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Although a fifth-generation Texan by birth (St. Joseph's Hospital, Houston), Candice did most of her growing up in southern California. How such a delicate flower who wilts in the heat survived those years remains a mystery. She shook off the heat and smog and found her climatic destiny when she re-located to the Bay Area to attend graduate school at the University of California at Berkeley. Today she lives on a hill in San Francisco where the typical summer is fog-bound and freezing, and she loves it.

Candice has been a voracious reader all her life. For many years she had been a devotee of Jane Austen, Fanny Burney, Maria Edgeworth, Susan Ferrier, and other women writers of the Regency period. When she discovered Georgette Heyer and the Regency Romance genre (not so very long ago — it is not clear how she remained ignorant of the Great Georgette for most of her life) she was instantly hooked. After a few years of reading Regency Romances by the bagful, she decided to try her hand at writing one.

Her first book, A Proper Companion, was published in January 1995. She went on to publish five more traditional short Regency Romances, and now writes longer Regency-set historical romances.

 

Candice has a group of friends and writers who have been a brainstorming team forseveral years. Rather than a critique group, where writers critique one another's work, a brainstorming group focuses on plotting. They might brainstorm an entire story idea for a new proposal, or a single scene for a work-in-progress. Sometimes Candice and her friends brainstorm ideas for book promotion as well, and one day decided to join forces in a group promotion. And thus was born the

After a year or so, they added more members to the promo group, which now includes ten writers from the San Francisco Bay Area. The Divas are a diverse group with more than 100 published books among them. They write contemporary romantic comedy, romantic suspense, historical romance, women's fiction, young adult romance, erotic romance, and series romance. They have a website, a blog, and a monthly newsletter. Visit their website to subscribe.

The Fog City Divas gathered at the 2007 RWA conference in Dallas.

 

 

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Candice, Karin Tabke, Jami Alden, and Brenda Novak at a romance panel presented at the Santa Rosa Public Library.


Candice with authors Monica McCarty and
Anne Mallory at a booksigning at the fabulous Bookend in Newark, CA



Candice with author Suzanne Enoch at a booksigning at Borders Express in Brea, CA.



Candice with Bluestockings Claudia and Kat at a
booksigning at Borders in Emeryville, CA.



Candice at her mini launch party for
Lady Be Bad at Border's in San Francisco.



Candice at the 2007 RWA conference
in Dallas, signing books at the annual
Literacy For Life booksiging.

BLOGGING!
Tuesday, April 1
Dishing With the Divas
Candice will be interviewing Barbara Freethy about her latest book, Silent Fall, on the Fog City Divas blog.

BLOGGING!
Tuesday, April 15
Dishing With the Divas
Candice will be posting her regular blog with the Fog City Divas.

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT!
Saturday, April 26, 9:30am - 12:00pm
Sacramento Chapter of RWA
Candice will be part of a panel on plotting, along with Monica McCarty and Allison Brennan. Click here for details, including location, and to make a reservation.

BLOGGING!
Tuesday, April 29
Dishing With the Divas
Candice will be posting her regular blog with the Fog City Divas.

BLOGGING!
Tuesday, May 13
Dishing With the Divas
Candice will be posting her regular blog with the Fog City Divas.

BLOGGING!
Tuesday, May 27
Dishing With the Divas
Candice will be posting her regular blog with the Fog City Divas.

BLOGGING!
Tuesday, June 10
Dishing With the Divas
Candice will be posting her regular blog with the Fog City Divas.

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT!
Wednesday, July 30, time TBD
Historical Romance Writers Conference
Marriott Hotel
San Francisco, CA

Candice will be presenting a show-and-tell workshop entitled "My Lady's Boudoir" featuring dressing table items from her Collections.

BOOKSIGNING!
Wednesday, July 30, 5:30pm - 7:30pm
Marriott Hotel
San Francisco, CA

Candice will be joing several hundred romance authors signing their books at the annual Literacy For Life event held in conjunction with the Romance Writers of America conference. All proceeds go to local literact charities.

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT!
Saturday, August 2, 9:45am
Romance Writers of America Conference
Marriott Hotel
San Francisco, CA

Candice will be presenting a workshop on "Writing Regency Historicals in the Here and Now," along with fellow authors Stephanie Laurens and Jacquie D'Alessandro.

 

 

 

 


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Candice has several workshops available for presentation at writers' groups or general interest groups. She would be pleased to speak at your next group meeting or conference. Contact Candice for her availability.

WRITING WORKSHOPS

The Power of POV: Using it to Bring Characters to Life
This workshop, for beginning to intermediate writers, will present some basic skills for using deep 3rd-person point-of-view to bring characters to life, including some common pitfalls to avoid.  This will not be a "To Head-Hop or Not To Head-Hop" workshop, but will instead focus on how to make the most effective use of POV in deepening and enriching characterization, how to REALLY get inside, and stay inside, a character's head. 

Say What? Putting Words in Your Characters' Mouths
You've heard all about dialog tags, beats, and all that technical stuff that makes up the structure of good dialog. Now it's time to talk about what to put inside those quotes. Candice will discuss how to use dialog to move the story forward and to reveal character, and will provide tips on creating natural-sounding dialog.

