Welcome, welcome, Christine! It's so Good to Have you Visit.
Christine's giving away an e-print copy of her book to one winner. Check out her book trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV3YX94ntSI

Don't forget your comments and addresses.
Now on to the interview . . .
It's good to have you, Christine. Tell us, how long have you known that you were a writer? Did you receive a clear “call?” Or have you just loved writing all your life?

Loved it all my life. From a kid I’d sit at my blackboard on the kitchen floor and draw and tell myself stories. But when I was 40 years old and was reunited with my birth-daughter---the child I had relinquished to adoption when she was 3 days old---I began to relive the original loss of her as a baby. As I was drowning in grief, my husband came to me with a brand new pen and journal, and said, “Write it.”

A while later I felt God nudge me to put the healing I’d received into fictional stories to encourage others.

What is the genre you write in? Would you explain what it is?

I write Historical Romance. I love stores set in the past because it’s like a different world. At the same time though, the story-lines my characters live through are the same human dramas we experience today. So while the setting is historical, the emotions and drama are up-to-date.

How do you spend your writing days? Do you set goals to reach a certain number of words per day? Can you give us a general idea of how long it takes you to write a novel?

Because I have to work outside the home, generally a novel takes me a year. On my writing days, I plow through my mountain of emails, and then start writing. The amount of work varies on what I have to do that day. Editing is a different thing altogether from brain-storming and getting the first draft down. I try to give myself short goals of what I need to get done by such and such a date.

Tell us about your new book. What is the spiritual message in it? What can readers expect to get from reading it? How and where can readers buy your book?

Shadowed in Silk is about a woman who feels invisible to those who should love her. The spiritual message is about those who may feel like the Biblical Hagar when she ran away from Abraham and Sarah. She felt used and unloved. But as she ran out into the desert she realized that God heard her and saw her in her pain, and cared.

Shadowed in Silk is a gut-wrenching human drama. I find life tough at times, and I see a lot of my friends hurting from various things---illness, loneliness, stress. I think by reading a heart-wrenching story that’s filled with adventure, suspense, danger, they can take their eyes off their own sufferings for a while, and be entertained at the same time as their faith is encouraged.

Here's the back cover blurb:

She was invisible to those who should have loved her.

After the Great War, Abby Fraser returns to India with her small son, where her husband is stationed with the British army. She has longed to go home to the land of glittering palaces and veiled women . . . but Nick has become a cruel stranger. It will take more than her American pluck to survive.

Major Geoff Richards, broken over the loss of so many of his men in the trenches of France, returns to his cavalry post in Amritsar. But his faith does little to help him understand the ruthlessness of his British peers toward the Indian people he loves. Nor does it explain how he is to protect Abby Fraser and her child from the husband who mistreats them.

Amid political unrest, inhospitable deserts, and Russian spies, tensions rise in India as the people cry for the freedom espoused by Gandhi. Caught between their own ideals and duty, Geoff and Abby stumble into sinister secrets . . . secrets that will thrust them out of the shadows and straight into the fire of revolution.

Do you ever feel like giving up? Most people don’t understand the stress, the work, and the joy of being a writer. How tenuous becoming a writer is. Do you care to share how it feels, what discouraging/encouraging times you’ve gone through?

Very often. I started the writing apprenticeship over 10 years ago, and am just now seeing my debut novel come to light. But each time I felt like giving up I asked the Lord to show me clearly what I should do. Each time thought, He would do something momentous to encourage me to persevere. Once when I was ready to pack it in, I won a scholarship to the ACFW conference. On another occasion I won the Genesis.

I won’t lie to you though. Writing is a hard road---a lot of work to learn the craft, be strong enough to learn from others through critiques, start the next novel after your first few books have been rejected. But if you have the desire to write, you must accept this long road. Perseverance does pay off, and you’ve got to rely on the Lord.

Who’s inspired you the most?

My greatest hero is Corrie Ten Boom. What she and her sister went through and others like them is truly amazing. People like them, who suffer greatly, and then go on to forgive and use their stories to encourage others.

Would you explain how you “chose” (or were chosen by) a publisher? Do you just
go “inny, minny, miny, moe?”

Can you hear my giggle? I wish it were that easy. When I first started out I thought it was. Before you even get a publisher you often have to get an agent interested in you. And that takes learning how to craft a good query letter and book proposal as well as your novel. In most cases your agent will help you find the right publisher. But it always boils down to what publisher is interested in you.

If they like your book, and find it marketable then you’ll be blessed with publication . . . maybe. Because the competition is really something. The best advice I can give is keep learning the craft. Quite often we think our writing has reached the level of publication when it hasn’t. That’s where good critique partners come in. And then after you’ve written your book with all their advice and suggestions, get a good professional critique. There are no shortcuts in the writing business. And pay attention to the market.

Now, that you’re published, can you sit back and relax from the success you’ve
experienced?

Again, I’m giggling. Since I got the email that WhiteFire would publish Shadowed in Silk, my work level increased to about double. Nowadays, I’m doggie paddling like crazy to keep up with marketing Shadowed in Silk, polishing the current book I have ready to shop out to publishers, and I’m brain-storming for the next book. All this of course by holding down a part-time job and caring for my home, and trying to be a good neighbor. Oh yes, I also speak occasionally at church functions.

Where would you like to travel if you could?

I’d go back to India in a flash. I was there for 10 days in 2010, and it was fascinating. So vastly different from North America even in their big cities. But in the country, it’s like a totally different world. The women’s clothing is stunningly beautiful.

You recently had a book published. How and where can readers buy your books?

Shadowed in Silk won the 2009 ACFW Gold Genesis for historical, and it can be purchased on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and a few other on-line places.

Would you give us your blog or webpage so everyone can check it out? Anything else you’d like to share? Promotional information?

To get a good idea of what Shadowed in Silk is about, view the book trailer here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV3YX94ntSI

Drop by my website and leave me a message on my email there. I’d love to hear back from you. http://www.christinelindsay.com/

And join in the ACFW Book Club, Shadowed in Silk is their January 2012 pic.

Thank you, Christine, for visiting my blog!
Readers, if you'd like a chance to win Christine's book, leave a comment and email address.
Blessings!