Blurb
Cait’s still reeling from her father and sister’s deaths when a werewolf bite changes her life forever. Two men seem frighteningly familiar with her condition and the world of magic she’s thrown into. Torn between sweet, too-hot-to-be-true Eli and dark, alluring Wes, Cait must choose sides… before it’s too late.
Buy Links:
Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00W8X9FUI
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/clearer-in-the-night/id991209968?mt=11
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/clearer-in-the-night-rebecca-croteau/1121815629?ean=2940152152852
Kobo : https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/clearer-in-the-night
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Rebecca_Croteau_Clearer_in_the_Night?id=ITeeCAAAQBAJ
Link to Follow Tour: http://www.penandinkbooktours.com/tour/clearer-in-the-night-rebecca-croteau/
Author Bio
Rebecca, Ree to her friends, lives with her family in the wilds of New England. She is owned by two cats, and enjoys discovering the various ways that one can enjoy string. She is fueled by coffee, and strong autumn breezes.
Interview:
1. When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
I've wanted to be a writer quite literally as long as I can remember. My
mother tells a story about me at around 6 years old, realizing that
actual people wrote books, that they did not just come into being at the
library completely finished, and how I pronounced immediately that I was
going to be one of those book-writing people when I grew up.
2. How long does it take you to write a book?
It depends on the book. I usually finish a first draft in a heady rush
that usually takes less than two or three months, but editing can take
some time. And that's before it heads off to the publisher to get the
input of the pros!
3. What is your work schedule like when you're writing?
I try to write every day. I'm a full time freelance writer (doing
website copy, ghostwriting, blogs and articles), so there are some days
that are really deadline heavy, and I get to the end of a day and just
stare at my laptop like it's going to bite my face if I try to type one
more sentence. Others, I plow through my day-job work and am excited to
tackle a scene or plot. It all depends on what I'm working on.
4. What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I have a huge and dramatic love of fountain pens. I have about a dozen,
and I keep around six of them inked at any given time, all in different
colors. Almost all of my first drafts have been written in pen, and I
devised a code so that I could tell later what pen and ink color I was
using on any given page.
5. How do books get published?
Well, you see, when an author and a publisher love each other very
much... :D All joking aside, it's quite a process, especially now. We
live in exciting times in book publishing. Everything is up in the air,
and many of the things that were decidedly Against The Rules a decade
ago are now completely possible. Authors can connect with their readers
in way that make my fifteen-year-old fangirl self jealous. If I could
have tweeted at Misty Lackey about the Vanyel books back in 1996, I
think I would have fainted. It's so cool that this is now possible, but
it means that authors are responsible for their public image in a way
that they might not have been ten or twenty years ago.
6. Where do you get your information or ideas for your books? My
ideas often come from what-if games. Clearer In The Night was based on a
number of different things--a reaction to the helplessness of characters
like Bella from Twilight and Sookie Stackhouse, combined with a desire to
explore the darker side of the paranormal, and how these eternally old
creatures are not as harmless and delicate as they might seem to us.
There was also a song written by my favorite folk band, Wood's Tea
Company, that included the line "I hear that you call yourself Kate now/I
always called you Kathleen," which has stuck with me for years. The
concepts of names--the difference between the people who call the main
character in Clearer Cait or Caitie or Caitlyn--was a big theme in this
book.
7. When did you write your first book and how old were you? About
7. It was called the Mystery of The Screaming Mirror, and was written in
the style of R. L. Stine. My mother is still mad that I never finished
it.
8. What do you like to do when you're not writing?
I'm a gamer; I'm currently caught between yet another replay in the Dragon
Age universe and leveling characters in Marvel Heroes. When I need to get
out from behind a computer screen, I knit, play with my kids, and read. I
read a ridiculous amount. I can sew, but I'm lousy at it. I tell my doctor
I run three times a week, but it doesn't happen anywhere near that often.
9. What does your family think of your writing?
They're supportive. My kids aren't really old enough to understand what I
mean when I say "Mama's writing," and my husband has learned not to get
too worried when I suddenly start talking about the best way to off
someone without the police finding out.
10. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating
your books?
I was talking to Tammara Webber on Twitter earlier today about her book,
Sweet, that just released. There's one particular scene that was just
tearing my heart out, and my go-to when that happens is to frantically
tweet at an author about my feels. And she commented on how hard that same
scene was to write, and that she has to feel it for me to feel it when I
read. And I suddenly realized that that's why I trust authors like her,
or Courtney Summers, or Alisha Rai, or Courtney Milan, with such
heart-rending topics; I know they're feeling the same pain I am, so I
trust them to lead me into that dark place, and then out again. I'd
always known that my own writing could have that kind of benefit, and
there are several scenes in Clearer In The Night that tore my heart out to
write. On two separate occasions, I stared at what I'd written, totally
horrified at what I'd said, what I was doing to my characters. And then I
kept going. Because that's what writing is so often about to me.
