Greetings from a swamp. A hot, humid swamp. We invaded one, you know. We call it Florida. But it's really a swamp that is being transformed into overpriced housing. I don't know about your neck of the woods, but here in FLA, we are experiencing some of the largest population growth in the state's history. If you want a cheap U-Haul, drive down her and drive it back to wherever, and U-Haul will probably pay you for doing it. Houses can't be built fast enough, and they're being built in some of the strangest places. Old ones are being snapped up too. Houses that need a lot of work are selling at prices over their appraised value in two weeks or less. Some as little as three days. If you're moving here, just wait until you get here, because if you find one online, by the time you drive down to see it, it will probably already have five or more offers. Most of them cash offers. We're just waiting for FLA to break off from all the weight and become an island. That's when we sell, move, and retire. Ha!
In retirement, there's one place I'd love to visit, and that's Australia. I like it so much I made one of my main characters in my Blake Meyer thriller series hail from the "Land Downunder." And that's where our next guest calls her homeland on earth, even though she's hardly ever there.
Please welcome to the Florida Front Porch, where the ceiling fan is running on high, but the sweat still beads up anyway, Australian-born author, Christine Dillon!
Christine, glad you could stop by! We have a tradition here on ABTS. In fifty words or less, give
us a quick bio. Who is Christine
Dillon?
I love the great outdoors - hiking, photography, and swimming.
Before you ever got a notion of becoming a writer/author, how old were you, and what were you doing in that time of your life?
I was in my thirties when I started writing non-fiction and it came out of my experience in mission. Writing fiction didn’t happen until into my forties, and it is still very much a part-time occupation. I am still telling Bible stories in Chinese (and English) to anyone who will listen and having the joy of seeing lives transformed.
Chinese, eh? I have to admit, I don't think I know anyone who speaks Chinese. Personally, anyway.
I’m going to give you a shotgun list of favorites. List your favorite in each category and then tell us in one sentence why it is your favorite.
Favorite Song of All-Time:
Many of the songs by Keith Getty/Stuart Townend e.g. In Christ Alone, How Deep
the Father’s Love for Us (We used to sing those back in the day when we attended a Calvary Chapel.)
Favorite Non-Fiction Book (other than
your own & besides the Bible): Mountain Rain, the biography of
James O Fraser of Lisuland (China). A wonderful stimulus to pray for things
that will last to eternity.
Favorite Bible Verse:
1 Corinthians 1: 27-29 God chooses the weak … so that no one can boast before
him. This verse is true of me and is a great encouragement when I feel weak
(which is often).
Favorite Movie:
Lord of the Rings. I waited a good while to watch the movies because the books
are such favourites of mine.
Favorite TV Show:
Antiques Roadshow - I love the history and stories behind the items people are
getting valued.
Favorite Novel (other than your own): Narnia series. I’ve read them every year since I was a teenager and still glean wisdom from them.
Favorite Sport: Too many: volleyball, cycling, swimming … I prefer participating to watching.
Favorite Subject in School Growing Up: science or social studies.
Favorite Time of the Year: Spring or summer (love the slow, hot Australian days)
Favorite Place to Vacation:
UK - for hiking and the history.
Favorite Food: anything Thai.
Of all the stories/books you have written, which one is your favorite? And what compelled you to write this story?
Tell us about what project you are currently working on.
I am about to start the planning for the sixth novel in my series. I think this is the last in the ‘Grace’ series. It is a spin-off story from the main family who feature in books 1-4. One of the themes will be an issue I struggled with until I was 26 - low self-esteem and comparing myself with others.
Tell us about your writing day. How do you go about writing?
My brain works much better in the morning. I only write one novel a year (since I am a full-time missionary), and it has worked out that I write in the last third of each year. I block out Saturdays as my main writing time but during the writing months, I also aim to write 500 words a day on at least four other days of the week and then at least three thousand on the Saturday. If the words are flowing, usually the per day count increases.
Kind of a NanoWriMos...instead of NanoWriMo. See, you writers out there? You can spread November out into more than one month. You can even make your National Novel Writing Month happen in a different month. Whatever works for you.
