Friday Featured Author: Casey Hagen
I’m so excited to have Casey Hagen here today as our featured author. I had the pleasure of meeting her about a year ago in a Savvy Author bootcamp. I quickly learned how delightfully fun and bubbly she was, and I can’t wait for all of you to get to know this incredible author a little better too.
Before we get to the interview, here is her Bio!
Casey Hagen
Casey Hagen is a debut contemporary romance author releasing her first book, Falling in Fiji, in October. She writes her stories from the dense, green wilderness of the Delaware National Forest, Middle of Nowhere, Pennsylvania. She’s a born and raised Vermont native with Ben & Jerry’s in her heart and real Vermont maple syrup pumping through her veins.
Over the years, Casey has dabbled in a wide variety of professions. She worked in the States Attorney’s office, created beautiful works of art as a florist, slaved to the public in retail, taught preschool (and potty trained eleven two-year-olds at the same time), and finally, she owned and operated her own residential cleaning business for over a decade. She is also the new Vice President of the Penn Jersey Women Writers Guild.
Casey is the proud mother of three girls, two of which are successful college students…yay! She resides with her youngest daughter, husband, and two cats. Her days are spent in her new office that she proudly admits they would need dynamite to blast her out of! When she’s not working she can be found chasing after her youngest with a camera (much to her youngest daughter’s embarrassment) or on the golf course with her real life hero!
The Interview
Tell us about your latest release?
Falling in Fiji is the story of Corinne Anderson, a talented jewelry designer, who has just dumped her fiancé after walking in on him and his coworkers in a compromising position with a group of hired masseuses. She calls of her wedding and two hours after she should have been married she finds herself in a bar with her best friend. Her best friend, always a bit of a troublemaker, prods her to ask a hot geek, working away at a secluded corner table, to dance. When she hesitates, her friend calls her on her on her fear of taking a risk. To prove her friend wrong, she slaps down two tickets to Fiji on the table in front of the hot geek and dares him to go.
Everett, a sought after financial genius, gets the shock of a lifetime when a tiny ball of energy challenges him to join her on her Fijian vacation. Desperate for a break from the stress of his job and intrigued by Corrine, he takes her up on her offer.
What was supposed to be a fancy-free trip, quickly turns into more when Everett convinces Corrine to leave their adventures to chance by relying on a high-tech Adventure App to run the show. Corinne and Everett find more than paradise, but eventually have to return to reality and the pressures of the real world, where reality bites, adventure is hard to come by, and—there is no App for love.
Are you a plotter or pantser?
I would say I’m a hybrid. I start out with four or five scenes in my head, not necessarily in any particular order. I plug them in and start building my story around those scenes. Supporting characters pop into my head and begin fueling conflict for my hero and heroine, building an overall picture that I work at until the puzzle is finished. I’m also not always a linear writer. Scrivener is a Godsend for authors like me.
What was the most difficult part of the publishing process for you?
Formatting was the hardest. I ended up buying a template so all of my books will look the same. Finding the right cover photo was another. I’m particular about my book covers, especially book covers with people on them. So far, I’ve designed my own book covers. Other than that, it was figuring out the timing. How long it would take to format, to get my proof copy, to carefully review everything, and get it back, etc. On top of that, I landed a contract with a narrator so I took on extra work with producing Falling in Fiji for audio.
I started that process about six week in advance and found out I didn’t need that much time. Now that I’ve figured out the process, have a routine, and know what to expect, I’m hoping for a smoother release in January for my next book. Notice I said hoping…because the next book coming out is twice the size of Falling in Fiji and might just blow all of my plans out of the water.
How about the most fun?
I’ve loved getting to know new people and paying it forward. I was new to this just a couple months ago and I had what seemed like a billion stupid questions to ask. And I asked them repeatedly. I even had to start of messages to people like this, “Talk to me like I’m five…” Most people were great about it. A couple, who had offered their help, were not so great about it. I’ve decided to not be one of those people. If I offer to help, I mean it. And I don’t mean I’ll just give you some hints and tell you to figure it out. I will tell you every last detail of what I know.
