7 minute read
Candace Shaw
Interview by King Brooks - Get Lit with King
King Brooks: Hi Candace, how are you doing?
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Candace Shaw: Hello! Thank you so much for inviting me for an interview. I’m doing quite well and I can’t stop grinning from ear-to-ear. I just found out The Family First Box Set reached 118 on the USA Today Bestselling List! I collaborated in the box set with Iris Bolling, Sharon C. Cooper, Delaney Diamond, Sherelle Green, Tina Martin, Stephanie Nicole Norris, and Kiru Taye. It was truly a privilege to work with amazing and talented authors!
KB: Congrats, on the release of ‘Family First.’ Tell us about your book in the box set.
CS: Thank you. My contribution to the Family First box set is Cooking Up Love from the Arrington Family Series. The book centers around the youngest Arrington sibling, Shelbi and her unexpected journey to love with Justin Richardson, executive chef and owner of Lillian’s Dinner and Blues Club. The fivebook series (which has three spinoffs) is set in Memphis, Tennessee and follows the lives of five siblings who are all doctors at the medical practice their parents’ started years ago. In Cooking Up Love, Shelbi is fresh out of medical school but has decided to forego her residency and instead accept a position as a food critic for the Memphis Tribune. (much to her father’s dismay) Using her new job as a scapegoat, she tries to forget her guilt of a patient dying under her care during her internship. Upon meeting Justin, they both feel an immediate connection of cooking together while falling for each other. Justin is leery of doctors, especially the one who couldn’t save his mother when he was twelve. When Shelbi finds out his disdain for doctors as well as a shocking revelation, she is faced with a devastating decision and the fear of losing the man she loves.
If you haven’t bought Family First yet, here are the buy links. Family First: A Black Romance Box Set | Candace Shaw
KB: Who came up with this idea for all of you to come together and contribute stories for ‘Family First?’
CS: It was Delaney Diamond’s vision to do the box set centered around black love and family which would be perfect for Black History Month as well as the month of love. I knew I was going to say yes as soon as I read her email. I’ve worked with Delaney on another collaboration so I knew this one would be a success as well. There are eight full-length novels in the set, each one the first book in one of our popular family romance series.
KB: You have written 15+ books. What keeps you coming back for more?
CS: My fabulous readers that actually take the time to read my crazy imagination encourages me to write more books.
KB: Where do you find inspiration for each book?
CS: My inspiration for books comes from different places. It can be an event in my life or someone I know. (but changed drastically) A vacation to St. Simons Island, Georgia for spring break with my husband, inspired me to place the Precious Moments series there. Originally it was Memphis. A trip to my husband’s hometown of Memphis, Tennessee to visit his family and attend the Memphis in May Barbeque Festival changed my mind of setting the Arrington Family Series in Atlanta where we live. Sometimes it can be something as simple as buying cupcakes at a cupcake shop. That turned into making my heroine Tiffani Chase the owner of a cupcake bakery Sweet Treats in The Sweetest Kiss (Chasing Love, Book 3). Or I’ll simply wake up and have an idea and immediately grab my cell phone to jot it down in my notes. Sometimes its little things like playing Scrabble all the time like me and my husband ending up in
Prescription for Desire (Arrington Family Series, Book 4) or one of our favorite restaurants Café Intermezzo ending up in A Passionate Night (The Arringtons, 2.0, Book 1) and having a very flirty conversation.
KB: What is your process for writing?
CS: Ha! I wouldn’t say I have an actual process. LOL! I’m not a plotter so I don’t do elaborate charts, notebooks, etc. like some authors. I’m a pantser so I just sit down and type my first rough draft. I take notes in my iPhone beforehand. but I don’t plot out every chapter or scene. However, I’ll place notes right in the manuscript while I’m working. After the first draft is complete, I’ll rewrite it, let it rest for a week or so and then edit the last draft before sending to my editor. I am a research nerd, though and will spend sometimes too much time doing research when I should be writing or cooking dinner. LOL! For example, in my book When I Fell for You (Precious Moments, Book 2) the hero, Dr. Blake Harrison takes the heroine, Reagan Richardson, to a private salsa lesson for a second date. I didn’t know how to salsa so I watched videos on YouTube for a few days before writing the scene and convinced my husband to take me salsa dancing as well. While writing, I had the videos on repeat, sometimes stopping and pausing. The scene wasn’t even that long, but I wanted to make sure I described the technique perfectly because I don’t know whose reading my books and may point out something was incorrect.
KB: What advice would you give to new authors coming into the industry?
CS: Learn everything you need to know about your genre including reading books in your selected genre. Research, buy books for writers, and join a writers group in your city which offers workshops and conferences in order to hone your craft. Because of the pandemic, a lot of conferences and workshops are online. Also having a circle of author friends who you can depend on to keep you motivated, read your work, and listen to you rant is essential as well.
KB: If any of your books could be adapted for film/TV. Which book or books would you choose, and who would you cast in them?
CS: Honestly? All of them, LOL! But if I had to select one for a movie it would be Journey to Seduction (Chasing Love, Book 2) It’s a fast-paced sexy enemies-to-lovers romance and begins on Valentine’s Day. My heroine Sydney Chase hates the hero, Bryce Monroe; however, because of unforeseen circumstances, they end up spending Valentine’s night together followed by a cross-country journey to Las Vegas to a motorcycle festival. For Bryce, I’d cast actor Amin Joseph because he’s on the cover of the book. (He even promoted it on his social media accounts!) For Sydney---and her twin sister Megan from Her Perfect Candidate (Chasing Love, Book 1)---I’d have to pick the Mowry twins Tia and Tamera in that order as they were my inspiration for the two heroines.
KB: What books are on your nightstand right now?
CS: For Christmas, my husband gave me A Promised Land by President Barack Obama and its number one on my list to read once I wrap up my current project.
KB: What can we expect from you in the future? CS: I’m in the process wrapping up the rewrites/edits for the last book in the Precious Moments Series, When I Think of You. The heroine in this book is also an Arrington as the series is a spin-off with cousins and friends of the Arrington Family Series. I’m also in the process of placing the rest of the books in Precious Moments in audiobook this summer and another Arrington book from the series The Arringtons, 2,0 in the fall.
KB: Please give the readers a brief bio on you as a person/ author?
CS: USA Today Bestselling author, Candace Shaw writes romance novels because she believes that happily-ever-after isn’t found only in fairy tales. When she’s not writing or researching information for a book, you can find Candace in her gardens, shopping, reading or learning how to cook a new dish.
