Good Morning Ms. Candela, thanks for talking with Love Romances & More today! 

Can you tell us more about yourself and what lead you to writing Latino fiction? 

I didn’t set out to write Latino, Latina themed fiction, what I wanted to write was fiction that spoke to me and shed light on my experience as a woman and Latina with humor. I took a look at what kind of books were out there and realized there weren’t many and I took the plunge.  

Have you always wanted to be an author?  You have a journalism degree; do you feel like it was always your calling to write?   

I never would have pegged myself as a person to try and make it in a creative field, even though there are very artistic people in my family. Through trial and error and time, I realized I had a knack for writing and since I needed to think about a job and career, I studied journalism and am thankful that my junior college Media 101 professor encouraged me to continue on and that my mother offered some wise words at a crucial time when I was considering going a different route.  

What does your family think of your success?  Do they see themselves in your characters?

My family is very proud of me, my parents especially since they were very worried about me for a while. They knew I was taking a huge risk and weren’t at all convinced that this was a smart gamble for me since it’s pretty out of the norm for us. My characters are inspired by all sorts of people and if family members recognize themselves in the pages of my novels, all I can say is fiction is always based on facts but the names of the (not so) innocent have been changed to protect their privacy.  

Natalya from LIFE OVER EASY and Jacquelyn from UNDERNEATH IT ALL are both confused yet confident do you see yourself as this way? 

I haven’t met one woman yet who doesn’t question the choices she’s made, and hasn’t made, and wonders how life would be different if she’d gone another way. For me my books give me a chance for a sort of ‘do over’ and I can take each character on her journey being mindful that she may end up somewhere completely different from where I myself would want to go. You have to have a certain amount of confidence to write a book and expect people to read it, much less put down their money for it at a bookstore so I’ve learned to fake confidence and have my freak outs in private…and on my blog.  

How do you relate to your heroines?

I relate to each character as a real person, not a puppet for me to manipulate. This is why my heroines have very real flaws. They’re not perfect, but I have genuine affection for them which is important because I live with them 24 hours a day for months as I go through the process of getting their stories down on paper or, in my case, on my hard drive.  

Where did the idea for the character of Natalya come from, I love how she tries to recreate herself!   

I love the idea of self-reinvention. It’s very American. We’re a country full of people who are constantly striving to better ourselves. Natalya decides she needs to give herself a total revamp after she gets dumped since she feels she got dumped for being the person she was. For me it was a chance to see how a person who is a planner deals with the twists and turns and unpredictability of spontaneity.  

Your secondary characters in LIFE OVER EASY are definitely unique, do you have a mate in life, and do you see him in any of the men Natalya finds in her stroll for perfection? 

Since I can’t help but notice the annoying things my husband does little traits here and there pop up in my books as do the sweet things. The men who Natalya meets in the course of the novel embody an ideal she herself is striving for and, of course, each falls short in his own way and Natalya must decide if almost is good enough.  

Do they really make Bible Cliff Notes and do you own a set? 

Yes and yes. I was immensely relived to find them and I’ve read through and feel I have a better understanding of the Bible now than when I was supposed to be versed in its contents.  

Which of the novels you have completed is your favorite?  

I can’t point to an overall favorite. I have favorite bits in each, that’s for sure. I’m very fond of the concept for my next novel, More Than This (Touchstone, August 2008), since it’s essentially a love story and I don’t do love stories.

Do you have a favorite secondary character in your novels?  As a reader, I loved Noel from UNDERNEATH IT ALL, any chance of him getting his own story? 

My wonderful editor, Sulay Hernandez, also is a huge Noel fan. I think it’s because you want to take care of him and he’s a very decent person, just lost. I’m very open to revisiting characters in the future; it’s just a matter of convincing the people in charge that there is something there worth pursuing. I invest a lot in my secondary or supporting characters since they get to say what the main character won’t or can’t say and in some ways I’m more like my secondary characters than the heroines.  

You have a free short story on your website, DON’T CALL ME KATIE, any chance this will become a full length novel? 

