Interview with Christi Snow!!!

If you're looking for my New Years Blog Hop Giveaway, click here

Hello my lovelies! We're doing a couple of rapid fire interviews right now on The Lindsay Show and today's guest is a fantabulous new friend of mine, Christi Snow!! Christi just released her latest romantic suspense, Operation: Endeavor.

Interview

Thank you so much for joining me today, Christi! Congrats on your latest release :) When did you know you wanted to be a writer? 

I’ve always dreamed of being a writer, but I never did anything to pursue that dream until I hit my 41st birthday. That year, my husband retired from the Air Force and I decided it was time to focus on my dreams instead of his and began writing. I had no idea if I could do it or not, but found that I could and truly LOVED the entire process.

I think it's wonderful you were able to focus on your dreams! What has been the most difficult part about being a writer? 

Probably balancing real life with my writing life. I’m a HUGE procrastinator which doesn’t usually work real well when you work for yourself. Add to that, my family didn’t realize how serious I was about what I was doing at first. (I have a five year old daughter, 17 yo son, and a husband who are used to me taking care of everything in the house.) That quickly changed when they started reading what I was writing and realized that I wasn’t just wasting time playing on the internet when I was on the computer.

Oh yay I'm not the only procrastinator! I'm horrible at putting things off lol. Who are your favorite authors? 

I am a HUGE reader (I consistently read over 400 books a year) so this is such a tough question. I probably have 25-30 authors who are on my auto-buy list. Here are just a few of them:

Contemporary: Jill Shalvis, Kristan Higgins, Julie James, Toni Aleo, Laura Kaye, Roxanne St. Claire

Romantic Suspense: Norah Wilson, Maya Banks, Christy Reece, Cindy Gerard

Erotica: Mia Downing, Tiffany Reisz, Cari Quinn

Paranormal: Larissa Ione, Gena Showalter, Sherrilyn Kenyon

Good lord how do you find the time to read that much? I'm jealous now! What authors inspire you?

Gena Showalter and Sherrilyn Kenyon are two who I consistently look up to. They write tons in several different genres every single year and the quality of their writing is always good. I want to be able to say that I do that.

Those are two of my all time favorites so I think they're fabulous. I'd also recommend Nalini Singh for the same reasons <3 Do you like to plan your scenes out or do you just wing it? 

I’m a definite plotter. I have binders…tons and tons of binders with all my notes and plans. My writing group makes fun of me because I have everything so organized.

LOL I find that funny considering you procrastinate :) What type of books do you like to read? 

I read just about everything within the romance genre except steampunk and historical. My favorites are romantic suspense and contemporary and I have a special love for books featuring sports or rock stars. Oh, and military guys…LOVE them! *sigh*

We are so much alike in our tastes :) What do you like to do in your free time? 

Free time?? Am I supposed to have that? LOL. I read. I also have a book review blog (Smitten with Reading) and I spend all my free time reading and reviewing books for that.

LOL I know, free time is elusive! Where is your favorite place to vacation? 

Put me in a cabin in the mountains with a fire roaring in the fireplace and I am in heaven.

Oh that sounds wonderful. What’s your New Year’s Resolution? 

I really didn’t sit down and make any resolutions this year. I need to spend less time online and more time working out and eating right, but I think that will ALWAYS be the case in my life.

I am the exact same way! I spend far too much time online. I know you review a number of books. How do you find time to read, review, and write your own books? 

Luckily, I read REALLY quickly….and when I put my mind to it, I can write quickly too. If I wasn’t able to do that, there’s no way I could do all that I do.

So jealous lol. I'd love to be able to juggle that much that well! Why did you choose to write romantic suspense? 

Romantic Suspense is absolutely one of my favorite genres and I never sat down and said “Hey, that’s what I plan to write.” In fact, if asked I probably would have said no to writing that genre. I am NEVER able to figure out who did it in those types of books, but when my stories started coming to me, my characters determined my genre for me. They take over lots of the time.

My husband once gave me the best advice ever, write what you know and love. What has been the most fun about working on your books? 

Getting to know my characters. I love them and in my mind, they are definitely real people. Should I admit that out loud?? Hehe…don’t worry, I only talk to them when no one else is around.

I totally agree! What has been the hardest scene for you to write? 

