Interview with Caddy Rowland

Welcome to JBR! 
We are thrilled to have you visiting today. 

With the huge give away going on what item are you offering to our wonderful readers?

I will be giving away five .mobi or .epub copies of the first book in “The Gastien Series”, a historic family saga for adults. Here is the description:

When young Gastien Beauchamp flees the farm for Paris, the late nineteenth century bohemian era is in full swing. Color has always called to him, beseeching him to capture it on canvas and show people a new way of seeing things. His father belittled his dream of being an artist and tried to beat him into giving it up. The dream wouldn’t die, but Gastien would have had he not left. He also yearns to become a great lover. After the years of anguish he has endured at the hand of his father, it would be heaven to feel pleasure instead of pain. However, the city of Paris has a ruthless agenda. Unless a man has money and connections, Paris unfeelingly crushes dreams and destroys souls. With neither of the required assets, Gastien faces living in alleys, digging in trash bins for food, and sleeping where a man is often killed for his threadbare blanket. Left with only his dreams, Gastien stubbornly pushes on. He vows that absolutely nothing will stop him, not yet realizing what keeping that vow might mean. Sometimes the “impossible” is possible – but the cost can be extremely high.
I assume you will send me the winner’s emails and if they prefer .mobi or .epub.

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Well, I like to write dramatic books with are raw and real. There is probably no subject that I would be afraid to tackle. Some I may not be interested in, though. I like to write books that make people stretch their boundaries a bit; introduce them to characters that make choices the reader might hesitate to make. If I can make readers at least see why people make decisions different from their own I am happy. I guess I hope to make people think and consider. I also hope to make people feel and react strongly. For those who refuse to think, the emotion is still a possibility. It is important to me that characters bad points are shown along with their good and vice/versa for antagonists. No one is all hero or all asshat. Each of us carries a mixture of both. So the warts are shown along with the strengths.
I’ve always loved reading “big” stories, the type of stories that would make good cable series or movies. Drama. Angst. Deception. Betrayal. Love. Hate. Class struggle. Quest for power. Because those types of books appeal to me that’s what I strive to write.
As far as me as a person, I was self-employed most of my life so it stands to reason that I would embrace being an Indie. I like to call my own shots.

What genres do you like to write?

Historical fiction that isn’t stuffy, family saga, drama, contemporary, women’s, psychological fiction, love stories (but NOT romance. I don’t like being forced to write a formula or a HEA.), coming of age.

What is your newest release?

Gastien: Circle of Destiny. It is the fifth (and final) book of “The Gastien Series”.

What are you working on right now?

The first book in a new series. This book is named “House of Pleasure”. The series is about a young girl (16) who runs away from home and is forced into prostitution. She vows to figure out a way to destroy the man responsible and the men who use the girls at the house she is put to work at. “House of Pain” will be the 2nd. It will be the dark back-stories of the girls who work there. “House of Trickery” will be the set-up to destroy the men and “House of Shame” will be the takedown.
The whole series begins with one simple sentence in the first book: Don’t ever trust a whore.

Any future projects you can hint about?

As with “The Gastien Series” most of my work will have an artist involved in some way. Also there will usually be gay or lesbian characters, sometimes being the main character. I have always had gay and lesbian friends in my life so it seems odd not include gay or lesbian characters in my work.
I would like to write more fiction around the bohemian art era in Paris. A very decadent, wild time.
I may write a series of love stories involving an artist in each. I also may do historical fiction about Suzanne Valadon, an artist’s model for the Impressionists in France who also became an artist herself. That may extend into a few more books about other female artists (historical fiction) from the same era and area.
The thing is, although I am female, I really prefer writing male POV. Yet my current series isn’t, and some of those story ideas also aren’t. We’ll see.

As a writer can you give an aspiring authors any advice or some of your wisdom??

I don’t know that I have much wisdom. If I did I would still be in a career where I made a lot of money!
I would tell them to set aside a certain amount of time five days a week and write. Even an hour. Don’t allow anything to take that time from you. Every day, pick up where you left off. Don’t reread and edit, just keep going. Why? Because until you have a complete story there is nothing to edit! Once you have the story done you will be motivated to do the rest of the work.
Unless you are VERY good at grammar, punctuation, and have VERY honest beta readers PLEASE hire an editor! Especially a line editor! They find your grammar and punctuation mistakes, along with inconsistencies, etc. (That said, please excuse any typos in this as I am schedule for eye surgery on Tuesday.)
PLEASE look at a book and note how punctuation works in dialog. I can’t believe how many writers don’t 
have a clue about that.

If you could meet one character from your books who would it be and why?

Gastien. I am also an artist and I would love to paint as well as he did.

Are there any other people or authors that have inspired you or helped you along the way?

There is an Indie here in Minnesota who answered a lot of my questions regarding the self-publishing process. I also used kboards.com a lot and many there have given solid advice to anyone who wants it. But as far as one on one advice on writing, no.

How about some fun stuff?

What is you fav activity besides writing?

That I should talk about? That would be painting, hands down.

Do you own any pets?

No, but we have two parrots that own us.

Fav place to travel?

Favorite place I have been: Oregon Coast. Where I would like to go: Paris, Galapagos Islands, Dominica, and Peru to the saltlicks where the parrots come, Africa.

Fav author you can recommend to our readers?

My favorite traditional author is John Steinbeck.
My favorite Indie is Andrew Ashling. His editing is not perfect but there is no one who can tell a story quite like Andrew. Because of that you quickly forget the editing. I can’t remember the last time an author has hypnotized me with their writing quite like he does. His novels may not be for everyone, but I would say give them a chance. Who would have thought a middle-aged, married, straight woman who dislikes knights and swords would love his graphically gay “Randamor the Recluse” fantasy series, complete with war and sword wielding! Or his perverse, biting humor in “Just Don’t Mess With Us”? If you’re at all uptight do NOT read that one…

Fav book 

“1984” by George Orwell

and finally where can we find you and your books 

You can find my behind the keyboard or behind the easel. You can connect with me here: Sign up for New Release Newsletter by Email: http://eepurl.com/rfjaX Gastien Fanpage: www.facebook.com/Gastien.Beauchamp Author Blog: www.caddyrowlandblog.blogspot.com Author Email: caddyauthor@yahoo.com
Twitter: @caddyorpims
You can find my books at Amazon, B&N, kobo, and I-Store. Here are the links for the first book in “The Gastien Series”: http://tinyurl.com/3ecu8ku For Kindle readers http://tinyurl.com/3ue4a7h For NOOK readers http://tinyurl.com/bx3edem For Kobo readers http://tinyurl.com/3luddg7 To order paperback




Thank you for coming to JBR. I enjoyed talking to you and we hope to see you again here on Julies Book Review.