Carol Cadoo

Q & A with Carol Cadoo

Tell us about yourself by describing yourself in 5 words:  Saucy Irreverent Funny Tough and Mom

What is a typical day like for Carol Cadoo?  I live in a blender set on frappe.  My typical day is never typical but one thing is constant. I live out in the country so at 5am I am on my patio having coffee and getting my list of to do, for the day. Love a list because I love to mark things off the list, not necessarily to keep track.  I always write in the morning for 2 hours and at night for2 hours. The difference between a writer and someone who writes is that a writer writes daily, as a matter of self- discipline. Someone who writes gets to write whenever they want.  On MWF I write for an additional 8 hours. When I am in first draft or first rewrite mode.  I also have a busy life as a wedding planner and mom of one left at home with two adorable dog babies. I have an adult son living in Tulsa. Being the control freak I am; I also touch base to micro manage his life daily. I garden and work with others in creative projects.  My house tends to be the Kool-Aid house for artist, musicians and other writers. They always know there is good coffee and conversation in my garden.

What or who inspires you?  I tell you my sister inspires me she is a schizophrenic and has to work real hard to live a normal life.  Things that we take for granted are hard work for her.  She inspires me with her courage and steadfast desire to get better, in order to live a normal life.  She is funny and bright a special person in a mean world; she lives her life with dignity and hope.  I am awestruck by her courage. I always remind myself of that when I feel like I am having a bad day.  There are worse days for people, so my little minor problems seem just that…minor.  You know they say you can’t pick the path you walk.  But you can decide how you will walk it. Colette walks her path with grace.

How long did it take you to write your book, Déjà vu of Love?  Well I say 20 years because I started thinking about a book at 20 and actually wrote it at 40. Once I sat down to do it two weeks for a first draft.  I naively thought the process was done, oh no little grasshopper.  What I discovered was that writing the first draft just starts the process.  So I made a lot of mistakes and had to learn how to write a book with this one.  Got a few editorial critiques rewrote, restructured so my rewrite process with this book has been about 10 years.  There is much to learn before the book actually makes it to peoples Kindle.  I had to learn how the whole process of publishing worked.  So this book has been a journey.  The next two benefitted from all the learning, total time on each from first draft to publication about 18 months.

At what moment did you feel that you were a real author?  When one of my editors cried when she read a passage, another one laughed those were the moments that I said to myself okay, you are now an author.  I believe that writing is about putting the reader right smack dab in the middle of the story…living it.  If they read the book from one of the characters prospective you have done your job as a writer.

If your book were to be a movie, who would like to play your characters?  I would love for Bethany Frankel to play Jazz and Charlie Sheen as Gianni probably the guy who played Jack on Will and Grace for Patrick.

How did the idea come for Déjà vu of Love?  Like most of my ideas it came up while I was gardening and playing the, what if game.  I spend a lot of time growing 37 different sunflowers plus roses and lavender. After I come up with the basic story line I let the characters fill in the blanks.  I find the more I stay out of their dynamics the better it all flows.  So when I get into editing I really think it is more like channeling the characters. I have to go back and reread as I have no memory of writing anything.  It is a real bazaar thing.  If you have never experienced it, no one can explain it but weird is an understatement.

When writing, what are the 5 things you must have with you?  Cold Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pepsi, Jalapeno almonds, coffee and my laptop

Have do you deal with writer’s block?  I don’t believe in writers block, I think it is a myth. See here is the thing if you try and force your characters into dialogue or try and dictate how you want them to react; they plant their feet and go “no way”.  Writers block is just an author trying to force their views or agenda onto the characters the characters rebel.  That is why nothing works, it is best to walk away come back and write another day. Clean the house, play with your grandkids let thoughts of the book go away.  Let the characters sort everything out amongst them, then when you go back everything falls into place.  If you fight the characters nothing will happen.

What is your favorite part of the writing/editing/publishing process?  Why?  I love, love, love the rewrite process.  I love the angst, the suffering the whole deal.  It really makes me know I am a writer when I am knee deep in rewrite. Just love it fleshing out the details of the story line and really getting to know my characters.

Paper/hardback or eBooks?  Why?  Ebooks all the way.  Somewhere in a forest in the world a mother tree and her children are thanking me.  Somewhere in the world of the future, a mom will take her kids to a park to climb a tree.  It has to come, the time is now, and we can no longer waste our resources.  You know there will always be paper books.  I believe that is the future role of the library. I write very good fluff.  Not War and Peace but fun easy hammock, vacation, airplane and sick bed novels.  I write them well; they are entertainment. I believe Kindle will replace paper books like elevators replaced stairs, not at all. There is nothing that will replace the smell and feel of paper and ink. But again use our resources sparingly.

Do you have any upcoming projects?  If so, can you tell us anything?  Yes the second install of this standalone nightstand trilogy Inheritance of Love is in final rewrite scheduled release is Nov 15^th ish. The third Journey to Love is scheduled for release Jan 15^th it just finished in first draft. Waiting for the first edit.

Additional comments by Carol:  I hope everyone enjoy reading Déjà Vu of Love as much as I loved writing it.  Also if anyone wants to drop me a line I would love to hear from you.  They should always feel free to let other readers know what they think at Amazon by placing a review.  Thanks for having me and I wish everyone a great summer and one good read in a hammock.

**Contact Carol:

Email: carolcadoobookstore@gmail.com

Facebook

**Buy “Déjà vu of Love!”

Amazon