Spotlight on: Christine Husom
Author of: Murder in Winnebago County
Publisher: Second Wind Publishing
ISBN: 978-1935171058
Release Dates 09/08 and 08/09
Genre: Mystery Thrillers
Available from Second Wind Publishing, Amazon.com, Target.com and Minnesota bookstores
Murder in Winnebago County features an unlikely murderer in a small Minnesota town. The clever murderer leaves a growing chain of apparent suicides. As Sergeant Corinne “Corky”Aleckson follows her intuition to solve the cases, she enlists the he
lp of Detective Elton “Smoke” Dawes. What she doesn’t realize is the killer is keeping a close watch on her. Will she be the next victim?AMY: Thank you for joining me. What else would you like to share with us regarding your book?
CHRIS: It is a fairly fast paced thriller, slightly more action-driven than character-driven, but people have told me they feel like they might run into those characters on the street—they are that real to them.
AMY: Were there any surprises that came about while you were writing Murder in Winnebago County, or did you story stick with the plan you had set?
CHRIS: Yes, I had a few surprises. I couldn’t let the killer murder the person I had intended to be the second victim because I liked her so much. So I thought, okay, she’ll be the third victim then, and I still couldn’t kill her off, so I had to choose another victim instead. Another big surprise was in Corky’s love life. I planned for it to go one way, then she found herself attracted to someone that surprised even her. You never know what may happen when you create characters. Like our children, they don’t come with instruction manuals.
AMY: What inspired you to write this book or these particular characters?
CHRIS: My father died under somewhat suspicious circumstances. Since we didn’t have a good explanation for his manner of death, I begin to think, what if it wasn’t an accident, what if it was murder? I pondered why a person would kill another, specifically, in this case, a retired judge. In fairly short order, I had a cast of Winnebago County characters.
AMY: Tell the readers about your writing journey and how you ended up with your publisher.
CHRIS: It took me close to five years to write the book. I wrote the first half in a couple of months, put it away for five years because of other commitments, picked it up and finished it in another few months. I searched for an agent on and off for years, without success. Finally, my daughter encouraged me to enter an on-line crime writer’s contest and that’s where I met my publisher. It’s been a whirlwind of events ever since!
AMY: If there is one piece of advice you could give an unagented / unpublished author, what would it be?
CHRIS: The pat answer is “don’t give up”, which isn’t as easy as it sounds. Get a number of people from different walks of life to read your work and give you honest an critique. If you are looking for an agent, or a publisher, be sure to research them well to see what type of work they are looking for. Follow their specific guidelines on how, and what, to submit to them. If they want a synopsis, a bio, and the first 30 pages, don’t send an outline and the whole manuscript. Network with other authors and people in the publishing business. Oops, that’s more than one piece of advice.
AMY: Besides Murder in Winnebago County, which we highlighted here, have you published other books or are there some that are yet to be released?
CHRIS: Yes, the second book in the Winnebago County mystery thriller series was released in August, 2009. An Altar by the River will come out in 2010.
AMY: How can we find you on the internet (facebook, twitter, myspace, blog, website addresses)
CHRIS: The pat answer is “don’t give up”, which isn’t as easy as it sounds. Get a number of people from different walks of life to read your work and give you honest an critique. If you are looking for an agent, or a publisher, be sure to research them well to see what type of work they are looking for. Follow their specific guidelines on how, and what, to submit to them. If they want a synopsis, a bio, and the first 30 pages, don’t send an outline and the whole manuscript. Network with other authors and people in the publishing business. Oops, that’s more than one piece of advice.
AMY: Besides Murder in Winnebago County, which we highlighted here, have you published other books or are there some that are yet to be released?
CHRIS: Yes, the second book in the Winnebago County mystery thriller series was released in August, 2009. An Altar by the River will come out in 2010.
AMY: How can we find you on the internet (facebook, twitter, myspace, blog, website addresses)
CHRIS: My website is www.christinehusom.webs.com. Check out my publisher at www.secondwindpublishing.com . Look for me by name on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and at the Second Wind Publishing Blog on Wordpress.
AMY: Is there anything else you would like to share with the readers?
CHRIS: I am very grateful for the joy and blessings being published has brought. I have met wonderful people in this industry—both in person and on-line--who are supportive, helpful, and optimistic about the business. I am especially grateful to my family and friends, my publisher and other Second Wind authors, and my readers—they’re the reason I’m writing the third book in the Winnebago series.
AMY: Is there anything you would like to ask the readers?
CHRIS: Not a question, but a request—please don’t hesitate to contact me with any comments or questions at christinehusom@aol.com. Thank you, Amy for your first class blog and for inviting me to be here. And thanks to each of you for stopping by.
AMY: Readers, are there any questions you would like to ask Chris.
Christine Husom has been generous enough give away an autographed copy of Murder in Winnebago County. I am sorry but this is limited to U.S. residents only, due to the cost of postage. If you would like a chance to win the book, simply comment and leave your e-mail address. A winner will be picked and announced Saturday night. Good luck
It's okay if I am not picked in the drawing because murder/mystery is not my genre of reading. However, I could put it in our public library. It's an excellent interview you have given us and the author sounds like a a person anyone would enjoy having for a friend. She has an exuberance about life that comes through in the interview.
ReplyDeleteI love a good mystery! Glad that you have been given the chance to write a series. Very exciting! :O)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your kind words, misslynda and destrella!
ReplyDeleteWow! Five years to write one book? I don't feel so bad. Thanks for the interview. I really enjoyed it. Sounds like a wonderful book.
ReplyDeleteYes, Susan, when people ask me how long it took to write Winnebago County, I tell them six months, over a five year period. The worst thing that happened during the writing was when I lost 25 pages which I never got back--no idea how I deleted those pages and I had it saved on a "corrupt" disk and had not printed the pages. That taught me to save it on 3 disks. I spent a bit of money and lots of time trying to defragment the disk, but they couldn't get it back. I was heartsick, to say the least--it was about 25% of my book at the time. Live and learn--if I only listened to the advice to have multiple copies it wouldn't have happened. As we say in Minnesota, "could've been worse."
ReplyDeleteI love mysteries. Good interview, and interesting how her life situation lead to the story. (If I'm chosen I'll send my email.) Thanks for the opportunity.
ReplyDeleteWow! A chance to win a copy! Great!
ReplyDeleteYour story of saving multiple copies sounds like good advice. My brother's house was struck by lightning and he lost loads of stuff from his computer. But I'm so disorganized - I do save copies, but nothing like often enough.
I loved the interview - great questions, great answers. Thanks.
sdeeth at msn dot com
Thanks for stopping by Karen and Sheila--I appreciate it!
ReplyDelete