Good morning. It’s Meet and Greet Monday!

With us today is Romance Author, Cassandra Carr.

Welcome, Cassandra!

 

Describe a typical day in the life of Cassandra Carr, writer, mom, daughter, hockey fan…
Well, because I am all those things and more, there is no “typical” day. The routine will be more steady once the summer is over, but right now, I don’t set an alarm since either hubs’ will wake me up or my daughter will. Once she’s back in school I need to set one since she gets up about a half-hour before my husband.
I check email, Hootsuite, and Facebook first thing in the morning, and get my daughter fed and dressed. If she’s going to school, I’ll often use an hour or so on admin work (being self-published is tough, man!) and then do some sort of writing task.
She gets out of school at 2:30, so if I’m picking her up, I go get her. I might have more time to do stuff once she’s home, but she’s five, so…Hubs arrives between 5:30 and 6:30. He’s in IT, so if something breaks, he has to stay til it’s fixed. We try to have dinner together and then oftentimes my husband does something with our daughter since he hasn’t seen her all day. Then I can relax, clean, work more, whatever.
I go to bed between 11pm and 1am, depending on what I’m doing. It’s a little after midnight now, and I’m waiting for our third tie dyed shirt to finish drying in the laundry before I go to bed, so I’m answering these questions! More productive than searching for hot inspiration online. Or is it?

Which team do you predict will win the Stanley Cup next year? I’m still on the fence personally, too soon to tell, but some people I know are already predicting…so what about you, Cassandra?
Hard to say. To be honest, with the Sabres as bad as they are I haven’t paid as close attention. I know Chicago’s looking pretty good. I also know my Sabres will NOT finish in last place. No way. *shakes head vigorously*

What is your favorite color?
Purple. I like color in general, but I’ve always liked purple. When I was a preteen my parents let me choose carpet and paint for my room. Yep, purple. You may notice my website and a lot of my branding materials include purple. I often wear purple to conferences.

What is your favorite scent?
I don’t think I have a favorite, but I definitely have a least favorite – vanilla. Now, I know what you’re all thinking…vanilla is such an innocuous scent. Well, my roommate in an apartment back in college was a nut for it. There wasn’t a square inch of that apartment that didn’t reek of it.

What do you like to do for fun and relax?
We have Roku, so if I’m wiped, I’ll pick out some odd movie or period piece and watch that. I read a lot too. I love going out. Buffalo has an embarrassment of riches where food is concerned, believe it or not.

What five items do you take everywhere with you – besides cell phone, keys and purse/wallet?
Crayons for my daughter, pain pills of about six different types for my chronic neck and shoulder pain, tissues, prescription sunglasses, and lip gloss or lipstick. I don’t wear makeup normally, but I’ll throw some lip stuff on if I’m going anywhere worth doing it for. 😉

If we were to come over to your house for dinner, what dish would you make us?
Oh wow. I’m actually a pretty good cook. It would probably involve my famous Thanksgiving stuffing. So if that was true, probably turkey too. And of course, appropriate wines paired with the meal. My husband and I are wine drinkers. We don’t drink to excess, but we enjoy going to wineries, exploring our local stores for deals, things like that.

Have you read any books that have made you cry?
Geez. Where would I start? So many make me cry. One that recently wrecked me was a YA male/male story called Hat Trick by Jeff Adams. Excellent, excellent book, but it’ll stay with you for a long time.

What three words would your family use to describe you?
Overachiever (they say I work too much), loving (hopefully) and knowledgeable (someone around here has to be, lol).

Do you get road rage? What pisses you off the most about other drivers?
Not really. I’m rarely in a huge hurry. I don’t like driving in general, so rush hour isn’t fun for me. What pisses me off is people who follow too close. Drives me nuts. I was in a chain-reaction collision about ten years ago. I was driving a Honda Civic and got sandwiched between a (thankfully empty) wheelchair van and one of those huge trucks guys like to buy to feel manly. Yep, you guessed it. That accident is one of the reasons I have this chronic pain. So back off, people!

Who are some of your favorite authors?
I can never answer this question! It would take a long list, and I’d forget someone. But I can tell you the genres I’m reading most often these days are male/male and historical romances. I don’t tend to read much BDSM, because it really bothers me when authors get things wrong. I’m not in the lifestyle, but as someone who needs to get things right, I do a lot of research. I don’t enjoy category romance or paranormal, but other than that, I’m fairly open.

Did you always want to be an author?
LOL No, not at all. It never even entered my mind. I graduated with a degree in Psychology, with a minor in Human Resource Management. I was hired to do recruiting for a computer consulting company, which I hated. I then moved into market research for the same company, which expanded to include many other marketing-related duties as the company laid people off. I became the Director of Marketing for a dot.com and got laid off from that. Afterward, I found it hard to get another full-time position. I was writing hockey fanfic, and my mother, also a writer (Cindy Racette), suggested I fictionalize one story and try to sell it to a publisher. I did, and sold in November 2010.

What is your one pet peeve about the writing business?
When I write what I feel is a good book and no one buys it. It’s very discouraging to spend so long on something and feel it has merit, and have readers disagree.

What do you think is your biggest writing weakness?
I get bored. There’s no way I could do something like a 20-book series. I’m probably not focused enough.

What bestselling book or series do you wish you had written?
The Lorelei James Rough Riders series. Remember that thing about getting bored? Well, if I had the patience to write a series like it would be awesome. Of course, Lorelei is awesome (and a very nice person!) so I’d never want to take away her fame.

If you could have a superpower, aside from writing of course, what would you wish it to be?
Flight would be convenient. Not very exciting, but there it is, especially since I’m not a fan of driving.

Do you have a bucket list? If so, how many items are on it? Have you been able to cross many items off the list?
I don’t have a written list. There are things I’d like to do – hit one or more of the bestseller lists (NYT or USA Today); go to Europe for a couple of weeks; see the Sabres win the Stanley Cup…

 

Coming Soon from Cassandra, and other authors…

Campus Cravings, releasing 8/25:
Welcome to Cathia University, where school is in session! Nine of today’s hottest gay romance authors have crafted brand-new interrelated novellas celebrating everything wonderful about college, with over 200,000 words featuring sophisticated professors, sexy teaching assistants, ambitious grad students, and spirited undergraduates, all looking for the same thing: an A+ in true love.

The Campus Cravings Facebook Page

Connect with Cassandra:
http://www.facebook.com/AuthorCassandraCarr
http://www.twitter.com/Cassandra_Carr
http://www.booksbycassandracarr.com

 

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