Author Harvest ‘bales’ up Christine Stinson

You know when you meet someone and something just clicks? Well, that’s how it was when I first met this lovely author at the RWA conference in 2011. As it was my first conference, Christine, Lou Reynolds, Jaye Ford (and their band of merry-makers) took me under their protective wing. (ie: they taught me how to parrrr-tay way after my beddy-bye time! (Although not before demonstrating how I should help the wait staff ‘tidy up’ the banquet tables after dinner. Nice one, girls! 😉

Now let’s see Christine Stinson at home…

My mum says garden gnomes make a house a home! Are you loud and proud in your love of garden gnomes at home – or a closet gnomer?

I’m loud and proud: every pot on my deck has a garden gnome. Love my cute little fellows.

(See what I mean? Click!)

What vegetable (or fruit) have you always wanted to grow at home?

Avocados, love them. But someone told me the trees don’t bear fruit for the first seven years.

(Correct! And they need a mate. I LOVE avos but have watched four out of six on my property die as a result of the floods. Sad. 🙁  )

If I came to your home and looked in the refrigerator, what would I find?

Plenty of eggs, milk, cheeses, always a container of olives, lots of vegies in the crisper and a half an avocado. Plus leftovers.

(Click!)

If you sorted your wardrobe by colour, what colour would stand out? (Ahh, do you sort your wardrobe by colour?!)

The bone of contention in my household is that I never sort my wardrobe at all. My other half swears blind there are clothes in there I haven’t worn since high school.

What are you wearing now? (Be honest!)

Currently wearing a lovely, cuddly tracksuit with ugg boots. It’s a cold morning!

(Cuddly trakky. Cute!)

Whose home would you like to housesit and why?

The Governor-General’s residence, Kirribilli House. As they say in all the real estate magazines, Location, location, location. And imagine if those walls could talk.

(Mmm, Quentin Bryce. I want to be just as elegant at her age – and be able to kneel at a cenotaph to lay a wreath and actually get up myself. Ahhh, that’s get up all by myself – just to clarify!)

About you…

Your turning point: when was that point in your life that you realized that being an author was no longer going to be just a dream but a reality and a career?

I’m a slow learner – I had to be offered a two-book contract.

(Click!)

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Turning off the critical part of my brain while I get the story down.

(Click! Click!)

If someone was to write your biography, what do you think the title should be?

About a girl.

Fun stuff …

What does your protagonist think about you? Would he or she want to hang out with you, the author, his/her creator.

My current protagonist, Marina Manning, would love hanging out with me! She’s a muso, loves a glass of red wine and has just had a baby. I’m a recent grandmother and loving it so I’d happily babysit for her, too. Anytime!

(Wine drinking music lover. Click! Click! Click! Click!)

If I said to you, “Just entertain me for five minutes, I’m not going to talk,” what would you do?

I’d play the piano for you, Jenn.

(Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click!)

What food would you be?

Good, comfort food – slow roasted lamb shanks.

(Oh yes!)

What was the best thing before sliced bread?

Wine…

(Yes, yes, yes… I think I’m having a Meg Ryan moment!)

How weird are you? Rate yourself on a scale of 1 (not) to 10 (very).

I’m about a 7

Well, folks, Christine Stinson is definitely a BIG 10 when it comes to producing great reads. Take – It Takes A Village – for example. A must for any Aussie, any age (but better if you’re older I reckon.)

Growing up in conservative, postwar Australia isn’t easy. For eight-year-old Sophie, who has just been told that she’s a ‘bastard’, it seems that she lives in a world of secrets, unanswered questions and whispers.
Who is her father and why did her mother never tell anyone who he was?
With only her reclusive grandfather to raise her, and more than one neighbour expecting her to go off the rails like her mother – after all, apples rarely fall far from the tree – Sophie struggles to find her place in the world.
In a time when experiences are shared around the kitchen table, over the back fence or up at the corner shop, Sophie learns that life is rarely simple, love is always complicated and sometimes it takes more than blood ties to make a family.

Highly recommended reading for a chilly autumn day.

For more about Christine: www.christinestinson.com