Now, I have others that are early in their Indie publishing journey and I’ve offered to be there to guide them. I know how hard it is. I know it’s almost impossible to keep all the new information straight. I want them to know that there is no stupid questions and it’s okay to ask the same question several times until you completely understand. It’s how we learn and we’re all I this together.
What inspired you to write your first book?
A name generator online, believe it or not. I had just completed NaNoWriMo on my other book that will be released in January. Literally, just an hour before. It was later at night, a bad time for me in terms of writing, but I saw the name generator tab and my mind started churning with how many other generators there could be out there. Then I thought about vacations and the idea of the adventure generator was born. I sat there, in my living room, surrounded by people, which I hate when I’m writing. It was night time, I was wrung out, but I saw that first chapter so clearly I had to run with it. I had it written in a half an hour. Then I read it and thought I really had something. Like most writers, five seconds later I second guessed myself. I sent it off to one of my most trusted critique partners and she replied, “After reading this, I feel like I write like a second grader.” That’s when I knew, for sure, I had something. To this day, chapter one is the least altered of my works and I’ve been trying to live up to it ever since.
Do you have any writing rituals? (Time of day to write, must have beverages? Etc?)
I get up at 5:30 every morning to get ready for my day job. I write for about a half hour with my protein shake next to me, often with reruns of Parking Wars playing in the background. I can’t handle absolute silence, I have three daughters, quiet is unnatural. I’m home by noon and then I’m in that chair for the afternoon. My ideal time to write is in the morning, but right now, I don’t have the availability to write that way. Someday, if I’m very lucky, I’ll shut down my business and write full time.
Who is your go-to author, the one you know you can always count on to deliver a great story?
I have two and if you haven’t read them yet, get on it! Kristan Higgins. When I need the awkwardly funny, she is my go to, hands down. I was lucky enough to have dinner with her about a year ago and she’s a wonderful lady!
And Beth Ciotta. I’ve been reading her books for years. I’ve always wanted to meet her and now that I’m in this world, I’ve done that. Literally, just last night. We’re now both in the same chapter of RWA. She’s fabulous…I can’t say enough about her. She’s so warm and caring, I’ll never forget meeting her.
What projects are you working on at the present?
Right now, I’m starting to prepare Sunset at Lake Crane for publishing in January. It was actually my first written book. It’s the first in a series and it’s twice the length of Falling in Fiji. It’s a more serious, more complicated story, one that I love! My hero and heroine have a hell of a back story. He was her teacher senior year of high school and they had a summer long affair after she graduated. The book actually takes place eight years later though, when he finds her again. It’s up for preorder on Amazon right now! Also, I’m writing the second to Falling in Fiji and the second to Sunset, at the same time. Falling in Angels Falls should be coming out in February and Nightfall at Hunter’s Ridge, April or May.
What do your plans for future projects include?
My Falling in Paradise and Livingston Valley series are both going to be at least three books, potentially more. For the next couple years, I see myself churning out those stories. I would love to get a novella or two out there. That’s what Falling in Fiji was supposed to be, but I broke those word counts and had to upgrade it to a novel. I have a few others books plotted out and ready to write. One of which I plotted over the phone with my best friend. I don’t want to put it off, so I might see if it can work as book four or five to the Livingston Valley series.
Falling in Fiji
Corinne Anderson designs the most stunning engagement rings on the west coast. A jewelry designer for the jet set and engaged to marry the man of her dreams, Corinne thinks she has it all—until her engagement explodes in spectacular fashion. Devastated, Corinne dares a sexy stranger to help turn her honeymoon from broken to breathtaking.
A frazzled financier . . .
Everett Harden, a sought-after financial whiz kid, is overworked and stressed to the max. Minutes away from closing a lucrative deal, he’s approached by a tiny spitfire who slaps down two airline tickets and a challenge: join her on a beach getaway where the sand is hot and the adventures hotter. Intrigued and desperate for an escape, Everett accepts.
Adventures unknown . . .
Fiji began as a fancy-free trip, but with the high-tech Adventure App running the show, Corinne and Everett find more than paradise. But can their romance survive the pressures of the real world, where reality bites, adventure is hard to come by, and—there is no App for love?
