Guest Post: Candice Gilmer

I'm so excited to have Candice Gilmer on the blog today talking about her latest release, Rescuing Rapunzel! This is a book I'm really looking forward to reading. So, without further ado...

Do You Take The Stickers Off?

By Candice Gilmer

First off, I’d like to thank Sondrae for having me here at her blog, this is totally awesome, and I’m thrilled to be here. So thrilled in fact, I am giving away an ebook copy of my latest release Rescuing Rapunzel, to one lucky commenter. So be sure to comment and say hi! 

Anyway, today, I thought I’d talk about those stickers. You know the ones I’m talking about, the ones they put on your new computer or phone, around the edges, maybe in between the keys, to keep your computer nice and neat and tidy, or keep your phone screen clean.

I just got a new laptop, my first one in about eight years, and it’s covered with those protective little clear stickers. Around the keys, the edges of the monitor, everywhere, all for the sake of keeping it nice and neat, and of course, I left them on. 

So excited about my new computer, I showed my mother. The first words out of her mouth?

“You’re supposed to take those stickers off, Candice.” 

I blinked. “Well, it keeps it nicer longer if you leave them on.” 

She rolled her eyes. 

I have a point, though. I do. I leave mine on, forever trying to press the air bubbles out of them so the stickers look “factory fresh.” At least, until they get crumbs under the edges, and you can’t press them back down again. 

I can’t help it, I like my things to be “just… so…” I tease my husband constantly about his OCD, but I find I have a touch of it myself. Though I consider mine just wanting to be neat and orderly (I don’t have to check my alarm clock three times before going to sleep, but I do have my quirks). 

As I write, I find that my characters sometimes pop up with little touches of OCD when I’m not looking. 

In Rescuing Rapunzel, I laughed out loud as I wrote the following scene, because I had no idea that my hero Nick was one of those “orderly” men.

Excerpt:

Nick turned to look at me. “Rapunzel, do you wish to leave this tower?”

I nodded. “Of course I do. To walk in the world, to feel the grass under my feet? That seems a most joyous experience. To dance in a stream, to feel wet sand in my fingers. All experiences I wish to have.”

“Then come with me.”

“I cannot. There are such horrors in the world. Bandits, robbers, evil beings who will hurt me, or worse.” I took a few steps toward the window. “I cannot go down there. My hair alone would render me helpless.” As if to punctuate my words, the bundle of hair I had piled on the bed hit the floor with a loud thud, jerking me to the side, and I fell into the bed. Sighing, I kicked the bundle, loosening the tight pull on my head.

I could not begin to imagine trying to run with my hair hanging behind my head.

“Are you all right?” he asked, crossing the room.

I shook my head, then nodded. “I am fine. This hair can be a burden.” I kicked at one of the braids with my toe.

He came a little closer, taking a seat on the floor near the now knotted rope of hair.

“The world is not horrible.” Nick grabbed my braids and started coiling them in a neat pile.

“Of course it is. Mother told me of the wars between the provinces, the bandits and marauders in the woods, how they would as quickly kill as help you.”

I could not help watching the way he neatly worked through a tangle of the braids, as though he had done it all his life.

“The Great Wars are over,” Nick said. “They have been for a good many years now. The king’s seat is secure, and he takes great pains to make sure the White Mountains are safe.”

I did not want to believe his words, so I stared at his hands as he meticulously worked with my hair so as not to inhibit my movement. The sight flabbergasted me. “But not here. Not in the Black Forest. Here is where the awful life, the horrible--”

“You have lived here your entire life. Have you ever seen anyone in the woods before me?” He ran his hands over the braids as he finished.

I could not take my eyes off the braids. It seemed such a silly thing, to be mesmerized by him fixing my hair for me, but it stunned me all the same. Mother had never helped me. She had never taken the time. My hair had always been my burden to care for, to move around and live with. I found I could not catch my breath.

As I wrote that scene, laughing out loud, my husband wanted to know what was so darn funny. I told him I’d made him a hero in my book. I didn’t mention, of course, what part of him I adopted into my character... 

Again, thanks for stopping by. Remember to comment, and let me know if you too don’t take your stickers off, (or really any old thing), to register to receive a free copy of Rescuing Rapunzel.

Rescuing Rapunzel

The Charming Nobles Book 1

Getting Rapunzel out the tower is only half the problem...

Rapunzel longs to live in the world she sees through her window, but

more than her tower keeps her trapped. Her mother has taught her

obedience without question and filled her with fear. She knows she

will never reach the ground. Then Lord Nicolas von Hohburg scales

her wall, breaks into her life, and changes everything.

Nick has resigned himself to a life of duty when Rapunzel's song calls

him to her tower. Soon she has his heart wrapped in her lengthy tresses and he can think of nothing else. But his responsibilities and sense of duty threaten to come between them...

Warning: A scheming witch, a damsel in distress and a Charming Noble who just might save the day. 

Candice Gilmer leads a dangerous double life as a mommy and a writer. In between diaper changes and boo-boo healing, she writes stories usually to the tune of children’s television shows.

Growing up in the Midwest, Candice stays close to her family, especially the ones with basements when the tornadoes come around. She also works as a hairdresser, which she’s done for over fifteen years, and brings her laptop to work so she can write between clients.

When she’s not writing, styling hair and taking care of her family, she gets together with her girlfriends for gossip and coffee while her husband hunts ghosts with Wichita Paranormal Research Society.  All in all, she stays very busy, but really, she wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Well, maybe a little less children’s television.  

Website: http://candicegilmer.com

Blog: http://candicegilmer.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Candice-Gilmer/96543284794

Twitter: http://twitter.com/candicegilmer

Get your copy of Rescuing Rapunzel at Amazon, Barnes and Nobel, Lyrical Press, and digital bookstores everywhere!


Don't forget to leave a comment for your chance to win a copy! Contest runs through July 4th and the winner will be announced on Thursday.