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The Romance Reader’s Connection would like to welcome you to January’s Author Of The Month, Christie
Ridgway.
Ms. Ridgway has been entertaining romance readers with her tender and emotional stories since her first
published book, THE WEDDING DATE (1/96). Extending the scope of her fun and
 passionate writing,
Christie delved into the full-length contemporary arena with her Avon title, WISH YOU WERE HERE (2/00).
A RITA finalist for BEGINNING WITH BABY (4/00), she continues charming her readers with her two
newest offerings, IN LOVE WITH HER BOSS and FIRST COMES LOVE.
Thank you Ms. Ridgway for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer our questions.
Thea Candee: How do you balance your family and writing?
Christie Ridgway: I struggle with this, as I'm sure every other woman does. In general, I balance on an
emergency basis...what has the first due date, the fourth grader's speech or the book? If it's the speech,
that comes first. If it's the book, I make my husband primary helper on the speech. Also, like any other
mom, I drop everything for tears and blood.
It helps to stick to a schedule whenever possible. I help out in the fourth-grader's classroom the same
morning each week. Friday nights are family night, we get take-out and rent a movie.
Lilly Kinman: On an average how long does it take you to write a book?
CR: Between three and six months, depending upon the length of the book, though it may have been
simmering in my head for a while too.
TC: When did you first realize that you were a writer and that you had to be published?
CR: I knew I wanted to be a writer when I was in 2nd grade. I have notebooks from age 8 on, filled with
poems and stories. I was a technical writer after college, which wasn't exactly being "published," but it was
a career in writing. Several years later, when I joined a romance writers group, I started to really dream
about being published.
LK: Do you have any advice that you would like to tell new writers?
CR: Write, write, write! Writing is how you develop your unique voice. I would also suggest new writers
analyze their favorite books and figure out what they found so appealing. Which elements? What
storytelling techniques really work?
TC: Who are some of your favorite writers? Were there any writers who influenced you?
CR: I love to read, so I have a miles-long list of favorite authors, from Georgette Heyer and M.M. Kaye to
Susan Elizabeth Phillips and Nora Roberts. They all have influenced me.
Heyer, for example, taught me
that a courtship feel as life-and-death as a crime when the reader loves the characters. Nora Roberts
shows me how emotion and well-drawn characters draw readers back again and again.
TC: What are some of your hobbies?
CR: Reading and cooking. Though I read much more often than I cook a special meal! I also like to shop
for antiques and am slowly making it through the decorating of some long-neglected rooms in my house.
But with family to tend and books to write and books to read, I will gear up for a decorating blitz over a few
days and then let several months go by before I attempt another.
I also enjoy embroidery, and as soon as I get my master bedroom redecorated I hope to have a
comfortable chair in a well-lighted corner of the room where I can work on some projects.
TC: Can you give the TRRC readers a glimpse into "A Day in the Life of Christie
Ridgway"?
CR: 6 a.m.: Wake up and try to get out of bed almost right away, because it gets harder every instant I stay
in. Put workout clothes on and spend 40 minutes or so doing aerobics with light weights along with a "The
Firm" videotape while husband and younger son shower. Take my own shower, dress, make sure younger
son has everything in backpack and then take my turn at the carpool while older son gets up and ready for
school.
8:40 a.m.: Take older son to his school.
9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.: Sip on coffee, read e-mail, and then get to work.
2:00: If it's my carpool day, retrieve younger son.
2:30-5:00 p.m.: Cajole, coax, encourage, demand, despair over homework for both boys while continuing
to work myself. Sometimes they can handle it all on their own, sometimes I have to quiz for the spelling test
the next day or listen to them rehearse their speech, or whatever. If there is something important due the
following day, say, cookies or a costume, I find out about now.
5:00-8:00 p.m.: With help of husband, try to do several things at once. Dinner, fold laundry, last-minute
cookies/costume or homework help.
8:00 p.m.-sleep: Read or watch TV. I can't seem to do any work on my own books after 8:00.
LK: In your new category release, IN LOVE WITH HER BOSS did you base your characters, Lori and John,
on anyone that you know?
CR: I think that Josh is a lot like my husband, who also is a very big man--6'5". Josh cannot turn a kid in a
uniform away, and my husband is always coming home with things he has bought to support a sports team
or club. As for Lori...I think there is a piece of me in all my heroines. Lori's a runner and I used to run a lot,
so I particularly understand her enjoyment of that.
TC: How did it come about that the characters from your new full length contemporary, FIRST COMES
LOVE, have such strong ties to the past? Is that a common trait that all of your characters possess in your
books?
CR: When I thought about setting a book in California's Gold Country, it seemed a natural to have
characters interested in the past. It's a region that celebrates its unique and colorful history and many of the
people who lived there (and still live there) are unique and colorful as well. Though I don't see it as a
common trait of all my books, it definitely shows up again in the mainstream romance that comes after
FIRST COMES LOVE. Titled THEN COMES MARRIAGE, it's set in the same town as FIRST COMES
LOVE.
TC: What is the most important feature that a hero must have?
CR: Sense of humor! Even characters that are deeply wounded need to be able to laugh at themselves
and the world on occasion.
LK: Out of all the books that you have written is there one that is your favorite and if so, why?
CR: I would say it's probably whatever book I'm currently working on. The characters become very real to
me and I'm always trying so hard to tell their story in an emotional and entertaining way.
If you twisted my arm and insisted on one favorite, I'd probably tell you it was the first book I had
published...THE WEDDING DATE (a Silhouette Yours Truly that came out in 1996) because it was the
beginning of fulfilling my dream of being a published author.
TC: Do you start writing with just a vague idea? Or do you have your book mapped out with defined
characters and chapters?
CR: I have a pretty defined idea when I start writing. Okay, very
defined, particularly about the characters. And then...then I veer off the map and I learn tons about the people whose story I'm telling and the book
changes. Most of the time I stay true to my original intention in a big picture kind of way, but I think I have a
deeper, richer understanding about the characters that I hope comes out on the page.
TC: You started your writing career with Silhouette category romances, what made you decide to go into
full-length mainstream?
CR: I needed a longer length to tell some of the stories I had in mind. I love reading big, relationship-driven
romances and so thought I would try writing them.
TC: Taking into consideration editorial and length restrictions, character development and your personal
time, which do you prefer to write: category or mainstream?
CR: Oh, that's too hard to answer! They both have their place in my mind and heart right now. While I adore
the breadth of a big mainstream romance, category romances can be glowing, polished pearls of stories.
LK: Have you thought about getting into different types of romance novels i.e. adventure, mysteries?
CR: I never say never. But right now I don't have an adventure or mystery type romantic plot brewing, so I
don't see it in the near future.
LK: What books are you working on now?
CR: Right now I'm finishing up THEN COMES MARRIAGE, a mainstream romance for Avon Books that
tells the story of a couple of characters you meet in FIRST COMES LOVE (I'll let you guess which ones). In
April, I have another Montana Mavericks book coming from Silhouette. It's actually two books in one (one
book by me, one by Robin Wells) called MONTANA BORN. I also have a book being released from
Silhouette Special Edition next July titled MAD ENOUGH TO MARRY. It returns to the town of Strawberry
Bay, California and the Chase family. Logan Chase, the brother of a hero in a previous book, gets his turn
to find love.
For a list of Christie Ridgway’s backlist and upcoming releases, please visit her web site:
http://www.christieridgway.com/
(Click here for a review of IN LOVE WITH HER
BOSS)
(Click here for a review of FIRST COMES
LOVE)
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