Developing Characters Through Backstory
In this workshop, Candice explains how to create characters with consistent behaviors and consistent actions/reactions based on their backstory. The backstory provides information about the past that helps to understand the psychology of the character in the present. It provides insight into the motives and actions and responses of the characters. Specific influences in the past create a very specific character in the present. Candice will demonstrate how to create a backstory chart that helps to understand (or predict) the behavior of the character.

Researching the Historical Novel: Where to Find It, How to Use It
This workshop focuses on the role of research in writing the historical romance. The emphasis is on the Regency period, but the methodology applies to any period. Topics include research methods and source materials; what NOT to use as sources; making the most of internet sources; how and when to incorporate research into your story.

HISTORICAL RESEARCH AND GENERAL INTEREST WORKSHOPS

Ladies' Magazines of the Regency Period
Learn what a woman of the Regency would be reading to keep abreast of social and political news, fashion, literature, and theatre. The most popular magazines of the day (including the Lady's Magazine, Ackermann's Repository of Arts, La Belle Assemblée, the Lady's Monthly Museum, the Gallery of Fashion, and Le Beau Monde) will be discussed in terms of packaging, circulation numbers, content, editorial direction, etc. Copies of many of the magazines, both bound volumes and individual monthly issues in their original covers, will be on hand for close examination.

My Lady's Boudoir
This is primarily a show-and-tell presentation featuring many of the objects from Candice's Collections. Concentrating on items found on a lady's dressing table as well as various fashion accessories, the presentation includes scent bottles, vinaigrettes, cosmetic cases, jewelry, fans, purses, quizzing glasses, and shoe buckles. Candice will explain the historical context of each group of items and describe how they were used. A PowerPoint presentation provides detailed images of the items as well as paintings and fashion prints that show similar items in use.

 

 

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ROMANCE SITES

New and Previously Owned Books (Good site to buy romance novels, new and used copies. Reviews and articles as well.)

Historical Romance Writers (Book reviews, author interviews, etc.)

All About Romance (Reviews, articles, message boards, etc. Don't miss At the Back Fence.)

Mystic Castle (Reviews and message boards for readers of historical romance.)

The Romance Reader (Good review site.)

Romance Reviews Today (Good review site.)

Romantic Times Magazine (Reviews from the magazine, plus message board etc.)

 

OTHER FUN SITES

The Fog City Divas
Website and blog of Candice and nine other San Francisco romance writers.

Panda Cams at:
San Diego Zoo
Atlanta Zoo
National Zoo, Washington DC

24-hour live video cams from three zoos that are homes to giant pandas. These critters are so much fun to watch! And there is usually at least one cub on hand. Last year, pandas at both the San Diego and National zoos gave birth, and this year there is a new panda cub in Atlanta. It's hard to find anything cuter than a baby panda.

Romance Writers of America

The Beau Monde (RWA Regency chapter)

San Francisco RWA chapter

JASNA (Jane Austen Society of America)

Republic of Pemberley (for Jane Austen addicts)

The Bay Area English Regency Society

Friends of the English Regency

 

 

Dishing with the Divas
This is where Candice blogs with her fellow Fog City Divas. Books, reading, writing, movies, TV, food, lingerie, and pop culture in all its forms are dished here. Lots of guests and cool contests!


Running With Quills
A group of bestselling authors from the Seattle area (Jayne Anne Krentz, Stella Cameron, Elizabeth Lowell, Lori Foster, Susan Andersen, and Suzanne Simmons) blog about writerly topics and other important stuff.

Word Wenches
Seven historical romance authors, plotting in the present, writing about the past ... and improvising the rest. WW authors include Jo Beverley, Edith Layton, Mary Jo Putney, Patricia Rice, Loretta Chase, Sarah Gabriel, and Susan Holloway Scott.

Risky Regencies
Regency writers Ammanda McCabe, Megan Frampton, Diane Perkins, Laurie Bishop, Janet Mullaney, Cara King, and Elena Green discuss all things Regency.

Romance B(u)y the Book
Michelle Buonfiglio's book reviews, interviews, and blog at LifetimeTV.com. Michelle invites you to "dish about the Best Romance Novels, the Hottest Heroes, the Cheesiest Covers, and anything else we can think of."

Romancing the Blog
A long list of writers contribute articles to this blog where they talk about "what's hip, what's now, what's tomorrow in the romance world."

Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Novels
"A website that reviews romance novels from a couple of smart bitches who will always give it to you straight. No bullshit. No gushing -- unless the author really deserves it. "

Teach Me Tonight
"Musings on romance ficiton from an academic perspective." A very interesting blog with serious, scholarly topics penned by several contributing academics.

History Hoydens
"Historical Romance Writers Dishing the Dirt on Research."

Romantic Inks
A group of aspiring romance writers talk about writing, with frequent guest lecturers.

Romance Vagabonds
"Just a ragtag band of writers, traveling from WIP to WIP…looking to finally finish one."

The Goddess Blogs
Fun group of bestselling authors, including Karen Rose, Claudia Dain, Sabrina Jeffries, Karen Hawkins, Nicole Jordan, Rahel Gibson, Suzanne Enoch, and Julia London.

 

 

 

Want to know when Candice's next book is available?

 

 

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