Author Interview - J. L. Canfield
This week's interview is with Author J. L. (Julie) Canfield.
Julie is busy working on the sequel to her detective series as well as getting ready for the release of her women's fiction novel in early May.
Thank you, Julie, for being my guest this week.
About Writing/Books/Being an Author
1. Do you remember the first book you read that had an impact on you - in what way and what was the name of that book?
Several stories I read as child impacted me. Snow White gave me hope. Velveteen Rabbit made me cry. Beatirx Potter’s work made me love antiheroes and King Arthur stories made me realize underdogs matter and should be cheered on in life.
2. When did you first realize you wanted to write?
In second grade, I wrote my first play before that I was always composing little songs and poems that I sang during play.
3. Who is/are your favourite author(s)?
So many but Daphne Du Maurier, Anne Perry and Bernard Cornwell are the ones I read the most.
4. What is your favourite thing about writing? What is your least favourite thing about writing?
There’s so much I love about writing but the one thing that keeps me on my laptop turning out words is the feeling I get when I have written another chapter or I have thought of and crafted the next twist in the plot. Writing gives me a high, a sense of creating that nothing else can. Least favorite thing of course is that it isn’t paying my bills yet.
5. Where do your ideas come from?
Honestly, from God, who is the ultimate writer in life. I have Proverbs 16:3 posted in front of my laptop (Commit your work to the Lord and your plans will be established ESV). Every day I remind myself and him I am doing what he created me to do and that is write. So my ideas flow because of him.
6. I’ve often found that creative people have more than one talent, what is yours?
True it does seem that creatives are gifted in many areas. I would say mine is photography. I have won several awards for my work and have had some of my shots accepted by Getty Images and Alamy. Lately, my sketching has improved some so maybe another talent is blooming in me.
7. If you could jump inside a book for one day (as an observer) what book would it be?
Either Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier to see what was really happening in that house or Bernard Cornwall’s Agincourt because I would love to meet Eleanor of Aquitaine.
8. When you create characters are they completely made up or do they resemble or remind you of people you know?
I try very hard not to create a character that someone will recognize as themselves but I am human so sometimes people I know will have their quirks added to character I am crafting.
9. Have you ever created a character “out of thin air” only to run into someone in real life that reminds you of that character either in personality or their features?
So far no and I think it would scare me if I did.
10. How do you come up with titles for your books?
They just seem to happen as I am writing.
11. What are you working on now and can you tell us about it?
I am writing the next story in my detective series and I hope to have it ready for my publisher to pick up by this summer and then if he likes it, released by next spring. It will explain a few things about the three main characters, where they are headed and the plot focuses on ironically something that happened in a Catholic Church run orphanage that has now caused a death within a different parish that threatens to bring another scandal on the church. I am also in the prelaunch phase for my first women’s fiction which will be released May 2, 2019. This book is about a couple who have differing ideas about their marriage. She is ready to start a family and he is not. She thinks they have a very secure marriage and he realizes he should have thought about what would happen to his life after the wedding night.
12. Have you won any awards for your writing/books and if so what?
This past November, my book What Hides Beneath, received the PenCraft Award for best Christian Fiction 2018. There were no plans at the time I wrote this to make it a series but now those plans have changed and I am working on the next one. This is a detective mystery series.
A Little More Personal
13. What is one thing you haven’t done but would like to do?
Write a publishable play or go up in a balloon.
14. Can you tell us about an embarrassing/funny moment?
On my wedding day, my two youngest nieces who were 8 years old decided they did not want me to cry so they told me jokes in the back of the church. I started giggling and walked in giggling and had trouble saying my vows because I couldn’t stop laughing and when the unity candle refused to light, I lost it and laughed out loud and very loud which made my new husband angry.
15. Are you superstitious? Do you have any rituals for good luck?
Not superstitious and I don’t have any rituals for luck but I do believe in divine connections or circumstances.
16. Do you have a favourite vacation spot? Where?
I love traveling to places in Europe because of all the history that is there, but I’m happy anywhere there’s an ocean.
17. What makes you happy?
Besides a publishing contract and a good day of writing, it’s a sunny day on a not crowded beach with a great book to read.
18. If you aren’t writing (or doing anything associated with writing), what are you doing?
I’m either capturing nature’s beauty with my camera or working out in the gym.
19. Have you ever met anyone famous – who?
I’m from Wilmington, NC where many famous people have come from. It’s a small town and being from a family with roots there. I met them through my parents or because I was on a festival committee where they were being honored as guests. You may have heard of some of these: Sonny Jurgenson, and Charlie damsels who went to school with my mother and walked to and from there with her and a few others every day. Roman Gabriel, Meadowlark Lennon, David Brinkley, who I met through his sister Katie. Margret Truman lived there when I was a teen and I got to talk writing with her, and the most famous person from my town is Michael Jordan who I knew in college. I also had the privilege of meeting Matthew Perry in Charlotte where he asked me out. Wilmington is also home of the largest soundstage on the East Coast and most all of the Marvel movies are filmed there now along with several shows so there’s always someone famous walking around.
J.L.'s Links
Amazon Author Page
Amazon Book Link https://amzn.to/2GtBHIM Icy Roads Preooder link until May 1, 2019: http://www.blackrosewriting.com/literary/icyroads.