Please Welcome Cambria Hebert!

Today I am excited to welcome author and friend Cambria Hebert to my blog and to Never Too Old for YA Books group on Goodreads.
I'm also privileged to be a part of Cambria's awesome Heven and Hell street team!

Cambria is author of these FANTABULOUS books:

And the soon to be released:

Cambria's book can be purchased through these links:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

A little about Cambria:

Author. Blogger. Latte Sipper.
Cambria Hebert is an author who wrote her first book at the age of fifteen. It was terrible. But the passion for writing never went away so years later when she opened her laptop and started typing she worked until she wrote a book that she hopes everyone will be as excited about as she is.

Cambria is obsessed with werewolves and is terrified of chickens (they are creepy!)She is an animal lover that would choose coffee over food and her favorite TV show is the Vampire Diaries (Hell-O Damon!)

Please visit her blog and her author website:
http://www.cambriahebert.com

And this is her Goodreads page:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5298677.Cambria_Hebert

And now let's hear Canbria's answers to our questions:

1. When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? 

     I don’t really know. LOL!! That sounds crazy… but it’s the truth. I have always had an interest in writing. I wrote a book when I was like 15 or so… it wasn’t very good but I loved writing it and I was so terrible at typing back then that I would peck away at the keyboard with one finger… LOL! So you know I liked it if I endured that torture.

    I kind of got away from writing though until after I got married and when I was pregnant with my second child I saw an ad in a magazine about writing for children. Family members had showed me that before and I never filled it out and sent it away but this time I thought, why not? So I filled it out and they sent me an exam which I took and they accepted me into the writing program. I took two courses with them – one of which I wrote a middle grade book (still unpublished but I have plans to publish it). I really enjoyed it. Then a couple years later my husband was deployed to Iraq (he’s a Marine) and I found myself wanting something to kind of escape too, and I started writing. I wrote 4 books while he was gone (it’s a werewolf series also unpublished) and I haven’t looked back. I started Masquerade after he got home and I have been writing that series since. I realized how much I loved writing and that it was what I truly wanted to do with my life so I decided to give it a go. (meaning see if anyone would read what I wrote, lol)

2. How long does it take you to write a book? 

    That depends on how much time I get to write. Before I got published I could write faster, because now I have to market and promote and that takes a TON of time. I would say though if I can stick to a good writing schedule it takes me about a month to write a novel. But then it goes into editing and I do rewrites and such… that normally takes a couple weeks.

3. What do you think makes a great story?

     Suspense, curiosity, characters that make you feel and a good setting. I’m not usually a fan of cliffhangers but sometimes they work too. Lol. I am not a big fan of the love triangle but I would love to see that with a new twist.

4. What is your work schedule like when you're writing?

     Well, I am fortunate enough that writing is currently my only job (besides being a wife and a mother) but let me say that working from home isn’t an easy thing to do, lol. Sometimes its really hard to sit down and write or use social media when there are dishes all over the counter, laundry that needs done and floors that need vacuumed. But my typical schedule (when the kids are in school) looks like this: I wake up and get the kids ready for school and then drive them each to their school (they go to separate schools ;/) and then I come home and work out, then I shower, sit down and answer email, post to FB (and twitter if I can make myself, lol) and then I open up my book and write for as long as I can. Usually right before going back to school to get the kids I will pick up the house then I am out the door to do pickup. When I get home I do a bit more then its dinner/homework/family time.  Sometimes I work once the kids go to bed, depending on how brain fried I am. LOL. I get brain fried sometimes from all those characters talking to me and staring at my computer screen. I am making a change this fall (when school starts) to my schedule, I plan to get up at 545 AM to work out before getting the kids up for school so I have more time to write once they are in school.

But days get hairy when you add in blog posts, guest posts, interviews and blog tours… LOL. So that up above there is a perfect day for me… I get those maybe once or twice a week… the rest of the week I fight for days like that.   There just isn’t enough time in the day sometimes. LOL.

5. How do you balance family and writing?

    I’m still working on that, lol. It’s pretty hard sometimes. I haven’t gotten as much done this summer as I wanted too because my kids are home all day and it makes it hard. Mainly I try and get as much done on something (or more than one thing) as I can when I sit down and then try not to beat myself up about what I didn’t get done that day. If anyone out there has the secret to this please share!

6. Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?

    Most of my ideas come from my imagination. Sometimes I will go through Google and research things that interest me and if I find something I like then I invent ways to work it into a book (that’s how Sam came about).

7. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books? 

    That is I stop worrying about what will happen next, the characters will tell me. Sometimes I would get so into my own head about how I would tie it all together or what will happen next that I kind of freeze up and make it harder than it has to be. But trusting my characters to tell me what their story is actually works!!! LOL.

