Today’s guest is a blast! Caitlin Marceau is a fellow Canuck writer and all around awesome person! She’s super supportive, writes fantastic fiction and is here to have a laugh today!
Please, do welcome Caitlin!
Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try and write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?
CM: I always love answering this question because my writing process is constantly evolving and changing the further into my career I get. Which is funny, because you’d think that by now, I’d have an idea of what works and what doesn’t, but I’m always trying to refine the process and work smarter.
Right now, my writing takes place twice a day. I get up early in the morning, go for a walk and do some yoga to get the blood flowing, and then get right into it. I’ll usually do some free writing for half an hour to get all the garbage out of my system (which is a bit of a misnomer since it’s not bad, it’s just notes and ideas that I need to get out of the way), before working on whatever project I’m focused on for the next hour. After I’m done with my day job, I’ll usually write for another hour or two, depending on my schedule for that evening.
As for my word count, I stopped focusing on that a little while ago. I found that I’d get so focused on hitting a number that I’d honestly be distracted by it. I’d check my count every few minutes, I’d feel discouraged if I hadn’t written as much as I thought I had… I don’t know, it was a mess. So I now try and focus on how much time I’m putting in. It helps me focus on quality, not quantity, and it makes scheduling work a lot easier for me.
Steve: You decide to host a writer’s retreat. One weekend in a luxury house on an island. What three other authors do you invite to come along?
CM: Easy. I clone myself and bring three additional Caitlins to the island so that I can get sh*t done faster. NEXT!
No, but in all seriousness, I have no idea. I actually hate writing around other people because it stresses me out, which is hilarious since I love collaborating. I guess if I had to choose, I’d go with Kyra R. Torres, Damien Casey, and C. J. Sampera. Not only are they all incredibly talented writers and exceptionally kind people, but I’m pretty sure I’d be able to distract them long enough to turn the writing retreat into a massive party. I’m a horrible influence, I know.
Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!
CM: My newest book is called Femina: A Collection Of Dark Fiction, and it’s all about the horror of being a woman. By that, I mean it’s a look at experiences that most women have had in their lives or issues that impact women daily, through the lens of speculative fiction. It examines things like motherhood, body autonomy, consent, everyday sexism, etc., and uses horror to amplify the terror of some already upsetting issues. I think this book is a great way to highlight the experiences of women, while also (hopefully) giving people who have experienced some of these situations a sense of catharsis. (At the very least, it was a wonderfully therapeutic experience for me to write this book.) Additionally, a portion of the profits from this book are also going to charity, so if getting my newest collection wasn’t motivation enough to buy this book, then hopefully knowing it does some good is!
Steve: Bonus Question! You receive an invitation in the mail from one of these two people. The invitation invites you to have dinner and spend the night in their home. Do you accept the invitation from Victor Frankenstein or Dracula and why?
CM: Oh, Dracula. No contest. I think with Victor Frankenstein, you run a really high risk of getting cut up and sewn to a stack of corpses in the hope that he’ll be able to make you into an undead bride for his creation. And if not that, then at the very least he’ll try to kill you and reanimate your body, and I am aggressively not down for that.
On the other hand, let’s be honest, Dracula’s pretty hot and we all know he f*cks. So maybe, if I’m super lucky, he’ll make me a bride or a lover or a vampire. If I’m unlucky, then he drains me and it’s still better than getting sewn to five other people. So, Dracula all the way.
Excellent choice and yes, I think we all know that Dracula has an insatiable lust for carnal pleasures!
Thank you so much, Caitlin!
To find more of her work, check the links!
Website: http://caitlinmarceau.ca/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaitlinMarceau
Steve Stred - The Official Website 