Yes. I'm a Figure Skating Junky. Now you know. Further, I have spawned one of the biggest FS addicts of all time, my daughter. This means that not only do I watch Figure Skating but I tape Figure Skating events that She Can't Get. Except that now she's purchased herself an All Access Pass so she can watch and tape these events herself Online. This is a serious addiction. It lasts from late October through March of every year. There is no hope for it.

Sort of like football.

Except during winter Olympic years. Then it's worse.

Thanksgiving through New Years: Holiday Movies - YAY!
Ah for the pitter-patter of tiny toes bearing snow balls between them and hail on windows and cheery bells and bright-colored lights and the Victorian Trading catalog (nothing gets me in the mood more quickly than a quick riffle through its pages even when I'm dead set against being in the mood yet!) I haven't (and probably won't) started putting on the Christmas movies yet, but when I do, here's what's on the list...

The Holiday (thanks to Annette or Kate who hooked me on it last year); The Night They Saved Christmas (because I started out watching this with my son when he was...maybe 2 and have yet to kick the tradition); A Christmas Story (my husband regrets ever having told me about this one *huge grin*); Christmas in the Clouds (a new one discovered last year and added lovingly to The List); The Santa Clause (all of them, just because I get a kick out of every single one of them); Santa Baby (I never said there was a rhyme to this *grin*); Jimmy Stewart, of course, along with the other classics when my daughter gets home because That's What We Do; White Christmas with my sisters (Sisters, Sisters is a family classic, sung every year with varying changes in lyrics that include the boys... yeah. Priceless!); and...

Alvin and the chipmunks, because what's Christmas without them? And Charlie Brown and...

How about you? What are your holiday movie traditions?

Terey

Morning Thoughts from the Mother of the Bride—Romance, A Celebration of Life:

With thirteen days until my daughter’s Robbie-Lynn’s wedding, and Sunday’s Bridal Shower behind us, it should come as no surprise to you that my thoughts, morning, noon and night, these days, are about the details. Gowns, dresses, bridal party, caterer, rehearsal dinner. You know the drill.

My sister became my personal shopper until she found the best place for me to buy my Mother of the Bride gown, which, by the way, is worth its weight in gold, because it hides all my flaws. Yay!

The theme of family abounds in this event. My nieces are preparing the centerpieces for the wedding and making the flower girls' baskets. The maid of honor made all the flower girls' gowns. Travis's mother, my niece Theresa, is making his ring bearer outfit.

Sunday at the shower, three little flower girls met for the first time. Then they met the oldest, five-year-old Travis, the ring bearer, and we got the shock of our lives. They liked each other. Loved each other. I've never seen four children get along so well. Please send good vibes that it continue through the weekend of the wedding.

Pictured above is my daughter, who is called Auntie Robbie by these two blonde flower girls, our little Kelsey, who calls me Nana, to the right, and Robbie's maid of honor Vickie's daughter, Annabelle, to the left. Very willing to help unwrap the goodies.

Robbie's third flower girl, to the right, is her soon to be granddaughter, and my soon to be ... you guessed it! Little Laura, here, 14 months old, calls me Gigi (GG) for the first letters in Great Grandmother, because I'm much too young to be one. Isn't she sweet? She was confused by the activity but was happy to dance on the stage. Do we expect the four little ones to walk straight down the aisle? No way. Whatever they do. Whoever they go to will just make it all the more wonderful. It's all about family.

Romance as a celebration of life was so evident on Sunday. Most of the kids who were calling us Nana or Gigi or Auntie aren't--precisely speaking--blood-relative nieces, grandkids, or great grandkids, but that doesn't make them any less beloved. We're family. We'd do anything for each other. That's that.

Below is a favorite moment of mine. I call it: NO BRIDE NEEDED. By the time the last gift was ready to be unwrapped, Travis, Kelsey and Annabelle had everything under control. Robbie didn't have to lift a finger.

My youngest sister gave Robbie the white prayerbook that our mother carried on her wedding day for Robbie to carry on her own. That was a tearful moment. But for me, they all were. I can't imagine what I'll be like at the wedding because I was choked up through the whole shower.

I have a small wrist purse to match my gown and it'll probably be stuffed with tissues.

I like writing romance, but I like living them too. My daughter has found her knight in shining armor, a good man. What more could a mother want?

Oh, I know, no rain in New Jersey on November 23rd!

Bright Blessings!

Love,

Annette

October Contest Winner

The basket of books & treats goes to A Pixie Named Leanan! Congratulations!!

Thanks to all of you who joined us for the witchiest month of the year and remember, there's a book contest here every month, all you need to do is post a single comment and you're entered to win in our random drawing.