I’d like to welcome the amazing Christina Romeril to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Favorite thing to do when you have free time:

Read is at the top of the list, but I like to go for walks if it’s not cold outside. When I walk, I get to listen to podcasts, I really wish I enjoyed audio books, but I just don’t like being read to.

The thing you’ll always move to the bottom of your to do list:

Organizing. I want things more organized, but it means throwing out stuff, and I don’t like to do that. I put it off until I can’t find something, and then I haul everything out and start organizing. Unfortunately, I inevitably run out of time and never do a proper job of it.

Things you need when you’re in your writing cave:

Top of the list is a beverage, a coffee-like drink called CafLib if it’s cold, sparkling water or non-alcoholic beer if it’s warm. Water when I’ve had too much of the other stuff. I also need a snack. Either a few pretzels or a piece of dark chocolate.

Things that distract you from writing:

Music. I need relative silence. A lawn mower outside is okay, a television in the next room is not.

Hardest thing about being a writer:

Feeling like this book is great for about two seconds before reverting back to thinking it’s crap, and I need to do better. It brings out my harshest inner critic.
Easiest thing about being a writer:

Doing what I love. Time passes like I’m in working at warp speed. It literally feels like time speeds up while I work.

Things you will run to the store for at midnight:

I don’t drink Coke at midnight, but it’s literally the one thing I look forward to all week. I try to limit myself to one can on Friday and one can on Saturday, and I’m pretty sure I’d run out at midnight if I realized I didn’t have any on hand on Thursday night.

Things you never put on your shopping list:

Chips. I just don’t enjoy them anymore. Weird, because I used to like them, but the past couple of years I’ve enjoyed them less and less. Now, I wouldn’t even think to buy them for myself.

Something you’re really good at:

Learning new things. If it’s something I want to do, I’ll keep practicing and trying to figure out how to accomplish whatever it is I’m wanting to do. I’m tenacious IF I want to learn something. One of the things I had to do when I started my job as a personal lender at the bank, was get my mutual funds license. I hated studying for it. I thought it was the most boring thing in the world. I got top marks on the exam, but I hated every minute preparing for it.

Something you’re really bad at:

Singing. When my boys were little, maybe two and four, when I sang, they’d cover their ears and say, “Please, stop mommy.” Which is really unfortunate, since I had visions of being the next Adele.

Something you wanted to be when you were a kid:

From the time I was six, I wanted to be a nurse. Unfortunately, chemistry and physics were not my strong suits. Eventually, I decided to take business classes because they came easy to me, but I ended up in a job I didn’t love.

Something you do that you never dreamed you’d do:

I’d wanted to become a writer since my early teens, but I never really thought I’d actually get published. Surprise.

Something you wish you could do:

There are so many things I wish I could do. Sing, knit, use photoshop, speak eloquently is social situations, and make a good pie crust. These are all things I’ve tried, but just don’t do well.

Something you wish you’d never learned to do:

Cook. Then no one, (my husband in particular), would expect me to do it.

Things to say to an author:

Please tell me if you enjoyed my book. You have no idea how much that means to me, and I suspect to every author.

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book:

Someone I know, I won’t give any details to identify them, but the individual boldly lied to my face. They tried to humiliate me in doing so. A little later, I made a call and verified what I suspected: that they had told an outright lie. I never called them on it, but they became the victim in one of my books.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done:

I feel like it’s either going ziplining in Mexico or joining the military. Both gave me a huge rush, but in different ways.

Something you chickened out from doing:

Sky diving. I seriously considered it, but since I was a single mom, I decided my children needed me more than I needed to check that off my bucket list. I also considered buying a motorcycle and didn’t for the same reason.

The most exciting thing about your writing life:

Going to conferences and other events where I get to meet and hang out with other writers is pretty exciting to me.

The one thing you wish you could do over in your writing life:

Oh, how I wish I would have started writing sooner. The other thing I wish is that I would’ve found the podcast The Shit No One Tells You About Writing BEFORE I wrote my first book. I’ve learned so much from that podcast, I wish I could apply all of that to my first and second books! I’m still improving my craft, and I’ve got a long way to go, but I understand so much more about writing now.

The nicest thing a reader said to you:

When I hear someone tell me how much they love my books and are looking forward to the next one. That just makes me glow inside.

The craziest thing a reader said to you:

This isn’t crazy, it just really shocked/surprised me. Someone told me they hope to get to meet me one day. I thought, why would someone want to meet little old me?

About Christina:

Christina Romeril is the author of the Killer Chocolate Mysteries. The best-selling series is set in a fictional town along the very real Echo Lake in Montana at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. She lives with her husband and Chihuahuas, Nacho and Paco, a few hours away in a small village in Southern Alberta. When Christina isn’t writing, she loves to hang out in Waterton Lakes National Park eating gourmet hot dogs. The former banker has been a murder mystery fan since third grade when she read her first Trixie Belden Mystery novel.

Let’s Be Social:

Website: https://christinaromeril.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christinaromerilwriter

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christinaromerilwriter