Author Interview with Cambria Hebert

    Getting to know you....

    Cambria Hebert is scared of chickens. She runs when she sees them. She’s also obsessed with werewolves. She runs when she sees them too… just not away…she runs towards them. Cambria really loves donuts but she doesn’t eat them, unless she’s feeling defiant and dares her jeans to get tight as she scarfs a coffee roll. Her jeans are scared of her so they try not to get tight. 

     Cambria is the author of Masquerade (Heven and Hell #1) debuting December 16, 2011. She is also the author of Before (a Heven and Hell prequel) and Whiteout, a paranormal short story.

      Cambria wears a size 7 shoe and her favorite TV show is the Vampire Diaries.

Hi Cambria! Welcome to Coffee, Books and Me! Thanks for coming over and doing an interview! :)  

       Thank you for having me!!! Now where’s the coffee? Can you make me a latte? 

Lols! Let’s have them later, :) Okay, let’s start with...in one or two sentences, can you tell us about your new book “Masquerade”?

    Two sentences? Oh boy. I’ll try. Masquerade is about a girl named Heven who once had it all but has an accident and is left horribly disfigured on the left side of her face. She can’t remember what happened…but someone out there knows…

Ooh. very nice! So, what inspired you to write this book?

     I wanted to write about a girl who might have had everything but then lost it. No one really wants to read about a girl who is perfect because no one is (except for me of course) I wanted to write something that maybe someone out there could relate too. And I love paranormal so I had to throw in some of that. 

Is there an amount of time you set aside to write each day or a word count goal? How do you measure if your day was a successful writing day?

      I don’t have a set amount of writing time each day. I don’t get to write everyday anymore because promotion and marketing take a lot of my time. When I do write I try to write as much as I can as long as the ideas are flowing. I try to write in the mornings after I take my kids to school but sometimes I write at night when everyone is asleep.  I don’t have a word count goal because if I did I think I would focus more on the number than the story. A successful writing day for me would be having that feeling that I just poured out all this great stuff out of my head and I am excited to write more.

What was the hardest part of writing your book?

      I get asked this a lot. Lol. I think I say something different a lot too. Right now my answer is making sure that I got across everything that I wanted to portray. I hope people really connect with the characters and want to know more about them, I wanted to be sure I was able to get out the descriptions and feelings of the characters clearly and concisely.  Also, the editing…. Editing sometimes is endless. I see the mistakes that I made and I would think, “What the heck made me write that?” lol.

Any particular genre that has drawn you to reading/writing?

     I love Young adult and the paranormal/fantasy genre. 

Same here! :) I can’t seem to get enough of them,haha...

If you could jump in to a book, and live in that world..which would it be?

      Wow, that’s a tough question because there are so many books I would love to jump into. I would love love to jump into any of my characters worlds, but I kind of do that when I write… so… I think I would jump into Unearthly by Cynthia Hand.  The setting of that book was just so wonderful. I loved the place and the descriptions of the setting. And all the activities that were outdoor! Sounded great.

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

      This is a tough one. I admire EVERY writer I meet. They are all so inspirational to me. If I had to chose someone I would probably say Gena Showalter. I love her YA series, Intertwined.  That series has so many different kinds of characters that all exist in the same world. Part way through the book I think, how is going to pull this together? But she does. Every single time.

Random question! You have won one million dollars what is the first thing that you would buy?

       Most people would say they would donate. I would too, I would donate to cancer research. But that isn’t ALL I would do. Lol. I would probably buy a lake house right on the lake with big windows and a deck. 

Any other books in the works?Goals for future projects?

      Oh yes! I have Before and Whiteout (both short stories) coming out in November. I also have books 2 and 3 in the Heven and Hell series written and I am working on the 4^th and final book. I also have a four book series (about werewolves!!) written that I would love to see in print. I have many, many more ideas in my head waiting for their turn as well….

Thanks for your time Cambria! We will surely see you around the book industry:)

Thanks for having me here today! It was fun!

MASQUERADE in a FLASH!

Before. Everything was so much better Before. I wasn’t haunted by nightmares, my place at school was secure and my face was flawless. Now, I’m a freak and everything has changed. The worst part is that I can’t remember the night I was sentenced to the shadows. The memory has been stolen from me and I just can’t shake the feeling that someone, something is out there -watching.

Just when I think I have my life handled, Sam, with his intimidating golden stare and shiver inducing voice, makes me realize that I don’t know anything. He makes me see that my scars don’t matter. That they never mattered. I can’t help but fall for him, completely unknowing that he knows exactly how I got this way. Not knowing he was involved.
                                                                 ***
Heven has no idea how closely death stalks her. She has no idea what I have done to keep her alive. I fear the day she learns my secrets, finds out what I really am. But even then I cannot stop, I vow to make things right. Finally her hunter will be hunted, Heaven and Hell, faith and sin will battle, and we will be victorious. But first, Heven must learn to be what she never imagined. I know her strength is there – I feel it. If we are to overcome all odds, she must push past her flaws - her frailties - to become much more.

Visit Cambria at:  

Website: http://www.cambriahebert.com

Blog: http://www.theunlockeddiary.blogspot.com

Twitter: @cambriahebert

FaceBook:  https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Cambria-Hebert/128278117253138

You can pre-order Masquerade (print versions) right now (Hurry! Go!) at Cambria’s publishers website:  

http://www.otherworldpublications.com/apps/webstore/

Enter coupon code: OWPMEM to get $2 off. 

The books (all 3 of them) will also be available on Amazon, Smashwords, and BN.