Today I'm delighted to bring you an exclusive Q&A session with Katherine Garbera as part of her blog tour with Rachels Random Resources for her latest novel,
Christmas at the Candied Apple Cafe.
There's also a giveaway at the end of the post so make sure you keep scrolling!
Christmas at the Candied Apple Cafe
Katherine Garbera
Harper Impulse
December 2017
There’s nothing so magical as Christmas in New York…
Santa is coming to New York!
Snow is falling, excitement is high and the delicious scent of chocolate drifts along Fifth
Avenue – the Candied Apple Café is ready for Christmas! And no one is busier than publicist
Iona Summerlin. With so much to do, she doesn’t have time to think about men, dating, or
the fact her last boyfriend ditched her for her brother… Relationships are off the menu!
Hotel boss Mads Eriksson is not looking forward to the first Christmas since losing his wife.
His six-year- old daughter Sofia has lost her belief in Christmas magic along with her mother,
and he has no idea what to do. But an unusually festive business meeting at the Candied
Apple – and meeting the beautiful Iona – starts to defrost Mads’ frozen heart, and suddenly
life seems full of light and sparkle again.
If only they dare to believe, maybe all their Christmas dreams will come true!
Thank you to Katherine for taking the time to do a Q & A with Lozza's Book Corner.
How do you come up with your heroes?
I always start with what I find attractive in a guy. I like them strong, a little-bit alpha,
and determined to have the woman they want no matter the cost. Because family is
at the core of every story I write I sometimes am mean and make the hero feel
responsible for the loss of his family—trying to give him an extra barrier to overcome
while he is falling for the heroine.
How has Pinterest influenced your writing?
1) I love to find photos that really capture the emotion of my characters and
then I pin them to the board.
2) Then I add in quotes that capture what I think of as the core of my
characters.
3) I think Eve already covered this, but good-looking, hot guys.
4) I love finding places that I didn’t know existed. Like for Whiskey River we
found fields of lavender in Texas even though normally you think of fields
of bluebells in Texas.
How do you get the ideas for your stories?
The ideas for my stories come from everywhere. Usually from a combination of
interesting news stories I’ve read, conversations with my hubby and kids, movies I
watch, TV shows…pretty much everywhere. I have written a lot of books and so
sometimes people are surprised I still have stories to tell, but I don’t think I’ve even
come close to telling them all.
I’m also really nosey about people so I will watch them from behind my dark
sunglasses and try to figure out why they are doing whatever they are doing. I have
spent hours just watching people and being inspired by my version of their lives.
Where do you work?
I work wherever I can. I have an office which I use most every day for my daily page
count, I either sit at my desk or in my big comfy chair. I’ve been using an app for the
iPad called Hanx Writer (it’s named after the actor Tom Hanks). The app turns my
iPad into a typewriter with the old typewriter sounds. I love it!
Sometimes I really need to get out of my regular space, especially if I’m distracted by
a new book being released and then I go to the café and write. I find that I’m
unwilling to sit on Facebook or play games when I think someone else might see me!
Describe your office
I have a huge counter top that I used as my desk. It’s set to my height and I have
two monitors on it. On my desk are post-it notes from my husband and my kids.
One reminds me to “stay fresh”—not sure what that means, but I do try! I also have
stuff my friends have given me over the years and little figurines I collect. Above my
monitor on the wall I have a quote by Carl Sandberg “Nothing happens unless first a
dream” and an affirmation.
I have a bookcase to the left of where I sit that is jammed full of my favorite books on
writing (Stephen King’s On Writing and Dwight Swain’s Techniques of the Selling
Writer) and then my binders where I keep everything that is involved in my story.
The synopsis, the letters from my editor, my research and then when it’s released
reader letters.
What is the "best thing about writing"?
Truth? It’s that I get to make up stories for a living. That’s it for me. I’ve always
loved telling stories and the fact that I get paid to do it makes me very happy.
Readers who take the time to write to me and let me know how my books helped
them or cheered them up make all those hours by myself in my office worth it. I also
really love that I am can call myself a writer. They are the most fascinating people
I’ve ever met and I like being part of that group.
When and how did you get the idea for the Candied Apple Cafe?
Like most of ideas this one came while I was eating chocolate.
For Christmas I
always start with family because it’s so central to my life and I like to create conflict
for my characters from that. Usually that means killing off someone important to my
protagonist so they have mixed feelings about the holidays.
Why did you choose to set the story in New York?
I love Manhattan. I wanted to explore the hidden neighbourhoods that exist within a
big bustling city and show the bonds between family and friends there. Also, all of
my picture perfect Christmas images involve New York City.
Giveaway
Giveaway - Win 5 x Signed Copies of Summer in Manhattan
5 lucky winners will win a copy of Summer in Manhattan, Katherine Garbera’s previous book
for Harper Impulse.
