#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Christina Romeril

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

#WriterWednesday Interview with Christina Romeril

I’d like to welcome the fabulous Christina Romeril back to the blog this week!

Favorite thing to do when you have free time: Read

The thing you’ll always move to the bottom of your to do list: You know those window sills that need to be repainted, or the baseboards that need touching up? That’s what goes to the bottom of my list until I just can’t stand looking at them anymore.

Things you need when you’re in your writing cave: A beverage. Coke would be my first choice, but I try to only drink it once a week. I usually end up with water in one form or another. I also need notebooks, colorful pens, whiteboard, and my timer for reading sprints.

Things that distract you from writing: Usually, it’s my phone. I only mean to look up a salient point about whatever I’m writing, and end up in a research rabbit hole or scrolling social media.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Getting through a first draft.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Working on revisions.

Things you will run to the store for at midnight: Nothing. I like my sleep too much to be up late for snacks.

Things you never put on your shopping list: Twix. Is it a cookie? Is it a chocolate bar? I can’t stand indecision.

The coolest thing you’ve bought online: My blue computer keyboard. I love it!

The thing you wished you’d never bought. The Swell water bottle that leaks. By the time I got around to trying it and discovering it leaked, it was too late to return it.

Something you wanted to be when you were a kid: From the time I was six until I was seventeen I was going to be a nurse. I’m still fascinated by the medical profession and love to learn about drugs, illness, recovery, etc. I used to watch the surgery channel while I ate lunch.

Something you do that you never dreamed you’d do: Be a published author.

Last best thing you ate: Costco pizza, yup, one of my favorite things.

Last thing you regret eating: This is a tough one. I like food, and I don’t usually eat anything I think I’ll regret later. But I did drink a Diet Coke recently that I wish I hadn’t. I normally NEVER drink diet anything, but for some reason I got a Diet Coke and it was awful. Never again.

Things to say to an author: I love your book. Where can I leave a review?

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: When are you going to get a real job?

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Visited Egypt alone.

Something you chickened out from doing: Going to a singles dance.

The funniest thing that happened to you on vacation: About a year and a half ago my husband and I stayed in a house in Mexico that had first been occupied by my son-in-law’s parents. Upon our arrival they had moved into a different condo and we took over the house. Shortly before we would be moving out of the house (we’d been there about two weeks at this point), we were visiting with the in-laws and they asked if we’d seen the blood stain yet. What? They told us to strip off the sheets and the mattress cover on the master bedroom bed and check it out. You know we were yanking those sheets off as soon as we got back to the house. And, oh boy. There was the mother of all blood stains in the middle of one side of the bed that could not have been from anything normal. Someone lost a significant amount of blood in that spot. We are not talking about a cut finger. Maybe a severed hand, or worse. And yes, I did continue to sleep in the bed and we still laugh about it.

The most embarrassing thing that happened to you on a vacation: This actually happened to my husband. I’m happy to say nothing particularly embarrassing has happened to me, knock on wood. Again in Mexico at a resort, my husband had just joined me on a path where I’d waited for him after he’d used a public rest room near one of the pools. As we began to walk I looked at him and noticed something white flapping against his calf, hanging down from the inside leg of his shorts. Of course, I stopped him and asked what it was. Well, he starts pulling at it. It’s toilet paper. He pulls, and pulls, and pulls. I promise it was at least five feet of the stuff he yanks out from the leg of his shorts as I’m busting a gut, laughing. He flings the accumulated toilet paper in a nearby garbage and practically runs away. Within minutes I’d texted the tale (no pun intended), to his sister with several appropriate gifs. It was some time before that story wasn’t shared at family gatherings.

The most exciting thing about your writing life: I get to make stuff up to entertain people. I can think up a hundred ways to kill someone and how to get away with it and no one thinks that’s weird.

The one thing you wish you could do over in your writing life: I wish I’d started writing sooner. I always claimed I was too busy, but I managed to find hours of time to watch TV. I wish I’d used that time to write.

Best piece of advice you received from another writer: Writers write. Get words on the page.

Something you would tell a younger you about your writing: Start sooner.

Recommendations for curing writer’s block: Set a timer, write whatever comes into your head until the bell goes. Give yourself permission to write utter crap. Eventually, you’ll wrestle something good out of all that.

Things you do to avoid writing: Research. I’m always convinced I need to do the research up front, in the middle, and at the end.

