Candee Fick's Blog, page 24

Catch of a Lifetime: Meet Cassie Parker

With just three weeks to go until Catch Of a Lifetime releases, I thought it would be fun for you to meet Cassie Parker. I tracked her down at an apartment complex just south of Front Range University. Let’s see if she has a minute or two to talk.

Y’all come on in and thanks for stopping by. Pardon the mess, but I just moved in yesterday and am still trying to figure out where to put things. This studio apartment sure seems a lot smaller than the online listing made it appear. Then again, o...

Behind the Scenes: Creating a Book Launch

This coming event has been over ten years in the making.

Once I decided I wanted to write a book, I knew there would eventually come a day when my story would be for sale. Of course, I had no real idea what platform building or marketing involved, but as the months and years scrolled past while I worked on my craft and polished stories worthy of publication, I watched other writers and took notes.

I paid attention to contests and giveaways, Facebook posts, Twitter campaigns, graphics, online...

Behind the Scenes: Running a Business

Writing is more than a hobby to me. It’s a business.

Like any product-based business, I dream up and create something, find a company to produce it, design attractive packaging, locate my ideal customer, target marketing to let them know about my product, and handle the financial recordkeeping and taxes all while still learning how to make each step of the process better and better. Unlike most businesses, mine revolves around imaginary people. I just wish I could spend my limited work hours...

Behind The Scenes: Developing a Theme

Just five minutes into watching the evening news it’s very clear our culture still deals with stereotypes and the generalized expectations they establish. Police officers are _____. Black men are _____.Politicians, gay activists, pro-lifers, military, immigrants, and Christians are somehow all expected to behave exactlylike someone else in the same random category of labeled humanity. And yet, where is the spectrum of individualism that allows for an elected Democratic official to take an unp...

Behind the Scenes: Research for Authenticity

Have you ever read a book where the simplest thing took you out of the story in two seconds flat? If you’re from that setting or profession, it just takes one bit of misinformation to spark an internal argument with the author and start you questioning everything else in the story.

Because it’s one of my pet peeves, I invest the time to get the details right to preserve that connection with readers and research for authenticity. (It’s also one reason I’ve stuck to writing contemporaries so fa...

Behind The Scenes: Secrets From My Writing Space

A week ago I posted this picture on Facebook of me with the contract for my second novel. (Yep. Still super excited around here even as I’m planning to spend most of today on first-round revisions.)

One friend commented on my cute writing space and I had to admit that I’d cleaned it up some before taking the picture. Then I looked a little closer and saw evidence of other things readers might not know about me … until now.

1. The healthy stuff. See that water bottle off to my right? I’m tryin...

Enter to Win a Football-Themed Giveaway

Are you ready for some football?The officialhigh school and college seasons kick off this week and the professionals next week. Can’t you just hear the roar of the crowd under the bright lights?

So, in honor of football moms, football fans, tailgaters, reluctant tag-a-longs, and the athletes we cheer for (and because my coming debut novel revolves around a fictional college football program), I’m giving away a stack of books worth over $50 to help kick off your fall and score points with the...

Behind the Scenes: Why Write About Football?

There’s a saying among authors to write what you know. This means to start with a subject or emotion you know well enough to communicate clearly to readers. Personally, I know about being a nerdy wallflower growing up, teaching high school, raising a child with special needs, working in a restaurant, being backstage for a theater production, … and I know football.

Not only did I grow up playing football with the boys at recess and then my dad and brothers while waiting for the Thanksgiving tu...

Behind the Scenes: Designing a Book Cover

Don’t you just lovethis book cover? I might be a tad bit biased toward my debut novel launching in a couple of months, but I could stare at this design for hours. I actually have the cover image hanging above my computer as motivation as I work on the marketing pieces.

Why is a cover so important? They say a picture isworth a thousand words and when it comes to picking a new book to read, the cover isthe first thing to catch your attention and make you want to find out more. While the blurb,...

Back In The Saddle Again

This week marks the end of summer vacation for our family. School supplies are stacking up on the dining room table. Class schedules are posted. Middle school orientation is on Thursday and the first day of school arrives on Friday.

No more sleeping in until ten. No more video game marathons with friends.

Welcome back to alarm clocks, backpacks, and homework.

This week’s cliché (unoriginal thought) wraps up the summer: back in the saddle.

There was a time when cattle drives were common. When...