Interview with C. Spencer and giveaway |

Happy Monday!

Bold Strokes Books author C. Spencer is here.

She’s giving away an e-copy of her latest Truth or Dare to one lucky winner. More details are below.

Please welcome C. Spencer.

Before we begin, thanks so much for stopping by today for a chat.

Thank you so much for having me!

In college you started as an art major. Why did you switch to English literature?

Great question. What I loved about life drawing and fine art was the craft, the details and challenge in getting the shade and proportions just right. But after a while, I was being pressured into forcing some sort of meaning into my work – some kind of statement, political or otherwise. When maybe I just wanted to draw a beautiful woman. Next, I just sort of fell into literature. I took a class or two and that was it. I loved everything about it.

I read you like Henry David Thoreau. Have you visited Walden Pond? If yes, what were your impressions. If not, do you plan to?

I haven’t yet, but this is definitely on my bucket list – the top of it, actually.

After college, how did you end up in Vermont and did you enjoy living in the land of maple syrup?

In college, I lived in San Bernardino County, California, which is bustling and urban and scorching. But I wanted small town and green grass and snow. I wanted to wear wool and layers, to experience Autumn and all four seasons.

So I pulled out a map and started to research areas where I might want to spend my life after college. It was the perfect time to start over. I didn’t have a job or kid or house to hold me down. Soon I narrowed it down to Vermont.

It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life. Vermont is magnificently beautiful, especially in October. And though I’m down in Massachusetts now, I feel more at home in New England and especially in a smallish, somewhat rural area. It’s just who I am. At the same time, I’m fortunate to have that city kid still in me. It can be useful.

You worked as a freelance copywriter. Can you tell us about copywriting and how it helps when writing fiction? Does it hinder when crafting stories?

Yes, I still do full-time. Copywriting pays the bills, and I enjoy that balance in my life. I can step away from my work in progress and do something I’m far more confident in – writing for someone else. Then I can switch back to writing fiction, which is so challenging and new that I lose all confidence.

But I’m always writing – all day every day – and I’ve done so for nearly 20 years. My clients often tell me, how do you do this? How do you sit down and write when I can’t even get one word down. Everyone can. But it’s definitely easier when you do it on a regular basis – otherwise you get rusty. It’s the same with anything, really.

So there’s a benefit in having a balance, in writing constantly, and also in my experience running my own business for so long – marketing, branding, finance and that sort.

Tell us about your debut novel Truth or Dare?

Truth or Dare follows three narratives that occur at the same time over the course of one long weekend – as a snowstorm hits. It’s what could happen if all of life’s distractions melt away and we’re left face-to-face with issues and feelings that have been under the surface for quite some time.

When you aren’t writing or reading, what do you like to do?

There’s little free time to be had in my life. I feel like I have two rather demanding jobs, both of which I love. And there’s the actual work of writing, but there’s also sales and accounting and all of those hats.

But I’m also a mom, and I put everything down if our daughter needs me. She’s 22 now, in college and living at home. Plus it goes without saying that I love spending time with my wife. In the summer, we have a garden and she cans and we cut and freeze. We’re working that farm-to-table thing. It’s a lot of work. But it’s rewarding. It’s also money that could be spent on other more important items, like wine.

Thanks so much for chatting today.

Thank you so much for having me! I really appreciate it.

TRUTH OR DARE

Release date: March 13, 2018
Romance

It’s a long weekend among six friends whose lives have intertwined through years of U-Hauls and regrets, almosts and what-ifs. As that poorly timed snowstorm whirls into town, it threatens to kick pent-up desires and tightly held secrets over the edge—especially for Jessie, who can’t stop thinking about her best friend Hadley.

Meanwhile Brie’s past overshadows her present-day, and the Lasleys just hope to enjoy their much-anticipated wedding anniversary. If everyone would just keep it together for the next few days, and if this snow would taper off, they just might pull off Sunday’s celebration. Drama free.

MEET THE AUTHOR

C. Spencer resides in Western Massachusetts with her wife and their daughter. She’s worked as a freelance copywriter since 2001. In 2013, she began writing fiction on the side. She’s currently working on her second novel.