Candace MacFie
Candace MacFie, in her own words:
Born in Montreal, Quebec, I spent years backpacking and working around the world. I have a Bachelor of Commerce degree, an MBA, and worked for twenty years on four different continents and now call Calgary, Alberta home.
I got married, had kids, and things got busy. Time was moving by quickly and my kids were growing up fast. I shifted gears and quit my job to spend time at home. During the COVID lockdown, I had time on my hands, decided to try writing, and started writing the Back in a Year series.
When I’m not at my computer yelling “Just a few more pages, then I’ll make dinner,” I love hiking in the Rocky Mountains, hot yoga, reading romance novels, and making up new cake recipes. I especially like to laugh and spend time with my husband, the self-proclaimed grumpy motherf*%ker, and my three awesome kids.
Marina Raydun: Oh my God, talk to me! Back in a Year is inspired by real life experiences? How heavily fictionalized is it?
Candace MacPhie: This is 100% the real deal. I’ve changed the names of people and places I stayed and had to fill in the blanks on some conversations, but everything happened. I have detailed journals that I painstakingly wrote in every day of the trip that were my source of truth. The worst part has been to write the books using my twenty-six-year-old brain and not my fifty- year-old one. I wanted to punch past me for being an idiot. It hurt to leave in all the cringy and ridiculous things I did, but that makes for the best reading.
MR: You only started writing in quarantine. Have you dabbled before the pandemic?
CM: I’ve stopped and started this book series since 2007. I transcribed all my journals first. But then I got stumped because I didn’t know how to morph things that happened along the way into a story. Once the quarantine hit, I was able to dedicate the time to developing my competency in writing. It didn’t come easy; it was humbling, and I have a thousand versions of each book.
MR: The series promises to be five-parts. Can you share what countries will be featured?
CM: On this adventure I traveled over 100,000km, by plane, train, boat, bus, car, and overland truck. Book One: Finding Color travels through Canada, Greece, England, Scotland, Ireland, and Russia. Book Two: Life Strikes Back travels through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Croatia, and Hungary. Book Three: Hello, I am Here travels through Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands, Jordan, Israel, and Egypt. Book Four: Beautifully Warped travels through Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. Book Five: Landing Place Travels through South Africa, Namibia, Australia, Canada, USA, and England.
MR: Backpacking through Europe in the 90s! No mobile phones, no internet--I imagine music must’ve been very important in your travels. Did you have fun playlists going while writing?
CM: Music was my link to home when I couldn’t call or track down the rare email café. I would fire up my Walkman and rotate my four mixtapes. It was clutch when you met other travelers to share music with. Loads of songs from the ‘90s appear in the books and I have a playlist on Spotify (link on my website) that I listen to often. I don’t mind background noise, like in a café or even people being busy in my house, but I find music too distracting while I write. Because I like to sing along to the words in the song rather than focusing on the words on the page.
MR: Is each installment in the series a book that can stand on its own or do readers have to read book one in order for book two to make sense?
CM: Each book has a distinct story and I’ve written them to be read on their own. Some characters cross over books, and I re-introduce them when they show up, so you don’t miss out. But if you like all the details, I recommend taking the full trip.
MR: How would you cast your characters should there ever be a screen adaptation of Back in a Year?
CM: There are loads of characters in these books. And my husband’s adamant he needs to be cast in a main role, but I had to break it to him—he’s too old. Much to his chagrin, he’s not on my list. These are the four main characters in book one – Finding Color: Candace – West Duchovny Khadejah – Priya Blackburn Josh – Theo James (sadly like my husband he’s too old for the role but it’s Theo’s edge it needs) Clive – Ed Speleers
MR: Walk us through your writing routine?
CM: I write five to ten pages. Next, edit those pages as I re-read them on the screen. Then I edit those same pages again as I listen. (Read-aloud in Word is my best friend. I never knew it existed until my cat activated it when he walked across my keyboard. Thanks, Romeo!). I move on to the next set of pages using the same approach until the book’s finished. Lastly, I review storylines. Search for words to reduce or differentiate. Final edits by listening and hard copy to the whole book.
MR: What does literary success mean to you?
CM: I get the content of the book isn’t going to be for everyone. But whether folks like the story or not, literary success for me is that the series is recognized as well thought out and well written.
MR: I know you like to read romance novels? Who’s your favorite romance author?
CM: Oh, man. That’s like asking me if I have a favorite child. Which I don’t, by the way! I’ll have to say, Mariana Zapata. You get all the feels when you read her books.
MR: What do you think about when you’re alone in your car?
CM: I’m so busy most days that when I get in the car, it’s my time to organize my brain. I run through my list of things I need to do then noodle out the best and quickest way to get it all done. Once a nerd always a nerd, I guess! And when my brain’s organized, I turn up the music and sing along.
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