Royksopp – Here She Comes Again

Kadebostany – Castle in the Snow

Katie Herzig – Way To The Future

Massive Attack – Angel

Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat – Lucky

The above are links and nothing but links to other websites that host these videos. If you think linking to a video is infringing copyright and you want the video to be no longer linked via camelliahart.com, please contact me, Camellia, at contact@camelliahart.com. I will immediately remove it.

Are you a full-time or a part-time writer?

During the day I work for one of the top technology companies in the world and spend most evenings and weekends writing. It does get tiring at times, but I enjoy writing so much, the days I don’t write, I feel unaccomplished and empty.

How do you motivate yourself to continue on writing?

This song, Sam’s Town, by Killers. I’ve heard the acoustic version many times, but even today the lyrics give me just the right amount of pick me up I need.

Would you ever be a full-time writer?

In a heartbeat! If I do well enough as an author, that is. Of course, deep down, I’ll always, and gladly, remain a geek.

Did you always know you’d be a writer someday?

Actually, never in a million years could I’ve imagined myself writing even a page worth of a story, let alone a book. It’s surreal to me where I’m today, promoting my debut novel, Chasing Eva.

Then what made you write your first book?

It all started one foggy Sunday morning, seated by my desk at home, with the view of white sailboats floating by in the blue San Francisco bay. I powered up my brand new laptop and started to type, simply to test it out. I typed for four hours straight. That’s when I knew my true passion. The realization amazes me even today.

What started Chasing Eva?

Helicopters fly over my house all the time, and I’m always curious to see their color 🙂 One day I saw a beautiful blue one and right away I wondered where the chopper took off from? Was it from a nearby high-rise? Who was in it? Where were they going? The scene about Clive and Eva flying to Santa Barbara is the first scene I wrote for Chasing Eva 🙂

How do you develop your plots and characters?

The city is constantly buzzing around me and I draw inspiration from it all. Everything and everybody I see, I touch, I talk to, I walk past, inspire me to knit a ‘what if’ situation that leads into a story of my own.

What do you love about writing?

Dreaming up a story and seeing it unveil on paper. Writing allows me to express my imaginations without any inhibitions, and I love that.

What do you find difficult about writing?

Killing my favorites, like Stephen King suggests in his book, On Writing. It’s hard to cut out your favorite sentences and characters from your book even when you know they don’t add much to the story. It’s surprising how soon how precious they become.

 Who designed your book cover and your website?

I did. Bought a few pictures from a stock site and hours later I’d created my first book cover. I designed my website too and my husband built it. After all, we’re both techies!

The name, Camellia Hart, is that your real name?

No, it’s a pen name.

Why that specific name?

I wanted a name that I could connect to a happy memory, to that first date with this man [now my husband] for whom my heart flutters even today. It was also my birthday that day. He’d gifted me a heart shaped pendant studded with red garnets. That’s the inspiration for my pen name: Camellia [pinkish-red flower], Hart [sounds like heart].

Do you read much? Please name a few of your favorite books.

I read everyday and I do read varied genres. My favorites: Twain’s Tom Sawyer [who doesn’t like this book, right?], MacLean’s Where Eagles Dare, Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, Clavell’s Shogun, Herbert’s Dune, Hoover’s Confess, and… gosh, so many more!

What are you working on next?

I’m writing Loving Eva, Book 2 of the In Light of Shadows Series. But every now and then, I wander off into Book 3. I’ve already written the ending of Killing Eva by the way. To think of it, I’ve written bits of my next series too, calling it ‘Dare to Bare’ for now, and maybe the Book 1 will be ‘Because I Met You’… 🙂

Oh what a journey it has been so far!

It all began one foggy Sunday morning in San Francisco. Seated by my desk at home, with the view of white sailboats floating by in the blue bay, I powered up my brand new laptop and started to type, simply to test it out. I typed for four hours straight.

Never before that day did I imagine my true calling was to write romance novels, a laborious yet liberating task that I’ve come to enjoy so much. The realization amazes me even today.

I’ve been writing ever since, and year and half later, with tremendous help from my editors, my friends, my family, and my darling husband, by this day next week, I would have successfully published my first book – Chasing Eva, book 1 of In Light of Shadows Series.

There’s so much I like about this series – the suspense, the drama, the chase and the love between Clive and Eva.

The scene I enjoyed writing the most is the one where Clive meets Eva at the beach side bar in St. Barth. They’re both vulnerable and are willing to reveal how difficult it has been for them to hold back their longing for each other, and Clive becomes totally swoon-worthy and turns her to a complete mush!

I also like the scene where Eva’s mother stays up till late in the night. She’s worried for Eva and is waiting eagerly to hear from her. Though a simple scene, there’s so much care and affection in those few sentences, I absolutely loved portraying the mother daughter connection in my book.

And I have several more such scenes and stories on their way to be written and read. Yay!!

Here’s to wishing my incredible journey never ends, and that you’ll be riding with me all along.

Hope you enjoy reading my books as much as I enjoy writing them.

With Love,

Camellia