My pet project is a book of shorts based on characters from UNDERNEATH IT ALL, that occur before, during and after the events in the book. So you never know. I’m currently working on my next book, my fourth, and maybe after this is all said and done I can twist some arms and make it happen.  

How long have you been writing?  Do you have drawers full of manuscripts, or was UNDERNEATH IT ALL your first novel written? 

The truth is UNDERNEATH IT ALL was the second novel I started and the first I finished and, incredibly enough, it sold. I have a folder full of ideas I’m working my way through one by one. It’s not an easy process. It takes time and rewriting. Since I’m by nature an impatient person, I’ve had to learn to hurry up and slow down.   

How long from start to finish does it take you to write a novel? 

It varies, but I’ve learned that I’m not one of those writers who can just whip out a book. I need to write the first draft, set it aside, revise it, set it aside and take one last pass at it before sending it off. At some point I’ll force my sister to read it and she’ll give me some notes before I let my agent or editor see it. I am considering going with a freelance editor for my next book just to make sure I cover all the bases and turn in the best book I can.  

Do you have a release date for your next novel, MORE THAN THIS? 

It’s coming out next summer, August 18, a few days after my birthday. I had hoped to run away to Paris for the occasion, but I’d be more than happy to go later or before since I want to make sure I make myself available to my publisher for whatever they wish to do with me. I’m very excited to be with Touchstone and part of the Simon & Schuster family for my next two books.

MORE THAN THIS is being released by Touchstone, are they a new publisher? 

Sulay Hernandez found me during an early morning Internet search when she couldn’t sleep. At the time she was an assistant editor at Kensington. When she was offered a position at Touchstone, I was more than happy to ride her coattails over there. For me it’s always been about who I work with and I love working with Sulay because she gets me.   

Is MORE THAN THIS a romance or fiction?  How do you define the genre of your previous novel; Fiction or Chick Lit? 

When asked I say women’s fiction. When pressed I say chick lit. MORE THAN THIS is a love story but it’s unconventional as is my next book. I don’t think love is an easy obstacle course to navigate in real life and it doesn’t get any easier in my books.  

What comes after MORE THAN THIS, do you have a novel in the works? 

I’m adapting a screenplay I wrote a year or so after my son was born for my next book. I’m calling it POTTS’ LUCK. The nut of the idea is the same but I’ve given myself free reign to play with the story, characters and situations they find themselves in. This is the first book I’ll be setting in the area of Los Angeles I grew up in and I’m looking forward to dropping little reference here and there that locals will pick up. My first three novels were all about San Francisco and in a way my love letter to the city for the wonderful and not so wonderful 10 years I spent there during and after college.

Are you a full time author, or do you have a day job? 

I write, or am supposed to write, full time. I’ve kicked around the idea of joining the working world just to be around people since they are what inspire me. I have a few manuscripts due and in the works and then who knows. I used to make a pretty mean cappuccino.  

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?   

As a kid I just wanted to be grown up and when I got there I wanted to be a kid.  

Were you an avid reader growing up?   

Our TV broke when I was around 4 or 5 and we learned to make do without it. We spent a lot of time playing outside, getting dirty and reading. I was a proficient reader by the second or third grade and I haven’t stopped since. I’m happy to say I’ve gotten my son hooked and it’s one of my most proud moments in motherly manipulation.  

Do you have a favorite novel? 

I love Anne Tyler’s Celestial Navigations and The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. Runners seek to run faster. Cooks to cook better. I strive to someday write as well as Tyler and Juster.

Any inspiring words for writers who are still trying to get published? 

I always tell people that if it happened to me it can happen to them. And then I tell them you have to work hard, be persistent, pragmatic and honest with yourself. Writing is like opening a restaurant. You have to think outside of what you like and appeal to an audience. You have to learn how to take criticism and rejection.  

Thanks for talking with us today, just one more question… Can you share with your fans, one secret you never thought you would tell in an interview? 

I have a few but one has to do with a *69 incident and the new girlfriend of an ex-boyfriend. It was me. And that’s all I have to say about that.