8. How many books have you written? Which is your favourite? 

    Let’s see… I’ve written about 8 books and 6 short stories. 5 of my books are unpublished. I do hope to revisit those and hopefully get them out there.

     Choosing a favorite is like asking a girl if she would rather have caramel or chocolate… how do you choose?! I can’t really choose which is my favorite because they are all so special to me. Glacier, my first werewolf book has a main character that I really, really love.  But Masquerade will always have a special place in my heart because it was my first published novel. I also and really, really excited about an upcoming project I have.

9. Are your characters based on anyone you know? Who is your favorite and why?

   I don’t base my characters off people I know. Sometimes I think traits of my friends and family members get in there though, because I think people write what they know. I did base Gemma (from the Heven and Hell series) looks off my daughter and I know someone named Heven.

    My favorite character…. I can’t answer that either. I love them all, they each have something that is special about them. I gotta say though that I am becoming very partial to Riley… (meet him in Tirade Heven and Hell #3)

10. Do you have a favourite place you love to write?

     Hanging upside down from my toes in a banana tree.

     Okay, not really. Mostly I write at my dining room table. I like it there. I seem to be able to focus easier there… but sometimes I creep over to the couch…. (it’s too comfy there and the TV is a horrible distraction, lol)

11. How hard is is to get published?

     I can’t speak for everyone else but for me it was Very Hard. I queried agents with my first werewolf series until my fingers and eyes bled. Then I queried agents for Masquerade… I had a bit more interest there but nothing that got me any deals. I got A LOT of rejections (way more than 50) but it just made me more determined. I did eventually find a small publisher that took on Masquerade and it was a dream come true. Recently, my publisher has closed its doors and I decided to step into the Indie world. So far it’s been great! So I guess really if you want to be published it isn’t terribly hard because you can do it yourself…. But it is TONS of work. Getting published traditionally…? Yeah, that can take years.

12. What do your family and friends think about your books?

     They are all really excited and proud. It’s been humbling and it means so much to me. At first I got some surprised reactions because not everyone knew that I wrote (I never told that many people) but once they saw Masquerade and held the paperback they were all so proud. Even my Grandmother’s church has been supportive. I went there a few months ago (we were in town visiting) and all the women there wanted to talk to me about Sam and the minister of the church even added the underlying message of love and hope in my book to his Eulogy! He put the title and everything in the church bulletin, LOL!!!

13. What do you like to do when you are not writing?

      Watch TV (I know, but I like it) I love the Vampire Diaries, I love Teen Wolf and sometimes you will find me watching the Kardashians… (yes I can’t believe I just admitted that). I also like to spend time with my kids and my husband. I also like to shop. Ha ha haa.

14. Do you have any suggestions to help aspiring writers better themselves and their craft? If so, what are they? 

     Just keep working at it. Keep writing and keep trying. If you really want to write you will make it happen. Also, it’s easy to get discouraged (happens to me all the time) but just find something that keeps you motivated and you can beat those feelings.

15. As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up? 

    Oh my. I think I went through every phase there was. A teacher. A singer. An actress. A vet. I specifically remember saying I was going to open a store where everything cost really cheap (think walmart but everything cost $1) my Mom told me that I wouldn’t have money to buy the things I sold and I said “yes I will because so many people will shop there because it’s all so cheap that I will be rich!” LOL

16. What are your favourite books and which authors inspire you?

     Oh boy. I love a lot of books. I am inspired by Gena Showalter. I think she has an amazing career and so many books out there. I really enjoyed her YA series (still waiting for the last book to come out). I also like Cynthia Hand’s Unearthly series. I really enjoyed A Beautiful Dark and the Need series by Carrie Jones.

       I am also inspired by R.L. Stine. I loved his Goosebumps and Fear Street books as a kid. 

17. For an aspiring writer what do you feel are certain do's and don’ts for getting their material published?

        Keep writing.

        Even if someone tells you no ask someone else.

        DO get an GOOD editor. You need one. This is a MUST.

        DON’T spend too much time on one scene (like days). Write it out the best you can and I it still isn’t perfect keep writing and come back to it when editing. By the end of the book you will know your characters better and will have a better grasp on the scene bothering you.

        DO get a GOOD cover. Like it or not covers attract readers.

        DO spend time on social media. You can write the best book in the world but if no one knows who you are or that you wrote no one will buy your book. You NEED FB and Twitter and to be on sites like Goodreads. Yes, it is time consuming, yes it takes away from writing but you have to do it.

      DON’T give up.

18. What are you working on now?

      I’m working on the final book in the Heven and Hell series, Renegade. I am also planning a spin off book based on Riley. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and chatting with us, Cambria! It's been so great having your here! Good luck on the release of your newest book!!!!