CHANTICLEER 10 QUESTION AUTHOR INTERVIEW SERIES
with Award-Winning Author, Marijke McCandless

Hello friends! We have another wonderful interview for you today, with author Marijke McCandless! Her book Naked in the Now took home the Chanticleer 2024 CIBA Grand Prize Award in the Mind & Spirit Division, and we are excited to share with you the amazing journey she took to becoming an award-winning author and what she’s planning next.

Take a minute or two and get familiar with Marijke and her incredible journey to becoming award-winning author!

Chanti: Marijke, your books are clearly designed to help readers navigate their own personal journeys and transformations. Can you speak about your own path and what writing journey led you to create Naked in the Now?

McCandless: I’m a mindfulness coach, playfulness instigator, and award-winning writer. I’m half type-A perfectionist and half wild, messy creative — and over the years, I’ve come to embrace this inner paradox. It’s become the key to living life imperfectly, but with great delight.

I love playing with others and encouraging them to play back. I offer Write Now Mind (aka “Naked Writing”), an online writing practice where we explore what happens when we get out of our own way and allow the raw, messy, authentic words inside us to spill onto the page. It’s about self-discovery through presence. I also lead immersive experiences that weave together meditation, writing, and enlivenment.

I began freelance writing in my twenties. My travel and personal essays have been published in internationally recognized newspapers and magazines, and I’m a regular contributor to Spirituality & Health Magazine. But for seventeen years, I didn’t write for others. I was navigating a deeply personal transformation and sensed that I had to truly live my life before I could write honestly about it.

That story of crisis and rebirth is told in my first book, More: Journey to Mystical Union Through the Sacred and the Profane, written under a pen name and honored with several awards after its publication in 2016.

My most recent book, Naked in the Now: Juicy Practices for Getting Present — winner of the 2024 Chanticleer Grand Prize for Mind & Spirit books — invites readers into an inner striptease: a playful, tender undressing of all the layers we’ve built to survive. It’s about showing up with vulnerability, curiosity, and a sense of humor. The practices in the book are short (most under ten minutes), inspired by the decade I spent attending silent retreats. My message is simple: presence doesn’t have to feel like serious work. It can be as alive and engaging as being seduced by a lover — full of tiny, transformational moments of aliveness available to us every day.

Chanti: I love how you weave so much of your personal experience into your work! When people ask you about genre, how do you describe what you write?

McCandless: I write spiritual nonfiction with a splash of memoir — true stories laced with juicy, light-hearted practices that help readers wake up to the beauty of their own lives.

I’ve always been drawn to true stories. As a child, I loved the Little House on the Prairie series, the “Drama in Real Life” stories in Reader’s Digest, and even Papillon. Today, 85% of what I read is memoir, peppered with spiritual books. I’m fascinated by how others have lived, what they’ve faced, and what transformational lessons they’ve learned.

As I moved through my own life crises, I paid attention to the kind of books I gravitated toward. I realized I’m not a fan of prescriptive nonfiction that tells me what to do. I prefer witnessing how others discover their truths, then letting that inspire my own investigation. In essence, I love the art of self-discovery — or as I sometimes joke, the art of “no-self” discovery — pointing to the nameless core of presence we all share.

That’s what I love to write as well: open invitations to explore, with lots of personal anecdotes and a good dose of humor and humility.

Chanti: That approach of inviting rather than prescribing sounds so much more engaging! Speaking of your life beyond writing, you seem to lead such a rich, adventurous lifestyle. How do you spend your time when you’re not working on books?

McCandless: I started rock climbing in my mid-fifties, even though I was physically unfit and terrified of heights at the time. It’s turned out to be one of the most empowering endeavors of my life. Eight years later, I love it — and so does my family. Our youngest daughter met (and later married) professional rock climber Alex Honnold shortly after we all started climbing, and it’s now become a family affair.

We also have four grandkids, and I absolutely love playing with them. In the winter, my husband and I travel in our self-converted Sprinter van to Baja California and live on remote stretches of beach. We love #vanlife and snorkeling! Most recently, I’ve taken up the guitar, and my husband and I have been practicing singing together.

Chanti: That’s amazing! Rock climbing, vanlife, grandkids, music! With all of these adventures and commitments, how do you manage to fit your writing practice into such a full life?

McCandless: The best answer is: it depends. When I’m working on a book-length project, I’m very structured. Writing a book takes commitment — so I set a clear intention, usually writing five or six days a week. That means I write even when I don’t feel like it, even when the words are junk. The work is in showing up. I often ask my husband to be my accountability buddy, knowing he’ll ask what I worked on that day.

When I’m not writing a book, my rhythm is more relaxed. Since publishing Naked in the Now a year ago, I’ve been writing a bi-weekly newsletter and a few articles each quarter. Much of my energy now goes into marketing, community-building, and staying connected with readers.

Chanti: That flexibility makes so much sense! Every writer has their strengths. What aspect of writing do you feel most confident about, and what advice would you give to writers who might be struggling in that same area?

McCandless: Over time, I’ve come to trust my writing voice. Readers often describe my work as honest, vulnerable, and approachable — and I believe that comes from my willingness to be real, not perfect.

