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Christine Warner ...

Hi Christine J  It’s so great to have you here with us.  Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Thank you so much for having me J  Let’s see, a bit about me. Trust me, it’s not overly exciting.  Lol  I live in Michigan along with my husband. Two of our 3 kids live at home and we share our space with a much loved assortment of cats and dogs. I love to cook, read, laugh and people watch. My husband and I also like to take a yearly road trip. This year we rolled our way out to NYC, Boston, Salem and then up to Maine. Loved it. One of the best trips we’ve taken.

Other than that I am slightly addicted to social media, chocolate and coffee. I love meeting and talking with other authors and readers and pretty much anyone in general!

 

Do real life events find their way into your stories?

I don’t pick an entire event. I think that bits and pieces of real life situations, emotions and events work their way into stories. Sometimes those experiences aren’t entirely mine though. I might borrow some instances from others J It’s funny how you can use emotions and feelings and events from so many different places and combine them into one story. I think that’s one of the fun parts of writing.

In Two Timing the Boss the heroine Farah has a twin sister who was burned in an accident and needs several surgeries for skin grafts. Years ago my nephew was burned in an accident and I took some of what I learned from that into my story.

Do you ever mimic family members or people you know when you choose characters?

Again, I’d have to say bits and pieces are borrowed from them. I might borrow someone’s name and maybe their profession and then a quirk from another friend or family member. For instance, in Two Timing the Boss I mentioned that Farah has a twin sister. A lot of the way they banter back and forth and their strong ties are something I ‘borrowed’ from the relationship I share with my sister. And, Farah’s twin sister is named Karah, and my sister’s name is Cara. *wink*..tricky eh?  lol

Do you find yourself going back to the same inspiration for each story or is it always something different?

Definitely different with each story. Inspiration comes to me from so many different venues. It can be from a title popping into my head, a conversation with a friend or co-worker, something I hear on tv, or a picture or a place I visit. Inspiration is all around and I don’t think the same thing will be used as an inspiration more than once.

When do you write?  Early morning? During the day sometime or all day?  After the kids go to bed?

I tend to be nice and fresh in the morning and my ideas are stronger and my energy level higher, so I love to write in the morning. I usually save the evening for writing blogs and getting on social media sites to chit chat.  Lol  Although I do break throughout the day and I admit it—sometimes I get sucked in and it totally interrupts my writing time. Lol  I’m not one of those writers that ‘makes’ myself write when I can’t get into the mood because if I do that I notice that everything I wrote is garbage and I just delete it anyway.

How do you feel about marketing your book?

That’s a tricky question…lol. I do LOVE the social media sites and talking with other people and tweeting, facebooking and making the rounds on blogs. I like to support other authors and find that they are wonderful people and will return the favor.

Marketing is hard though. You want to get your name and your projects out there, but you also don’t want to overdue it. When my debut book Some Like it in Handcuffs came out in March I had no clue what I was doing. I booked several blogs within a short period of time and it wore me out. But, lesson learned, I know to space out the marketing of a book now. I think maybe doing a couple a week is good when your book is first released and then letting it dwindle down to once a week and then finally ending with maybe 2 times a month. It’s a lot of work and if you focus only entirely on marketing, you’ll never have time to work on your next manuscript J

What social sites do you feel work best for marketing?

I think it’s more of a personal preference because if you are more partial or comfortable with one social site than another, you’ll be more relaxed. I really enjoy all of the interaction on Facebook and have met some great people there…but I’ve also got to know some wonderful people on Twitter. That’s such a fun venue and a lot of the people I’ve met there have also become friends on facebook.

So, basically I’m not really able to pick just one social site for marketing…it’s a personal choice based on comfort level J

Do you like to pitch stories to your publisher or do you wait until you have written the story and have a final manuscript to turn in?

So far I’ve had the manuscripts completed before I approached a publisher. But I do have a book that will be published with Entangled Publishing—no release date yet, but I’m hoping it’ll be soon—and now that I have an editor with them I’m able to send in proposals. I think that’ll be a nice change and I think it’ll keep me focused and more excited to get any future works I propose to them written in a timely manner instead of jumping around from one story to another if it’s accepted!

Is there any other genre that you would love to try writing?  If so, what is it?

Well, Two Timing the Boss is a contemporary romance and Some Like it in Handcuffs is a light-hearted romantic suspense and I’m pretty happy with those two genres right now. I’ve toyed with writing an erotic story, but if I do, that’ll be in the far future because I just have so many contemporary stories bouncing around in my head that I want to write first.

Do you always/ever see yourself as the heroine/hero when you write a story?

Not really. I mean I wish some of the things that my heroine gets to do I could do. In Two Timing the Boss Farah overcomes her fear of heights by riding the BIG SHOT in Las Vegas, which is a ride on the roof top of a building.

