Today we’d like to introduce you to Candace Thomas
Hi Candace, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Being a writer can be a rather lonely occupation. You wouldn’t think it, but it is a lot of work in your head and experiences you are having with other characters. How I feel lucky is the community of writers Utah has and the way we band together and root for each other. It is rather unique to not look at other authors as competition but as fellow collaborators.
My story in publishing started when I joined the League of Utah Writers back in 2009. I was a fledgling with zero direction. I mean, how does one get published? No one I knew had written anything and here I was writing a huge novel without any sense of how to write a novel. I was just writing and enjoying it. Here were people, fellow writers, that understood how hard writing was and how hard it can be to write alone. Within this chapter of the League I met amazing writers that helped me shape my writing into something a publisher would like.
I actually found my publisher through my chapter. It was announced that a new publisher was taking unsolicited manuscripts. I had been querying for years at this point and thought I might as well. They loved it and signed me to a three-book deal for my entire series. This was the beginning of a decade in the authoring world, which has helped me understood who I am as a person as well as an author, and grow more than I believed possible.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I would like to say writing while raising my small family was my biggest obstacle, but it wasn’t. My obstacles come from my youth and the insecurities of my own writing.
I was diagnosed with dyslexia when I was 16, a junior in high school. Up to that point, I just thought I was dumb, which sounds impossible. But a lot of us with dyslexia can’t comprehend well. Reading is not just English, reading is in everything. I struggled with every subject. It couldn’t make sense of how people did well in school. It was nice to know I had a reason my reading comprehension was low, but it didn’t solve the problem. At this age, it was not something that my high school was equipped to help with, so close to the end of my high school career.
The reality of my situation placed me in a future where I would need to learn how to succeed in my own way. I didn’t have the credits to graduate with my class and didn’t have a clear understanding of what college would look like for me. I finally earned my GED shortly after I was married and took classes here and there my entire life. It was not until a few years ago when I finally decided that a bachelor’s was in my grasp. I dedicated my spare time to finishing my degree, which was awarded to me Fall 2024. The struggle for adult learners is complicated. We are trying to better our lives and the lives around us, and a lot of us have some form of learning hinderance. Me earning my degree was a witness to my loved ones that you can achieve what you once thought was impossible.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am first an author of young adult fantasy. I have a trilogy called the Vivatera series. My debut novel, Vivatera, won the Diamond Quill for Novel of the Year. I have since started writing fantastical romantic comedy under the pen name Candi Teasdale. I have to say fantastical because everything that I write has an element of magical whimsy. I love stretching my imagination. And I just love waking with stories in my head.
I also get the pleasure of working at the University Hospital in the blood bank, where I affect the lives of so many on a daily basis. I treasure my work, because it is pure adrenaline saving lives. It’s such gratifying work.
Recently, I started a podcast with my good friend and fellow author Jodi L. Milner. We both write fantasy and both have squirrelly brains, hence why we named our podcast “Squirrel! The Podcast For the Distracted Writer.” We focus on neurodivergence and disability in writing and it is tremendous fun.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
Salt Lake City is a treasure hunt of gems. There is an incredible indie spirit and unique craftiness that I identify with. Being an author is pressure and beauty. It is lovely when a reader finds your work and treasures it. Meeting readers while at our local bookstores is my favorite thing. Signings are also very hard, just sitting there not engaging. It can feel awkward. Not everyone is going to read and like your work, and that’s okay. I seek readers that are willing to read not just one book, but all the books. Writing is so private, yet so public.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.candacejthomas.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/candacejthomas/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/candacejthomas.author/
- Other: https://squirrelpodcast.com/
