Author Spotlight: Chelsea M. Cameron

Welcome to the Author Spotlight, Chelsea M. Cameron!

Nicknames: People call me Chels or Chel a lot. It drives me BONKERS. You really can’t shorten my name to anything cute.

Where do you live: Maine

Your favorite dessert: Red Velvet Cheesecake

Your favorite TV series: Downton Abbey

Last book you read: Fifty Shades Darker *sigh*

Last movie you watched: Julie and Julia

Last song (or album) you bought: The 2^nd Law by Muse

A book/series you could read over and over again: Harry Potter

Coke or pepsi? Coke

Day or night? Night, definitely!

Pen or pencil? Pen

Summer or winter? Summer (I hate snow)

Cat or dog? Dog

Tea or coffee? Tea

Plotter or pantser? Pantsing all the way!

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? I’ve always loved books, but I didn’t realize I wanted to be a writer until I was graduating high school. I went to school for journalism, but I figured out I wanted to write fiction my sophomore year. I finished my first book four years later, and I’ve never looked back!

What are you working on now? I am playing around with a few things, all of them secret. I will hopefully have an announcement soon!

If you decided not to be a writer, what would your other dream job be? Why? I have a few. I love books, so librarian would be high on the list. I’d also love to work with kids, so owning a daycare center would also be awesome. Early Childhood Development was going to be my major until I changed to journalism.

What is the scariest thing you’ve ever done in your life? Hmm… I’m not a very adventurous person when it comes to things like skydiving and all that. But then some people would consider indie publishing terrifying, which it is. I think I can put talking to my agent for the first time in the top five scariest things, but it turned out amazing. Whitewater rafting is also pretty far up there, too.

Who is the one person that has singlehandedly inspired you the most in your life? My dad, hands down. I lost him to cancer when I was twenty, and I had my first idea that became my first book a month after. I wouldn’t be where I am now without him. He inspired my love of reading, and he completely and totally supported me and thought I could do anything I wanted to.

What is one talent that you’re hopeless at, but you wish you had? I always wish I was athletically talented. When I was younger I wanted desperately to dance on pointe, but I didn’t much care for the rigid structure of ballet classes. I did jazz dance for years, and I was also a cheerleader, so I did get to dance, but I wish I had the grace of a ballerina. I never could master a double turn.

What is one trait or physical characteristic that you are proud of/love about yourself? Probably my eyes. People are always telling me how pretty they are, and asking me if I have colored contacts. They tend to change color, going from blue to blue/green. I also have a dark blue ring around the outer edge of my iris.

Do you have any suggestions for aspiring writers? I’m taking a leaf out of Stephen King’s book and saying, “Read a lot, write a lot.” In addition to that, you need to keep improving your writing. The only way to do that is to get feedback from multiple sources. It’s something I wish I had done more of before I published my first two books. Even if you just show it to a few friends, feedback is good. Not all feedback is positive, and not all feedback is useful, but you learn something about yourself when you’re willing to let someone else read your work and tell you what they think about it. It helps you grow a thicker skin. If you’re serious about being a writer, you’re gonna need it.

Author bio: Chelsea M. Cameron is a YA/NA writer from Maine. Lover of things random and ridiculous, Jane Austen/Charlotte and Emily Bronte Fangirl, red velvet cake enthusiast, obsessive tea drinker, vegetarian, former cheerleader and world’s worst video gamer. When not writing, she enjoys watching infomercials, singing in the car and tweeting. She has a degree in journalism from the University of Maine, Orono that she promptly abandoned to write about the people in her own head. More often than not, these people turn out to be just as weird as she is.

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Taylor Caldwell can’t decide if she wants to kiss her new college roommate or punch him.
On the one hand, Hunter Zaccadelli is a handsome, blue-eyed bundle of charm. On the other, he’s a tattooed, guitar-playing bundle of bad boy. Maybe that’s why Taylor’s afraid of falling in love with him, or anyone else. She doesn’t want to get burned, and even though her other roommates adore him, she wants him gone before it’s too late.
Hunter himself has been been burned before, but the fact that Taylor calls him out on his crap and has the sexiest laugh ever make him decide maybe love isn’t a lost cause. They make a bet: if she can convince him she truly loves or hates him, he’ll leave the apartment–and leave her alone. The problem is, the more time they spend together, the less she hates him, and the more she moves toward love.
But when the man who holds the key to Taylor’s fear of giving up her heart resurfaces and threatens to wreck everything, she has to decide: trust Hunter with her greatest secret, or do everything in her power to win that bet and drive him away forever.

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Seventeen-year-old Ava-Claire Sullivan’s mother is dying. Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that her greatest solace comes from someone who’s already dead.
Peter Hart saves her one night in a graveyard from an attacker just as strange as he is, and now Ava can’t stop thinking about him. She wants to see him again – even after he warns her he’s dangerous, and she begins to realize what he is. Her best friends don’t know anything about death, but Peter does, intimately. He’s waiting for her the next night she comes to the cemetery, and the next…
But their growing bond comes up against a promise Peter made a long time ago, a promise that could destroy them both. Now Ava has to decide just what she’s willing to give up to hold onto the one thing that could last forever.

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Nightmare (The Noctalis Chronicles #2)

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Neither (The Noctalis Chronicles #3)

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People think I’m crazy. Maybe I am, since I’ve been able to talk to spirits for as long as I can remember. They are the forgotten, the souls who have unfinished business and can’t cross over. I help them, or at least I try to. There’s this one in particular, Jack, I call him, who’s been following me around a lot. Usually they tell me what they need to do and move on. Not him.
It isn’t until he brings another spirit, Tracy, the victim of an unsolved hit-and-run accident, that I know for sure he’s something more than just your average spirit. Then I start seeing him. And feeling his touch. And falling for him.
In our quest to get justice for Tracy and help her move on, Jack and I become something more than just a dead boy and a living girl. I’m just waiting to see what happens next…

Cheers,