If someone is struggling to find their voice, I recommend freewriting. Just set a timer, choose a simple prompt, and write without editing or thinking. I call this “Naked Writing,” and it’s the foundation of my Write Now Mind offerings. Again and again, I’ve seen it help people break through resistance, discover what themes naturally want to come through them, and stop listening to the inner critic.

Chanti: That vulnerability and authenticity really comes through in everything you do! Community seems incredibly important to your work. How has becoming an author affected your involvement in your community?

McCandless: Being an author not only affects my community — it helps me create it. Writing is something anyone can do. But often, people hold back because they don’t identify as a “writer.” Paradoxically, being an author allows me to reach non-writers by inviting them to explore writing as a path of self-discovery and connection.

When we risk being vulnerable on the page, our natural voice emerges — and we often find we’re not alone in what we’ve experienced. That’s where real community begins. Wherever I go, I find myself in conversations about presence, vulnerability, and the power of words — the same themes I explore in my writing.

Chanti: That’s such a beautiful way to build connection! What specific things are you doing to promote literacy and writing in your various communities?

McCandless: I live in three different places throughout the year: Las Vegas (spring and fall), Baja California (winter), and Bellingham, WA (summer). In each of these places, I’ve led free community-based writing practice workshops, welcoming writers and non-writers alike. (My next workshop on Naked Writing will be at Village Books in Bellingham, WA, on August 9, 2025, at 2 pm. Join me!)

Writing also often lights me up because it helps me discover what I didn’t know I knew, while deepening my connection to the present moment. That moment of aliveness when something true makes its way to the page—unfiltered, unpolished, and utterly real—is a kind of magic. I love that writing helps me tune in, listen closely, and remember what matters.

Since the pandemic, I’ve also built a global community through Write Now Mind, a free online writing group. Participants write anonymously, for just ten minutes a week — but even with such a small commitment, a profound sense of shared humanity has emerged. The kind of literacy we promote isn’t about formal writing or classic literature; it’s about allowing the words inside to come out and be heard. (My next Write Now Mind session will start at the end of August, 2025 and its free.  Learn more on my website: https://marijkemccandless.com/write-now-mind/)

Chanti: Creating spaces where people can be heard is such a wonderful gift! When you think about your ideal reader who would most connect with — who comes to mind?

McCandless: The perfect reader is someone who’s tired of chasing self-improvement and just wants to feel alive again. Someone who’s curious, open, and ready to explore their inner world — not through rigid rules, but through playful practice and gentle awareness. If you’ve ever thought, “I don’t have time to meditate for an hour a day,” this book is for you.

Chanti: That sounds like so many people who are seeking that authentic connection! Here’s something I always like to ask: What’s the most important thing a reader can do to support an author they love?

McCandless: Tell someone. If a book touched you — share it. Word of mouth is still the most powerful way for a book to reach the people who need it. Leaving a short online review, tagging the author on social media, or even just sending a note to say “this mattered” — all of these things ripple out more than most readers realize. (https://marijkemccandless.com)

Chanti: Such simple but powerful ways to make a difference! Finally, what excites you most about writing? What keeps you motivated to continue this work?

McCandless: Writing fulfills a curious need to do both inward soul-searching through journaling or free-writing and outward expression through storytelling. I write to remember to pay attention—to both fully experience this moment and to capture its essence later. Writing isn’t just about creating something new; it’s about healing, transforming, and reconnecting with my vitality. I also love the intimate relationship between writing and awareness practice—both teach me how to pay exquisite attention.

Writing also often lights me up because it helps me discover what I didn’t know I knew, while deepening my connection to the present moment. That moment of aliveness when something true makes its way to the page—unfiltered, unpolished, and utterly real—is a kind of magic. I love that writing helps me tune in, listen closely, and remember what matters.

Writing also helps me connect with others, and I love that.

Thank you, Marijke, for sharing your writing journey with us and for sharing your knowledge and experiences readers around the world! 

Marijke McCandless is a mindfulness coach, playfulness instigator, and critically acclaimed author dedicated to helping people awaken to their embodied aliveness. Her work explores contemplative awareness, juicy presence, and writing as a path of healing and self-discovery.

Her latest book, Naked in the Now: Juicy Practices for Getting Present, received a “Get it!” verdict from Kirkus Reviews and has won several awards, including Grand Prize in the 2024 Chanticleer International Book Awards for Mind & Spirit and a Gold Medal in the Readers’ Favorite Awards for New Age Nonfiction.

Marijke leads Write Now Mind, a bi-monthly online writing practice where participants are invited to tune in, let go, and write from their wild, messy, and authentic inner voice. She also facilitates immersive retreats and workshops in meditation, creative expression, and deep presence.

Her travel and personal essays have been published in internationally recognized newspapers and magazines. She currently regularly contributes to Spirituality & Health Magazine. Marijke is also the author of More: Journey to mystical union through the sacred and the profane (O Books, 2016), an award-winning spiritual memoir of awakening and transformation written under a pen name.

She splits her time between Las Vegas, where she revels in rock climbing and grandkids, Baja California for the vanlife and snorkeling, and Bellingham, WA, for more time with grandkids and family.