Christine’s Bio…
Christine got a late start in her writing career, but has been a story teller and voracious reader all her life.
After receiving a B.S. in physics and her M.S. in physics education, she embarked on what she thought was going to be a life-long career as a high school physics teacher. For more than 15 years she stuck with this plan, writing nothing more creative than lab reports. In 2007, after much urging from her children and being snowed in, she decided to try her hand at writing a book. During her years in the classroom, she enjoyed the challenge of turning young minds onto science by creating compelling labs and demonstrations. In 2010, her plan was derailed with a medical scare that forced her to re-evaluate what she wanted to do.
Back to full strength, Christine turned to writing full time to keep her sanity and thing have just continued to progress.
When she’s not writing, Christine enjoys spending time with her family and her 3 dogs. To keep herself amused, she enjoys flying and building general aviation airplanes along with playing trombone in the local community band.
A quick interview with Christine…
You were trained as a science teacher. Why did you become a writer? I started writing to entertain myself. I used make up and tell stories to my girls as they were growing up. As they got older, the stories became more involved. When I had my medical scare in 2010 that took me out of the classroom, I turned to writing to keep my sanity. After the issue was resolved I decided to try to make a new start as novelist. It’s been an interesting road so far and I can’t wait to see what the journey brings.
What inspires you to write? I’ve been a voracious reader since my early days. I’ve always loved mysteries and stories with happy endings. Along the way I got into authors like Nora Roberts (and her pseudonym, J.D. Robb), Iris Johansen and Irene Hannon. One thing I discovered I didn’t like was the use of vulgar language and sex. So I aimed to emulate the parts of my favorite authors that I admired while striving to tell the story in the sweetest way.
What might surprise readers about you? I get a ton of double takes when I tell people that I’m building my own airplane from scratch. I have been an aviation enthusiast since I was a teenager and learned to fly in 2001. It has been a dream of mine to build my own plane since then. I look at it as my form of arts and crafts.
What is your favorite book? This is hard. I’m not sure I have a ‘favorite’, but I tend to reread Naked in Death or Fatal Judgement when I’m bored. Of course those are first books in series, so I tend to read other books of the series as well.
What is your average day like? My days begin with play times with my dogs. Once they’ve been taken care of, I try to get to my office by 8 each morning. Most mornings begin with a quick run through of emails and then I try to write for a three hour stretch. Afternoons are spent on marketing and editing tasks. Evenings when things are quiet and everyone else has gone to bed, I either go out to the shop to work on the plane or back to the office to write more.
What do you hope readers take away from your books? My goal is to entertain readers, providing them with engaging stories, complex plots and old-fashioned values. I hope to show them a contemporary story can be had without the language and sex.
How do you integrate faith into your stories? I try to emulate how I use my faith in my everyday life. I show my characters going through tough patches and turning things over to God, praying for things and how they respond to the answers. My books aren’t preachy and don’t quote scriptures. I let the actions of the characters show the lessons.