Knowing what you know now about writing, publishing, etc., what piece of advice would you give to the person thinking about writing that novel they have always wanted to pursue since they were young, or the person who believes they have a non-fiction book in them that would be helpful to others?
Being a Christian adds a completely different dimension to writing. Take the time to really pray about whether God wants you to write. The world is cluttered up with books and as a believer, I think we should only write for a bigger audience if it is an important and (in the case of non-fiction) a unique contribution.
Also, take time to consider your motivations. If you are writing
for the wrong reasons you will have a tough time. Writing is difficult and
involves being able to take lots of criticism both in getting a book published
(editing, early readers …) and from readers who write reviews. If you’re
someone who is sensitive or easily hurt, work on dealing with the underlying
reasons for those things before you put yourself in the firing line.
And take your time! Rushing produces poor results and especially
for a first book, it will likely take far longer than you could imagine and
that is a good thing. There is a lot for most people to learn about the craft
of writing. We don’t want to release a book that we’re later ashamed of.
How true. Good advice!
Has your writing crossed over into other areas? If so, how? If not, will it?
For me it was my training ministry that led to writing non-fiction (rather than vice versa). I wrote a book on 1-to-1 discipleship (Christian Focus, 2009) and also one on Bible storytelling (Telling the Gospel Through Story, IVP, 2012). I run many seminars on evangelism, storytelling, and discipleship.
The fiction was a surprise and as a result of a prayer day in
which two titles/ideas for novel were placed in my mind. I didn’t think I could
ever learn to write fiction but left it in God’s hands. Six years later he
pushed me forward and now I have five novels released. My latest non-fiction, Sword Fighting: Applying God’s word to win the battle for our mind, was
released as a companion to my fourth novel as it fleshes out ideas that are
touched on in the novel but couldn’t be expanded on there.
If you had one person you could meet (think ONLY Bible characters here) and could spend as much time as you wanted with that individual, who would it be besides Jesus, and why?
Probably Daniel or Paul. I’d just have so many questions about their faith journey and their struggles. Also, how they lived as ‘salt and light’ in their era. I’d also ask Paul about missionary strategy because this is something that is my daily life and he could teach me so much.
Why do you live where you live?
I live wherever God has led me. For the past 22 years that has been Taiwan but now I’m returning to Australia to be a better support to my ageing parents. I trust that God knows exactly what he is doing and has plans for me here.
When you are looking for a book to read, what are the things that are important to you?
I read several kinds of books. Some are just for mental relaxation like thrillers/mystery/detective novels and my only requirement is that they’re well-written.
I also like historical fiction and particularly enjoy
learning new things and more about history.
If I’m reading Christian fiction, I want the story to not
only be well-written but to inspire me to follow Jesus ever more closely. It is
much harder for a CF book to gain a 5-star review as I only give 5-stars for
books that I rate as excellent and also eternity-impacting.
I do check out covers/blurbs/first page but I also take
word of mouth recommendations from people whose recommendations I’ve learned to
trust. In the CF world, I also look for undervalued books that may be excellent
and seek to encourage those authors.
Oh, really...may I interest you in an undervalued book by an author I know very well? It's called The Letters. Full of mystery, suspense, and has a great "eternity-impacting" ending. And it must be written pretty well. It just won a Selah Award. :-)
(I should have warned everyone that a shameless - shameful? - plug was coming.)
Christine, it's been great having you on our blog. Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers about you, or anything we didn’t cover?
Following Jesus should be an adventure. If we’ve submitted our lives to him, then he will lead us in many different, and often surprising, directions. Part of my journey has been writing, but yours is likely to be completely different. The key is being ready and willing to obey. I look forward to where he leads after I finish the final novel in the Grace series and what he does with the books over the coming years. My responsibility is to keep my eyes on him. May you also be greatly used to bring God glory in whatever he puts in front of you.
Challenging and encouraging words, for sure.
Readers, if you are wanting to learn more about Christine and her ministries, you can find her here:
Author website: https://www.storytellerchristine.com/
Subscribe to Christine’s newsletter and download Christine’s first novel: https://storyoriginapp.com/giveaways/6a009aee-fe2b-11ea-8278-0f7e76fa853d