I just finished writing a novella, Before the Mission Begins, that takes place before my trilogy. Every book within the trilogy is based around a set of tragic circumstances that happen between the novella and the first book in the series. Writing that last scene in the novella and knowing how everything about those character’s lives was about to go tragically wrong was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I was literally sobbing all afternoon while I typed. The actual scene wasn’t anything bad…it was just knowing what was to come for these characters. Yes, I absolutely get attached to my characters.

Who wouldn't be attached to their characters? Do you have any favorite characters? 

It’s no secret that I love Colton (the hero in Book #2, Operation: Endeavor). He’s a huge alpha type who likes to be in charge. He’s bossy and domineering, but he had to become that way early in life. When he cares for you, he is going to take care of you and I love that about him.

Ok, I think I'll love Colton :) How did you come up with the premise for your When the Mission Ends series? 

The series is about a group of friends who live in West Texas. The guys are all military (Air Force) and the girls all have ties to the local University. The idea started with Cassie and Jake, the heroine and hero of book #1, Operation: Endgame. Cassie is a military history professor and Jake was her best friend growing up. He’s an active duty Air Force Pararescue Jumper. The series begins with his mission that went wrong and it affects the story line in all three of the books and this group of six friends’ lives.

I desperately want to read this series now <3 Your latest book, Operation: Endeavor is the second book in your series. Should people first read Operation: Endgame or are they each stand alone books?

The books absolutely can stand alone, but the lives of these friends are very intertwined so you will get more of the story if you read the series in order.

Wonderful! You hear that lovelies? You know you want to read this series :) Tell us more about your upcoming prequel, Before the Mission Begins please. Was there a particular reason you chose to release on Valentine’s Day? 

Book #1, Operation: Endgame, begins in May, but what no one realizes until book #2, Operation: Endeavor, is that something happened between two of the characters in the books on Valentine’s Day before that May. This is that story…it covers that single 24 hours which just happens to fall on Valentine’s Day. It is a prequel, but it’s not really meant to be read until between books #2 and #3. Is that confusing enough? LOL

I can't wait to read this series, it sounds sooooooo good! How many books do you have planned and what can we expect from the next book in the series? 

The series was never meant to be more than the trilogy, so Book #3, Operation: Endurance (releasing April, 2013) will be the final book. I *might* release a couple of novellas featuring some of the supporting characters, but I don’t have any definite plans about that yet.

I hope you release more! :) What's next for you? 

Right now I am finishing up the writing of Operation: Endurance. After that I have a new paranormal dystopian series that I’ve started. The first book, Through the Veil, should be out sometime late this summer.

Ooo I'm a sucker for paranormal! Anything else you want your readers to know? 

Wow, I think I’ve told you everything. LOL! Thank you so much for having me here, Lindsay, and asking such fun questions. I love to connect to other readers so feel free to look me up on my facebook page or book review blog.

Operation: Endeavor...Buy it Now!

Colton Robertson left his career in the Air Force…

… to come home and help his family heal. Unfortunately, his reception was not quite what he’d hoped for and he ended up as roommate to hippy dippy yoga instructor Penelope Pruitt.

Penelope has spent her life under the restrictive thumb of her parents and she doesn’t want to do the same with the straight-laced, serious Colton. But when it becomes apparent that Penelope’s life is in danger, Colton won’t settle for anyone else protecting Penelope besides him.

Opposites attract and that’s definitely the case with Colton and Penelope. On the surface, they don’t have anything in common, but as the sparks fly and the danger ramps up, their passion is inevitable.

Other Books 

                       

Meet Christi!

As an avid reader her entire life, Christi Snow always dreamed of writing books that brought to others the kind of joy she felt when she read. But...she never did anything about it besides jot down a few ideas and sparse scenes.

When she turned 41, she decided it was time to go after her dream and started writing. Within four months, she'd written over 150,000 words and hasn't stopped since.

She's found her calling by writing about sexy, alpha heroes and smart, tough heroines falling in love and finding their passion. She's truly living the dream and loving every minute of it.

Her tagline is... Passion and adventure on the road to Happily Ever After. She's loving this adventure!

Connect with Christi:

• Facebook
• Author Website
• Goodreads
• Book Review Site