REINVENTING RITA Blog Tour and Author Interview with Nancy Christie

REINVENTING RITA is a lighthearted, contemporary novel about Rita Reynolds, a midlife woman who realizes that she has to stop coasting through life and find her inner moxie to pursue her almost-forgotten dream of being a professional baker. But can she overcome her fear that, at fifty, it might be too late for a fresh start? With the help of her friends, including her employer Donna and her ex-husband’s second wife Karen, she’s about to find out.

 

Title: Reinventing Rita: A Midlife Moxie Novel (Midlife Moxie Novel Series Book 1)

Author: Nancy Christie

 

NANCY CHRISTIE—AUTHOR INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

 

 

At what point did you decide to be an author and what was your path to publication?

I always wrote—mostly short stories—but never thought about being published, let alone being an author. Then, in 2004 my first book was published—The Gifts of Change—which was a compilation of essays inspired by my mother’s cancer diagnosis. But I still didn’t think of myself as an author. It wasn’t until I had several short stories published, and started pulling them together into what would be Traveling Left of Center and Other Stories, that I really focused on having a collection published. And when it happened in 2014, then I finally felt like I was a real author.

My first two books were traditionally published (without an agent), my next two (both books for writers) were independently published, and my fifth book (another short story collection) was traditionally published (again without an agent). With my novel series, I’m back to indie publishing—I’m too impatient to go through the long process of pitching to an agent and then having the agent pitch to a publisher.

 

Describe your writing process. Do you outline, plot and plan, or is your writing more organic?

I am definitely a pantser. If I plotted it out scene by scene and knew what was going to happen and why, I wouldn’t want to write the story! I like to be surprised by what happens, why the character says or does certain things, what the motivation is. That being said, I use a spreadsheet to keep track of important details about each character, a second one where I note what characters appear in what chapter, and in my manuscript document, make liberal use of endnotes as references to something previously mentioned. I have also started doing summaries for each chapter—what happened and who was part of it. But everything I do is after the fact. I write first and then I take notes. Does that make me a pantsing-plotter or a plotting-pantser?

 

Tell us what you enjoy most about writing fiction.

It’s not knowing what is going to happen next and who the characters are. Almost all of my fiction starts with a line of dialogue. It just pops into my head and I have no idea who the character is or what she’s talking about but I just follow it. There have been times, most notably with my short story “Annabelle,” when I am working on drafts and the character says or does something and I don’t know why—what drove him or her to act that way. With “Annabelle,” I must have done close to a dozen drafts before a scene appeared out of nowhere that explained everything that subsequently happened. I often feel like I’m not writing the story as much as transcribing what the characters are telling me.

 

Describe the book/series in 10 words or less for people who are just learning about it.

Midlife Moxie Novel Series features midlife women pursuing their dreams.

 

Is there anything you would like people to take away from your book?

That is never too late—or you’re never too old—to try something, to challenge yourself, to see what you can do or who you can be.

 

Share some advice for aspiring authors. What advice would you give to your younger self?

For aspiring authors: don’t be in such a hurry to publish that you turn out a substandard product. Get feedback, hire an editor, and revise as much as necessary to make the manuscript the best it can be.
For my younger self: Just believe in yourself. Don’t compare yourself to other authors and judge yourself against their successes. Just do the work. (The same advice I give myself now!)

 

Have you ever experienced writer’s block? How did you deal with it?

When it has occurred, it’s usually because I have let a long time go between writing and then have trouble starting up again. It ‘s like letting a car sit too long and the battery doesn’t want to work. The only cure is to sit down and write something—anything!—and keep writing until the engine turns over.
But there are other times where I’m struggling with a scene—not sure what should happen next. Then I get up and go do something physical, and almost every time that clears my mind and the solution pops into my brain.

 

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

Since writing can be such a sedentary activity, I do something physical: garden, yardwork, walk, shovel snow in the winter or mow the lawn in the summer or help my partner at houses he’s rehabbing. I want to do something where I can see immediate results—power-washing a driveway is a great example!—and also something where I’m outside.

 

 

About the Author

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