I’m also working on a story now where the heroine is a zip line addict and wears a swimsuit from morning til night…lol…I wouldn’t mind having a bikini body and the courage to get on a zipline.  Lol

But I don’t ever think of the heroines as me. They are characters created that I can think of more as someone I’d like to be friends with and someone I admire for doing all the things I don’t dare to do J

 

Just for fun, I have a few personal questions, 

Favorite 5

1)      Favorite Male Actor  -Johnny Depp…although it was tough to choose because I also have a thing for Gerard Butler!  lol

2)      Favorite vehicle – 1960 burgundy Ford Thunderbird convertible J

3)      Favorite way to relax – With a good book on the front porch in the summertime with a light breeze and the sounds of nature in the background. Oh, and maybe a tall glass of ice tea at my elbow J

4)      Favorite ice cream – Depends on my mood. I love chocolate and butter pecan the best.

5)      Favorite outfit – I’m a casual girl. If I could wear scrub pants and a t-shirt 24-7 I’d do it!  Lol  Oh, and I would want to be barefoot too J

And for a bonus:  If you could pick any place in the world to live, besides where you are now, where would it be?  (Of course, without the hindrance of jobs or money needed)

I don’t even need to think about this one!  Lol  I’d live on a small tropical island in a little bungalow house by the water complete with a hammock and a Johnny Depp cabana boy who was also a computer guru so that if I had issues while writing my next best seller he’d be all set to make repairs. J

 

Where can our readers find you??  

Email: christine.warner@yahoo.com

Twitter: @ChristinesWords

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/christine.warner.3576

Website/blog: christine-warner.com

Amazon author page:  http://www.facebook.com/authorchristinewarner

Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/ChristinesWords

 

Latest release from The Wild Rose Press Two Timing the Boss

BLURB:

Farah Smith is on a mission: secure the funds for her twin sister’s surgery.  She’ll do whatever it takes to succeed.  Even if that means putting her values aside to work for a man she finds morally bankrupt.  But when the real Farah meets her new boss, she wonders if she’ll be able to resist his sexy advances long enough to help her sister.

From the blonde wig, to the stilettos strapped around her ankles, Farah’s a clone of Keller Donovan’s harem of past assistants.  She can’t believe she’s let herself be talked into the disguise, let alone working for the man planning to demolish the hospital her sister so desperately needs, but the salary he offers is the only way she’ll be able to afford her sister’s surgery.  The moment Farah meets Keller she realizes her most daunting task isn’t typing, spreadsheets or organizing travel arrangements, but fighting the growing attraction toward a man whose ruthlessness is legendary in the boardroom as well as the bedroom.

Determined not to end up in a disastrous marriage like his divorced parents, Keller believes all relationships should have a shelf life of sixth months or less.  But when he meets Farah, all bets are off.  He not only wants her to continue as his personal assistant, but his own private bed warmer.  Unfortunately, his offer of an affair doesn’t sit well with her fairytale dreams or the strangled hold gripping his heart.

 

EXCERPT:

 

These damn shoes would be the death of her.  She could read the headlines now:  Penniless P.A. Falls to her Death while on Job Interview.

Almost to her destination, with no more mishaps, her confidence surfaced.  Okay, maybe mastering this heel thing wouldn’t be such a big deal.  Her steps became light, almost bouncy.  Although she sensed Keller Donovan behind her, she didn’t let it deter her feeling of success.  She stepped onto the large black and red area rug, less than ten feet from her target.  The leather chairs.

“Oh!”  Farah’s spiky heel caught on the edge of the expensive rug.  Her legs shook and she shot her arms out from her sides, circling them like a bird about to take flight.  She fought to regain balance inside the ridiculous stilts strapped to her feet.  A brawl to the death.  Over when she looked down to see the rug coming up to kiss her face.  She threw out her hands, sucked in a breath and closed her eyes, scrunching her face as she prepared for impact.

But nothing happened.  There were stars all right, and a blazing jolt of electricity shot from her toes, up her legs, through her body and exited with the small gasp which escaped her lips.  Somehow Keller Donovan had grabbed her around the waist before she met the floor. 

Heat burned her cheeks.  He may have saved her body from bruises, but her ego, and whatever confidence she’d walked in with had shattered.

“Let’s not have an accident before your health benefits kick in.”  His breath

tickled her ear from behind.  Chills hugged her backbone.

His touch released an unsettling flutter in her abdomen.  She sucked in her stomach from the pressure of his strong arms wrapped around her middle, afraid to breathe. 

Two-Timing the Boss and my other book Some Like it in Handcuffs are both available in print and digital format at:

http://thewildrosepress.com/

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

http://www.amazon.com/

Thank you so much for having me on your blog! I had a great time J


Christine, It was absolutely our pleasure having you and we do hope you come visit us again soon!!!

Readers, you know the drill....don't miss  out on Two-Timing the Boss or Some Like it in Handcuffs.

Thanks for stopping by and happy reading!!

Krista