CONSTANCE BRETES ( Cont .) INTERVIEW
CONSTANCE BRETES ( Cont .) INTERVIEW
MFRW :
CB :
MFRW :
CB :
Who are your favorite characters among the books you ’ ve written ? I love all my characters , but I especially love Janice and Chris in Book of Love . Janice is resilient , strong and a survivor . She ’ s had a rough life . Chris is equally as strong , has dealt with racism , and is a family man . He cares about the community he lives in and his children .
How much of your personality and life experiences are in your writing ? Every book has a part of me in it , and a life experience that happened to me . I love sharing personal stories of incidents that were humorous or life changing .
MFRW : What song would best describe your life ?
CB : “ I Can See Clearly Now ” by Jimmy Cliff . My family and I have been through some really rough years . The song resonates with me every day . I love that as I ’ ve gotten older , I can see all obstacles in my way , as the song indicates .
MFRW :
CB :
Do you have a set schedule for writing or do you just go with the flow ? I have some sort of schedule , but it ’ s flexible . I usually get my coffee and get all my social media out of the way first thing in the morning . I ’ m also active in a couple of RWA groups and I try to get those tasks done . Then I can spend the rest of the day either editing , writing , or
MFRW :
CB : researching , or all three . If the characters are really urging me to get something down , I ’ ll flip the process and get up early in the morning and do the writing . Sometimes through the night I ’ ll have dreams , or think of things I want to include in the story and will grab my phone off the nightstand and text myself . That way I get it down , and I don ’ t wake up in the morning wondering what the heck it was I wanted to write down .
Tell us about your latest book , including its genre . Does it cross over to other genres ? If so , what are they ?
Blue As Sapphires in a contemporary romance set in a small town in Montana . Philipsburg is the actual town , though in the book , I changed the name to Frankenburg . It combines my love of sapphire digging , gold panning , gemology , and a subject that I write about in two of my books — domestic abuse . Abuse is not an easy subject to write about , and I have two heroines that come from that background . My purpose is to point out the abuse and deal with it . Show that women can overcome domestic abuse and go on to live happy , fulfilling lives .
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