Wild Roses Blog Tour: Interview with Christine DePetrillo

For the third week of the Wild Roses Blog Tour it's my pleasure to interview multi-published author Christine DePetrillo, whose cat Shikari is adorable, by the way, as you can see from her author photo! Christine has two books due out from The Wild Rose Press this year, Alaska Heart (Sept. 24) and Lazuli Moon (Dec.).

Christine's bio provides a charming look at her introduction to the craft of writing.

By day, Christine DePetrillo teaches fifth grade and inspires young writers. By night, she writes everything from adult romance, young adult romance, science fiction to poetry. She first seriously considered writing as a lifestyle choice when she worked in a law office as a teenager. Christine would start a story, leave it in the day secretary's desk calendar, and her friend, who worked the days she didn't, would continue the story. They would volley back and forth for pages and pages. Even then the tales were romances and a direct reflection of their lonely, dateless weekends.

The stories helped them cope.

I don't know about you, but to me that sounds exactly like the set-up for a fantastic romance novel or even a movie a la Nora Ephron, writer of Sleepless in Seattle.

For now, though, let's get to the interview...

Aileen Harkwood: Welcome, Christine! As with all my guests I'd like to start by asking you about the settings for your books. I think setting is important not only because it provides mood and grounding for a story, but also because it helps a reader connect with the author. Where do you like to set your stories?

Christine DePetrillo: I set many of my stories in Vermont since I love it there. The woods are full of possibilities. I enjoy using very natural settings and getting my characters—especially the citified ones—connected to nature. I find the outdoors very romantic with things like fireflies and flowers.

AH: Sounds like the perfect spot for daydreaming. Are you in any part a dreamer? Have you found daydreaming important to the creation of your stories? Or are you all business when you write?

CD: A good part of my writing involves daydreaming, but I do that during the course of the day, not when I actually sit down to write. I daydream in the shower, while I’m brushing my teeth, in the car, taking out the garbage, ironing, working out. When my fingers hit the keyboard, I’m ready to rock and roll.

AH: You sound like the quintessential writer! But what if you could be not the writer, but the heroine in a romance novel? Would you want to try it out? What type of heroine would you be?

CD: I’d totally jump into a paranormal romance with shapeshifters. I love weres of any kind.

I’m the unlikely heroine, the one you don’t expect to succeed, but somehow manages to in the end.

AH: My favorite type of heroine. Tell me, what is the craziest, wildest, or most unusual romance you’ve ever thought up that you’ve been afraid to write?

CD: I want to do something with parallel universes where a couple falls in love in all the universes but in very different ways. I’m afraid to write it because it could get really tricky.

AH: I think I could see why. My head aches just trying to wrap my mind around the potential paradoxes you'd be forced to tackle to weave the plot together. But here's a much easier question for us to end on.

When you go into a bookstore, do you ever fantasize about seeing your books displayed in special ways? What would you do if you saw a stranger pick up one of yours?

CD: I fantasize just about every single time I go into a bookstore. Sometimes, I only go in to fantasize. I think I’d observe from a distance unless they put the book down. Then I’d go over, grabbing whoever was with me, and say, “Oh, they have it! I’ve been wanting this one!” I’d get my friend to take one off the shelf too just to really drive it home.

AH: I love that. I wish I'd have the moxie to pull off something like that. Good luck with your upcoming releases and thanks for visiting with us today, Christine!

Be sure to check out the blurb for Alaska Heart below, and join me for the final interview in our August Tour when I'll be hosting fellow tour member Amber Leigh Williams.

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Want to know where you can find Christine's books?

Visit her blog
http://www.christinedepetrillo.blogspot.com

As well as A Pinch of Romance, a blog she hosts
with six of her writing gal pals
http://www.apinchofromance.blogspot.com

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Coming September 24, 2010 from The Wild Rose Press

Alaska Heart by Christine DePetrillo

Alaska is supposed to be cold, so why is Alanna Cormac on fire?

Sent on a dream assignment to Denali National Park, nature magazine writer Alanna Cormac has no intentions of falling in love with Dale Ramsden, sexy Iditarod winner. When Dale, his family, and even his eighteen sled dogs charm their way into her heart, however, Alanna’s fast-track New York instincts crumble. The Alaskan landscape and the caress of a man too good to be true ignite feelings she never had time to explore before. Feelings that have her so blissfully busy she’s unaware she’s being watched. Judged. Targeted.

She’s next.

Love will either save her or swallow her whole. Is there even a difference?