Interview with Author Christine Columbus

Hello dear blog studio guests! It's great to see you on this frosty morning in Ohio. Thank you for stopping by. I have a very special guest for you to meet today. Author Christine Columbus. Her stort stories are receiving five star reviews and very deservingly so!

**Carol Ann sits down across from Christine as the audience applauds**

CAROL ANN: Christine, thank you so much for traveling all the way to the studio today. I'm honored to be interviewing you.

CHRISTINE: Thank you. And thank you everyone for the round of applause. This is my first interview so please don't ask too hard of questions.

CAROL ANN: I promise they won't be hard. So, just let your hair down and have fun. No need to be nervous.

CHRISTINE: Do I have the option of not answering something?

CAROL ANN: **laugh** Sure. But it's not like a test or anything. Tell us a little about Christine Columbus. What kind of stories do you write?

CHRISTINE: I write Great Stories…the kind you want to read….LOL

CAROL ANN: **laugh** Great answer!

CHRISTINE: Seriously, today I write sweet romance, tomorrow might be murder mysteries. (Switch in genre would be due to Hormonal Imbalance – I’m 47, I also live with two teenagers and working with all men)

CAROL ANN: **turns to the audience--Doesn't she have a great sense of humor? That alone should make you want to hop over to the Wild Rose Press and buy her stories. **turns back to Christine** I'd love to hear about your publishing history. Can you share the journey with us?

CHRISTINE: I have had poetry published, creative fiction, children’s stories and short romance stories.

CAROL ANN: Where do you get your ideas for stories?

CHRISTINE: I hear a sentence from someone’s conversation, which sticks with me, and all of a sudden, I’m making up a story. I heard a boy mention that his Grandpa always gave him a quarter. I thought about that quarter and came up with Uncle Mike’s Love.

CAROL ANN: I'm going to have to buy that story. You've received some great fan letters about this story and the reviewers love it. So when you write, do you have a special place?

CHRISTINE: In the summer, I love to sit out on my patio with my laptop. Now, that it is winter. I sit at my pub table in my living room and write and if all the conditions are right. I even have a glass of wine, a fire in the fireplace and a country station tuned in.

CAROL ANN: I love wine, country music, and fireplaces. But if I were in that setting, I wouldn't be able to write. I'd be too relaxed. **laugh** If you had to describe yourself, what would you say?

CHRISTINE: I’m certain I was kidnapped as a small child from a warm and tropical climate and brought to Minnesota, because I hate the cold, but apparently not enough to move. I lived in MN my whole life, I’ve worked for the same company for 27+ years and the same house for 21 years.

I think I need a mid-life crisis.

CAROL ANN: **laughs and wipes eyes** That might make a good story! When you write, do you just let the whole story flow until finished, or do you edit as you go?

CHRISTINE: I’m always going back to see what is I wrote the day before and of course I always find something I need to change – on good days it is one step back and two steps forward.

CAROL ANN: Okay, now for some really serious questions. First, What is your favorite color?

CHRISTINE: Red

CAROL ANN: Do you collect anything?

CHRISTINE: Dust, cobwebs, streaks, dirt and grime.

CAROL ANN: Oh, my God! **laugh** You're making my mascara run. I like that answer. I may have to borrow it. Maybe I'll cross stitch that on a sampler and hang it on my wall. Okay, another question. What is your favorite meal?

CHRISTINE: Cheesecake

CAROL ANN: I don't think I've laughed so hard in a long time. **takes a deep breath and pours a glass of ice water. Sips.** All right. What does the word romance mean to you?

CHRISTINE: Romance is walking to the edge of the cliff, love is jumping off and true love is when you have someone to catch you when you fall.

CAROL ANN: Wonderful answer. If Oprah Winfrey called and asked you to be on her show to promote one of your stories, which one would you pick and why?

CHRISTINE: Uncle Mike’s Love, because that is the story that people always ask me about, they want to talk about Patty, and they have questions about Mike.

CAROL ANN: What are you currently working on?

CHRISTINE: Just waiting to get the edits back on my novel, “The Perfect Country and Western Story” I am also working on what I believe is another short story “Back Up”, but I thought “The Perfect Country and Western Story” was going to be a short story too, ends up a novel.

CAROL ANN: Sometimes you just have to give those characters enough space to tell their story. I love the title "The Perfect Country and Western Story". What can we expect in the future?

CHRISTINE: Longer short stories and a few more novels.

CAROL ANN: And the last question. Do you believe the pen is mightier than the sword?

CHRISTINE: I believe it depends on who’s hand in on the pen and who is holding the sword.


CAROL ANN: Christine, thank you again for joining us here in the studio. It's been a lot of fun and I look forward to reading your novel when it is published. Can you give us a website and or blog address so the readers can learn more about you and your work?

CHRISTINE: Thank you for the interview….this was my first one…I guess this means I’m no longer a virgin?

http://christinecolumbus.blogspot.com/
and of course www.thewildrosepress.com