An Interview With Rene Gutteridge ~ Plus A Giveaway!

Summer 2013 is officially over. While I'm sad about that fact, I'm looking forward to fall and winter. I'm also SO excited that hockey season is here and I can start watching my favorite team play again! Only ten days until the regular season begins! =)

Today is also the last day of the End of Summer Birthday Bash! Rene Gutteridge stops by for an interview and has included a giveaway!! I hope you all have enjoyed the posts this week. :)

Welcome to Christian Bookshelf Reviews, Rene! Thanks for taking the time to chat with us today! Will you tell us a little about yourself? Is anything exciting happening in your writing career?

I’m a wife and mom of two. I live in Oklahoma City, where my husband is a worship pastor.  Is anything exciting happening in my writing career?  Well, most days it’s just sitting in my chair and writing my books.  But this summer and fall, I actually have three books release, so it’s a pretty fun season!

What is your new book, Misery Loves Company, about and what inspired it?

Misery Loves Company is about a novelist who kidnaps his biggest fan.  It was inspired by Stephen King’s Misery, but then it takes its own twists and turns and goes its own way.  I think it’s a really suspenseful, intriguing and in some places, heart-rending book.

What is your favorite summer activity?

Nothing.  I hate summer.  There are people who get seasonal depression in winter, but I get it in summer, I think.  It’s so hot and miserable in Oklahoma that it’s virtually impossible to enjoy myself.  If I can tolerate the heat, then I have to contend with the flies and mosquitoes.  So.  I guess I’d have to say seeing summer blockbuster movies!

What is something the average reader wouldn't know about you?

I cut off my finger in January with a blender.  I’ll spare you the details.  They managed to get it back on.  It’s slowly coming back around to being useful again.  For awhile I got really good at typing with nine fingers.

What’s the best and/or worst part about being an author?

The best part about being an author is when a reviewer loves my book.  The worst part about being an author is when a reviewer hates my book.  So I had to work out all that anguish in Misery Loves Company.  I’ve had a few book bloggers joke about being apprehensive about posting a review of my book about a book blogger who gets kidnapped.  It’s very funny.

Do you have a favorite birthday memory?

This year was fun.  Usually my husband, who is not an avid shopper of anything, panics at the last minute and does a frantic run to Walgreens.  So if it’s at Walgreens, I’ve probably gotten it for my birthday at some point or the other.  But this year I was shocked to unwrap VERA WANG PAJAMAS!!! He’d actually remembered me saying how much I love her pajama sets.  I was amazed.  Not that I didn’t miss the giant package of tic-tacs…

If you won the lottery, what are the first three things you’d do?

Well, I’d not spend a dime of it for a year.  Then I’d try to think of all the ways it could ruin my life.  Then I’d probably be one of those people that starts handing hundred dollar bills out on the street, or tipping a waitress five thousand bucks.  There’s such a thrill to pay for someone’s coffee behind you at Starbucks. My husband does this all the time and he loves it.  It’d be fun to bless rather than buy.  Don’t get me wrong. I’d buy stuff.  Vera Wang pajamas, for one.  But these powerball jackpots are just insane.  I mean, what is someone going to do with $169 million dollars?

Let’s say you’re hosting a party and can invite any ten people, living or dead, who would you invite?

Gosh, well, ten would be a stretch for me.  I like small crowds, intimate dinners with just two or three friends.  So, this is off the top of my head.  Don’t judge me for it.  Anne Lamont, Charles Dickens, Tommy Lee Jones, Lawrence Kasdan, the Apostle Paul,  Timothy Keller, Queen Elizabeth and then a couple of my friends or family, in case the dinner guests are duds.

What’s one of your favorite quotes?

“The test of a man’s religious life and character is not what he does in the exceptional moments of life, but what he does in the ordinary times, when there is nothing tremendous or exciting on.  The worth of a man is revealed in his attitude to ordinary things when he is not before the footlights.”  Oswald Chambers

A few this-or-that questions:

Cake or Cupcakes? Pasta. Weirdly I can easily pass on baked goods. I struggle with cheese and spaghetti.
Chocolate or Vanilla? Neither. It needs to be a flavor explosion with both chocolate, vanilla, nuts, cookie crumbles, gooey stuff, with whip cream on top.
The Pool or the Beach? I know I’m sounding alarmingly uncooperative here, but I’d rather be in a cabin on the mountains in the dead of winter.
Sunbathing or Swimming? Sheesh, sorry, neither.
Heels or flats? Bare feet.
Early-bird or Night-owl? I go to bed early and get up when I have to, which unfortunately with kids is early.
Ice Cream or Sorbet? Ice cream all the way.

Are you currently working on any new novel? If so, could you give us a hint?

I am working on a contemporary drama called Just 18 Summers, which will be out next year. I’m working on a suspense idea that I’m tremendously excited about.  Putting the final touches on it now.  My novelization Heart of the Country, with director John Ward, comes out in a week (don’t miss the movie, starring Jana Kramer and Gerald McRaney, available on DVD from Fox) and my new comedy with Cheryl McKay, Greetings from the Flipside, comes out in October!

Thank you so much for being here! Is there anything else you’d like to tell readers and where can we find you on the web?

Find my author page on Facebook, where I give away books and let readers know about what’s going on with my writing.  And my website is www.renegutteridge.com

Book Giveaway!!

Giveaway details: Enter for a chance to win a copy of Misery Loves Company by Rene Gutteridge! Giveaway is only open to residents of the US. Ends 9/29

How to enter: Sign into the Rafflecopter form below (it might take a moment to load) and click “enter” on each of the entries you complete. Commenting alone will not get you entered – you must click enter on the form. Happy entering!

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