{"id":335531,"date":"2025-12-08T22:14:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T22:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/author-spotlight-with-claire-cain-a-giveaway\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T22:14:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T22:14:24","slug":"author-spotlight-with-claire-cain-a-giveaway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=335531","title":{"rendered":"Author Spotlight with Claire Cain + a Giveaway!"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Amazon as a kindle ebook or paperback!<\/p>\n

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a Rafflecopter giveaway<\/a><\/p>\n

Claire Cain lives to eat and drink her way around the globe with her traveling soldier and two kids, but is perhaps even happier hunkered down at home in a pair of sweatpants and slippers using any free moment she has to read and cook. Or talk\u2014she really likes to talk. She has become an expert at packing too many dishes in too few cabinets and making houses into homes from Utah to Germany and many places in between. She\u2019s a proud Army wife and is frankly just really happy to be here.<\/p>\n

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Cain in Paris eating a fruit tart\u2013 if there\u2019s ever been romance in her life, it was this moment!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Jamie: Thank you so much for taking the time to tell us more about yourself! I know you already have a lot of fans and dedicated followers, but for my readers who don\u2019t know much about you, can you tell us how you got started? Have you always wanted to be a writer? And was there a particular moment you thought, \u2018I can do this!\u2019? <\/span><\/h2>\n

CC: I have always wanted to be a writer, yes. I started writing fanfiction for boybands when I was a teen, and it was at that age I started wanting to write. It took me another twenty years, but eventually, I managed to write a book!<\/p>\n

I started reading romance novels after becoming exhausted by other reading I\u2019d been doing. I stumbled onto the genre thanks to a friend\u2019s recommendation and ended up devouring book after book. After a point, it seemed so obvious. I kept thinking \u201cI think I could do this. I think I could write a book like this that would make people happy.\u201d It\u2019s certainly a kind of arrogance, I guess, but I\u2019m glad I just plowed ahead and tried. I might\u2019ve been stuck trying to think of the next great American novel like I\u2019d been for the last two decades. Instead, this freed me up to write a story that I\u2019d both enjoy writing and reading and that would appeal to people in different circles. In many senses, it was a relief.<\/p>\n

Jamie: Talk to us about your writing routine; what\u2019s a typical writing schedule for you?<\/span><\/h2>\n

CC: I learned with the first book that I must outline. So, I take a few weeks to outline a book, then dive in to writing. I\u2019ll admit that with all three of my books, though, I\u2019ve written an opening scene before I did much else. I end up revising that scene as I develop the character profiles and overall plot, but usually my ideas for books start with how the couple meets pretty vividly. After that, the real work begins.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had such different experiences writing each of the three books that it\u2019s hard to say how it\u2019ll continue in the future. I\u2019ve found that the writing goes in fits and starts unless I\u2019m committed to sitting down and focusing only on writing for longer chunks of time (rather than a little editing, a little marketing, a little laundry, a little writing). That\u2019s a luxury, of course, but when I can manage it, I can produce decent writing quickly.<\/p>\n

I plan to write the fourth book in The Rambler Battalion Series this November during NaNoWriMo<\/a>. I wrote book 2 last year, and it was an awesome experience. The feeling of plowing through with thousands of other writers at the same time is really motivating and inspiring to me.<\/p>\n

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Cain and her husband skiing in Austria<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Jamie: What is something about you that people would be shocked to find out?<\/span><\/h2>\n

CC: Maybe that I hadn\u2019t read a romance novel until January of 2017? I\u2019d read a Nicholas Sparks here or there as a teen, but he doesn\u2019t count. One other factoid is that one of my first loves was Arnold Schwarzenegger (actor, not politician). I had a steady diet of action movies thanks to my older brothers and Arnold was it for me.<\/p>\n

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Arnold at his finest<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Jamie: Look at that bod! Before we get too distracted with Arnold\u2019s sexy biceps, let\u2019s focus on the craft of writing. In all seriousness, your prose is very well crafted and it\u2019s clear that you\u2019re a talented writer. For you, what\u2019s the hardest sentence to write, the first or the last?<\/span><\/h2>\n