About Christina:

Christina Romeril is the author of the Killer Chocolate Mystery series. Book two, A NUTCRACKER NIGHTMARE, will be out October 17. The series is set in Montana at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, one of her favorite places to visit. She and her husband live a few hours away in a small village in Southern Alberta. When Christina isn’t writing she loves to hike in Waterton Lakes National Park, or just hang out there eating gourmet hot dogs and ice cream. Christina is a former banker and the daughter of German immigrants. Any similarity between her family and her fictional characters is purely coincidental. You can find out more about her at https://christinaromeril.com/about/

 Let’s Be Social":

She is on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/christinaromerilwriter/ and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ChristinaRomerilWriter  as ChristinaRomerilWriter.

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Christina Romeril

I’m so excited to welcome the fabulous Christina Romeril to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

A few of your favorite things:

I like chocolate, mysteries in books and on TV, hiking in the mountains, hot, sunny climates, pretty notebooks, colorful highlighters and pens.

Things you need to throw out:

I have so many shoes, some of them hurt my feet, but I just can’t bear to part with them. I have lots of T-shirts I don’t wear, but I tell myself I will someday. My husband could probably add lots to this list, but you never know when you might need something again.

Things you need for your writing sessions:

My writing sessions always include something cold to drink when it’s hot and something hot when it’s cold. My top picks are an ice cold Coke and hot chocolate. My other essentials are my computer, a notebook, pens, legal pad, chocolate, and quiet.

Things that hamper your writing:

I always feel like I should get everything off my to do list before I settle down to write. I’m easily distracted by social media scrolling, answering messages that come in, and too much noise (I never have music playing while I write).

Things you love about writing:

I love making up stories. I love to dream up characters, their quirks, backstories, motivations, and then build a plot around them. I also love revising once the first draft is finished.

Things you hate about writing:

Writing the first draft is my least favorite part of writing. Getting all the ideas onto paper is just hard. The thing I hate MOST is writing a synopsis.

Things you never want to run out of:

Chocolate, Coke, Non-alcoholic beer.

Things you wish you’d never bought:

Scrapbooking supplies. It makes me feel guilty when I see them, because I haven’t done it in years.

Words that describe you: Determined, kind, creative, happy.

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Stubborn, impatient, critical, impulsive.

Favorite foods:

I love food. It would be much easier to list what I don’t like. Depending on my mood, I love pizza, steak, fried chicken, pasta, hamburgers, poke bowls, sushi, hot dogs, soups, salads, tacos…you see what I mean.

Things that make you want to gag:

Blood pudding, seriously, my family is European, and it was always in our fridge when I was growing up.

Something you’re really good at: Cooking, but I don’t enjoy doing it all the time. Decorating, I’m pretty sure I’ve spent about a thousand hours watching decorating shows and studying décor magazines and books.

Something you’re really bad at:

Making pie crust. I have been shown by experts, and yet I still can’t make a decent pie crust. I also struggle with basic cookies such as sugar cookies, chocolate chip etc.

The last thing you ordered online:

Highlighter set, specifically the Zebra 5 count Mildliner Creative Marker Double Ended Fluorescent set.

The last thing you regret buying:

White shorts. I’m always afraid to wear them because I’ll get them dirty. Case in point, I had them with me for a month in Mexico and didn’t wear them once.

Favorite books (or genre):

Mysteries and thrillers are my happy place, but I used to read a lot of romance, but only occasionally, now.

Books you wouldn’t buy: Fantasy. The exception is Harry Potter, and maybe the Divergent series. I’m also not a huge fan of books that are labelled as women’s fiction. I’m all about solving a murder or saving the world when I read.

People you’d like to invite to dinner (living): Top of my list is Melissa McCarthy, I think she would be a riot. I’m an introvert, so the list is short.

People you’d cancel dinner on: This would be a long list, but I’ll limit it to Vince Vaughn, he kind of annoys me, and Brad Pitt, there’s just something about him that turns me off. I’m sure both men are perfectly nice, but I’m not going to dinner with them.

Favorite things to do:

Hiking, exercising, eating.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing:

Play team sports, really.

Things that make you happy:

Spending time with my family. Being in the mountains.

Things that drive you crazy:

Spending time with my family. People who don’t put the grocery cart in the cart return in a parking lot.

About Christina:

Christina Romeril is the author of A CHRISTMAS CANDY KILLING, her debut novel and the first in the Killer Chocolate Mysteries. The series is set in Montana at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, one of her favorite places to visit. She and her husband live a few hours away in a small village in Southern Alberta. When Christina isn't writing, she loves to hike in Waterton Lakes National Park, or just hang out there eating gourmet hot dogs and ice cream. When the former banker isn't out enjoying nature, she loves to create and consume chocolate confections. Not necessarily in that order.

Let’s Be Social:

You can find me on Facebook and Instagram @ChristinaRomerilWriter as well as at www.christinaromeril.com.