11. How many books have you written? Which is your favorite? Under
my pen name, I've published one full length novel, one novella, and two
short stories. They're all my favorite in different ways, I think. Clearer
In The Night goes to such dark places, and explores such emotional themes
for me--of sisterhood, of family, of relying on people and how that makes
you vulnerable, and how relying on yourself alone makes you even more
vulnerable--and I love that. But I also have a short story forthcoming in
an anthology from Circlet Press, that I adore for entirely different
reasons. It's a lesbian erotica piece, set on a futuristic space station,
and in a world where coffee has become a black market item commanding
extreme prices.
12. Do you have any suggestions to help me become a better writer? If
so, what are they?
So when I was a kid, all my favorite writers answered this question by
saying the only way to get better was to write, write, read, and write
some more, and I always swore that when I finally Made It, I'd share the
big secret. Much to my irritation, the big secret is that they were
right. The only way to become a better writer is to read more, write more,
read more, write more. Read the thing you're writing, but read other
stuff, too, and watch TV, and listen to people talk, and be aware of the
world around you. Don't be bitter about the other guy who made it even
though you haven't; back to your laptop, or notebook, or whatever, and
keep writing. It's the only way.
13. Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say?
I've heard from a few readers who've shared some really wonderful stories
about the hope and inspiration they found in Cait's depression, and how
she eventually moved on from it, but how it's not a magic solution for
her; she's the same person at the end of the book that she was at the
beginning, but she's learned a lot more. She's darker than she was, but
she also has more hope.
14. Do you like to create books for adults?
I don't particularly think about creating books for adults or kids or
teens. The story I'm telling determines a lot of that, but I've found that
while I'm writing, I need to focus on the story. Marketing, which to me is
where we start to debate if a book is for adults or kids or teens or
whatever, is part of the publishing process, more than it's part of the
writing process.
15. What do you think makes a good story?
For me, it's all about connection. As the writer, I'm looking at how these
characters interact and affect each other's lives. As a reader, I'm
looking for how I connect to these characters, what space there is for me
in a story.
16. As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?
I always wanted to be a writer. Sometimes I wanted to be a doctor who
wrote, and sometimes I wanted to be a lawyer who wrote, but writer was
always in the picture. Well, and when I graduated college and didn't have
a job yet, I told everyone I was going to move to Boston and be a ball
attendant for the Red Sox. If John Henry happens to read this, I'd still
be down for that. Especially if Jason Varitek is still hanging around the
clubhouse and I can awkwardly fangirl at him.
17. What Would you like my readers to know?
Two things: first, I love hearing from readers, whether you liked my book
or not. I'm easy to find on Twitter, as @ReeCroteau, or you can email me
at Ree.Croteau@gmail.com. And I welcome all reviews, even if you hated the
book. Second, Clearer In The Night has a lot of romantic and erotic
elements incorporated in it, but it is not a romance, in that the ending
is NOT an HEA. I think it is as happy an ending as Cait could reasonably
have, given the rest of the book, and I do have a series planned out that
will eventually see Cait to the happy ending that she deserves. But
there's a long road to get there for her, and for some of the other
characters who make it to the end with her. Thanks so much for reading!
Author Links
Website: http://www.rebeccacroteau.com/
Tumblr: http://reecroteau.tumblr.com/
Pinterest: ReeCroteau
Google+: ReeCroteau
Twitter: @ReeCroteau
Excerpt #1
This is what it’s like to be the odd girl out: you stand in a crowd, and everyone’s looking through you, past you, around you. Every smile you think is for you? It’s not. They don’t know you, they don’t know your story, but they can smell the curse on you, like a rotten perfume, and they know better than to brush up against you. Can’t risk it rubbing off on them. Of course, in a town like Meredith Falls, a small town that thought it was big, it could be that everyone here knew. That what they were laughing and whispering about was that girl, that Cait girl, didn’t you hear? Her father and sister were killed when she was nine years old, and now her mother’s a drunk and she’s a disaster. Don’t go close, you’ll get her on your shoes. But someone always came close. There was always someone willing to give it a shot, go for a spin, dare the roller coaster. Take a quick bump and grind in the darkest corners of a club, or an alley, or someone’s darkened bedroom, and then run back to their friends, laughing about how they made it with the town whore. Nah, that wasn’t fair. A whore charged. I was just fumbling after something that I wasn’t ever going to find, and reaching for something that approximated release in clumsy hands and whispered lies.
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