CC: Absolutely the last. Endings are hardest for me. I suspect it\u2019s because I never really feel like my characters\u2019 stories are finished\u2014like their love story is just beginning, so wrapping things up with one last thought feels very difficult. It\u2019s something I\u2019m working on!<\/p>\n

Jamie: You\u2019re definitely not alone with that! Since you\u2019re a contemporary romance author, can you tell us what your favorite contemporary romance novel is?<\/span><\/h2>\n

CC: Sally Thorne\u2019s THE HATING GAME<\/a>. I just reread it and it\u2019s just delectable. It\u2019s an enemies-to-lovers book, one of my favorite tropes, and it\u2019s just so well done. It\u2019s her debut novel, and her next on comes out in early 2019\u2026 I plan on binge-reading it the day it releases if at all possible.<\/p>\n

Jamie: What\u2019s your favorite under-appreciated romance novel?<\/span><\/h2>\n

CC: Oh this is a tough one! Dare I say the entire genre? So often people look down on romance as a whole, suggesting that it creates unrealistic expectations or makes women think all those book boyfriends are better than real men. In the same way that I await my mail delivery by owl, I expect my husband to behave like a romance character\u2014so, not at all. With that said, there are authors creating real and loveable characters who aren\u2019t perfect, which is delightful. And, at the risk of soap-boxing too much, people seem to think the prose in romance novels is facile, but several of my favorite authors have me highlighting in my kindle to look up words in every book they write.<\/p>\n

Jamie: I really like that so many authors are creating real and diverse characters. For your characters and storylines, what kind of research\/preparation do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book? <\/span><\/h2>\n

CC: Since I\u2019m writing contemporary, at least for my current series, I don\u2019t research much before, but end up doing quite a bit as I go. The first book had very little research compared to the second, which had a few different topics like education in the active military, combative tournament rules, and statistics on veteran suicide. The third book involved a bit more since I\u2019ve surveyed a population of people to help inform one of the characters, and I\u2019m using a language I don\u2019t speak in places for another! I suspect as I develop as a writer, the research will become a larger component, particularly as I tackle storylines that I don\u2019t have any experience with.<\/p>\n

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Sweet Reunion (Photo by Melissa Oholendt<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Jamie: Well you certainly have lots of experience as a military wife, so it makes sense that the bulk of your research would be geared towards unique characters or specific details you might not already know. So, for any other aspiring authors out there who are looking to get started, what would you say is the best money you ever spent as a writer?<\/span><\/h2>\n

CC: Gosh, I really don\u2019t know. So far I\u2019d probably say it\u2019s on buying books to read. I haven\u2019t plunked down big money for anything just yet, but I\u2019ve got an eye on a few programs and other things that I hope I\u2019d list under this question in the future!<\/p>\n

Jamie: How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?<\/span><\/h2>\n

CC: I have one unpublished book with an editor now that will publish in February 2019, and another book I\u2019ve just finished the first draft of, which I hope to publish in early summer of 2019. I don\u2019t have any abandoned manuscripts, unless you consider my teeny bopper fan fiction, in which case there\u2019s an amazing collection of short stories no one will ever see.<\/p>\n

Jamie: I would definitely like to read that! \ud83d\ude09 On a more serious note, what does literary success look like to you?<\/span><\/h2>\n

CC: To me, success is writing books that people read and enjoy. It\u2019s that simple. I want to bring people joy and make them feel good. It\u2019d be a dream come true to write someone\u2019s favorite book someday.<\/p>\n

Jamie: Before we let you go, do you have any advice for aspiring writers?<\/span><\/h2>\n

CC: In order to be a writer, you have to write. It seems so obvious, but I think we often trick ourselves into believing we need to be inspired or motivated to write. This is a false notion in writing just like it is for anything else\u2014to be a writer, you must write. And, on that note, if you\u2019re a writer and need a push, consider signing up for NaNoWriMo<\/a> this year! Nothing like a crowd to make you put words to page!<\/p>\n\n

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Yours truly with a lovely copy of Cain\u2019s wonderful book!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Claire, thank you so much for sharing your heart with us today!<\/p>\n

For anyone interested in entering the giveaway above, you have just a few days left\u2026<\/p>\n

You can also follow this amazing author on Facebook!<\/a><\/p>\n

Related<\/em><\/h3>\n

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