Author Margo Candela

Once upon a time I was an unpublished writer, driving up to the San Francisco once a month to meet with a group of other hopeful yet not-quite-published writers. We called ourselves the Sunday Cafe Writers, because, well, we met on Sundays at a café to talk about writing. Yeah, we used all our creative stuff or our books. Anyway, that's where I first met Margo Candela, who is not only a now published fabulous author, but has a brand new book out that I highly recommend everyone go read. Right now. It's that good. So, take it away, Margo...

I've met lots of people who want to be writers, as well as those who are. The main difference between the two groups is that one talks about writing
while the other actually sits down and does it. (There’s also a difference between those who get published and those who don’t, but that’s a whole
other story.)

I majored in journalism because I wanted a job after college and I had this vague hope that someone, somewhere would pay me to write. I learned the Who,What, Why, Where and How formula and after a few years freelancing for magazines and websites, I applied those same principles to my first novel, Underneath It All.

With the publication of my fourth novel, Good-bye To All That, I’ve had plenty of practice and time to figure out how to write a novel. I’ve also
allowed myself to become more creative in how I approach a book, but I always start in the exact same place. No, not blind panic, but with a plan.

Every writer has a secret as to how they get the seemingly impossible done. That’s what writing a novel sometimes feels like, impossible. Between the
beginning and the end, there are tons of details, plots, names, and more to keep track of. But I have a secret weapon which I consider my literary Spanx of sorts—the outline. Yes, like the one your 7th grade English teacher forced you to learn and then graded you harshly on.

I’m the first to admit that outlines aren’t sexy and they aren’t muse friendly either. But when you’re on a deadline and you don’t have time to
take a week’s rest at a sanitarium because your book is driving you crazy, a good outline can save your butt.

I rewrote Good-bye To All That in five weeks by putting in 5,000 word days and sticking to my outline, tweaking it only when absolutely necessary. A three page, 798 word outline made it possible for me to map out a 340 page 80,000 word novel under some of the most stressful circumstances I’ve ever encountered as a writer.

But writers are like junkies, you just can’t keep us off the stuff. We write because we have to and every writer has their own way of making it happen.
For me it is and will always be the humble outline. In fact, I just finished the outline for my next book and I wore Spanx while I worked on it. Why? Well, why not? It worked the last time and I’m sure the combo of the two will make the impossible possible again when it’s time to outline my next novel.

~Margo Candela
Twitter: @Margo_Candela
Facebook: www.facebook.com/MargoCandela
Online: www.MargoCandela.com
Blog: www.MargoCandela.blogspot.com

About Good-bye To All That (Touchstone, July 13, 2010):

Raquel Azorian has worked her way from temp to executive assistant and is this close to a promotion when her boss suffers a very public meltdown that puts not only his future in Hollywood, but also Raquel’s on the line.
It’s not just Raquel’s professional life that’s a mess, her whole family is in turmoil and Raquel is forced to become the intermediary—all while trying
to figure out how to save her job and not derail her office romance with the man of her dreams. Unfortunately for her, the clashing of her personal and professional life is making that rung hard to reach for. When the chaos of juggling so many lives reaches a breaking point, Raquel realizes she’s going to have to choose—success at work or happiness at home. Whatever choice she
makes, Raquel knows it going to cost her, but part of her is still pulling for her very own Hollywood ending.

"Margo Candela combines a cunning wit with a deep understanding of the office politics specific to the entertainment industry to create a frantic
atmosphere and a near breathless momentum as the story barrels toward an ending that's anything but your focus grouped happy fade-out." –Publishers
Weekly

“Candela captures the ups and downs of Hollywood in her appealing send-up of the cutthroat side of the industry.” –Booklist

"A gutsy marketing assistant tries to play ball with the big boys while also pedaling wildly to keep her neurotic family afloat in this breezy novel from the L.A. writer." -Los Angeles Magazine