Intimate Interviews

A Sizzling Conversation with Van Carley

Hello Darklings,

This month we bring you a most delightful interview with the author of Murder for Hire series, Van_Carley 

Van, thank you for taking the time to chat with us! We are delighted to have you! Let's begin with an introduction. Tell us more about yourself. 

Where do I begin? I've been writing stories since childhood, and I wrote my first coming-of-age novella when I was twelve. My teacher thought it was a true story and called my mom to hold a parent-teacher meeting. Yikes! So, let's just say that even as a young kid, I enjoyed writing stories that tiptoed on the dark side with relatable characters.

Stop! The teacher called your mom? OMG! Sorry. Continue.

LOL. Yes, she did.

So, my Wattpad journey began in 2012 when I joined to have a place to share my work. Funny side note: the night I posted my first story, I was so nervous hitting the publish button and thought I'd wake up to hundreds of reads. Nope. I woke up to zero reads and learned it would take more work than just hitting the publish button. So, I became social through Wattpad contests.

For years, I had a small following, and even now, I'm still a relatively unknown writer compared to others on the platform, but I gained the attention of Wattpad HQ in 2018 when I was shortlisted for the Wattys. After that, I got invited into the Stars program, then into Paid, and later into the Creators program. Through those programs, I have made great friends. We even banded together to form the Writer's Connx community, built to help other writers. So, it's been a long but exciting journey!

That is amazing. We are curious about your hobbies or anything that keeps you busy when you are not going about life or writing.

I have Graves Disease and PCOS that I struggle with, so a few years ago, I decided to take back some sort of control over my health and began going to the gym. At first, it was rough, but over time, it became something I looked forward to because not only was I looking stronger physically, but I was feeling better, too. So I love going to the gym now, and I go before work to start my day. As a bonus, I get a lot of ideas for stories or the next chapter in my book while I'm exercising! So it helps me brainstorm, too, lol.

What about your favorite movies or TV series? What are you currently watching?

This is a hard one because I like many movies and shows. I'm a sucker for romance, and I love relaxing with some murder mystery or true crime. I could easily go from watching The Little Mermaid to John Wick. Currently, I am watching Love is Blind on Netflix because who doesn't love reality show drama? But I'm also alternating between The Wheel of Time on Amazon Prime and Invasion on Apple TV.

Sweet! Your profile mentions you are a pet mom of two Terrier breeds. Can you share more about them?

Absolutely! They are my children, lol. One of them is a Bull Terrier named Bebe. She loves taking long naps and is very strong, sweet, silly, and clumsy. She makes me laugh at how goofy she can be. We adopted her from an animal sanctuary, where she used to live amongst other dogs, but also capybaras, ostrich, zebra, and water buffalo, to name a few. It's a really cool animal sanctuary.

My other dog is named Dude, and he was adopted as a puppy from the local animal shelter after my dog named Ryce passed away. Her passing really hit me hard because she had been right by my side during some of the hardest years of my life, so I felt this great void without her there. When we adopted Dude, it helped me not feel so sad anymore. Now, he's my little shadow and follows me everywhere. Pets can make such a difference in our lives, and I wish I could adopt all of the homeless dogs out there.