During her tour, Chrissy will be
giving away a $50 Victoria’s Secret gift card to a lucky commenter. To be
entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of
winning, feel free to visit other tour stops and enter there, too.
Bio:
When she was just sixteen, Chrissy Anderson made a
life list…
…The
outcome is a dream husband, a career to envy, and the kind of best friends
every girl wants. Then out of nowhere…an affair. What would you do if you
realized the life you created wasn’t right for you? You think you know the answer?
Think again. Follow Chrissy as she lies and cheats and ultimately learns to
tell the truth to herself and those that she loves.
Women of all
kinds will be able to relate to the pressure of constructing the ideal life,
only to fall short. Not everyone will agree with Chrissy Anderson’s decisions,
but all will pause as they follow along on her journey to ask, “What would I do
if I were her?”
The
Life List, book ONE of The List Trilogy, will take you on a rollercoaster of emotional highs and
lows as Chrissy makes mistakes on her bumpy road to happiness. Come along for
the ride and you’ll be left breathless and ready to find out what she does next
in book TWO, The Unexpected List.
Chrissy
Anderson spends her life doing exactly what she always wanted: doting on those
she loves. A former fashion executive, she is a writer, wife, and mother whose
own life events inspired The Life List.
She lives in Portland, Oregon, with the love of her life and her beautiful
daughter.
Welcome, Chrissy. Please tell us about
your release, The Life List.
How many of
us plan out our lives? Come on, admit it! As a young girl you had this idea of
the kind of man you were going to marry, the kind of job you were going to
have, how many kids you wanted. The list goes on and on. Well, my list did
anyway. And the crazy thing about my list was…I stuck to it. Yep, even as a
grown woman I stuck to a list I made when I was sixteen years old. It was
written in purple ink on binder paper and it was my destiny to fulfill it. And
I did. Everything in my life was going according to plan…until it wasn’t.
It took a
chance encounter with a young stranger to realize my life list was bullshit.
But did I have the courage to correct the mistakes of my past? Was I strong
enough to defy the wishes of everyone around me and become the woman I was
meant to be? The Life List is my
story through my life choices- some good, some stupid, some sleazy. Sure I’ve
made some big mistakes, but I learned from them and came out the other end in a
pretty damn good place. Women of all kinds–twenty-somethings, housewives and
superwomen wanna-bes–will all be able to relate to the same pressures I felt of
constructing the ideal life, only to fall short. I suspect there will be a lot
of exhaling going on as those women read The
List Trilogy.
What inspired you to write this book?
I was tired
of feeling like my choices—choices that
made me a happy person—were taboo. I wanted to talk about them without
feeling like I did something wrong. Once I got the courage to talk freely, and
started doing it on a small scale (like at happy hour with friends, and friends
of friends), I got immediate interest in my life story. In fact, I started
getting e-mails from people I never even met asking me for “secret” advice.
They were living my old life and wanted out…but needed help and courage.
I see bits
and pieces of my checkered past in almost every woman I encounter and I want to
help them, tell them they’re NOT crazy. Those women were the inspiration to
write my novel.
The Life List examines
the sanity of following the bucket list we make when we are young and the
impact of changing our minds after we have checked most things off the list. I
think too many women live their lives according to what others think. They
struggle with defending their choices, and they fear failure and the public humiliation
that goes along with changing their minds…Whether it’s about staying married,
changing a career, or a damn haircut! I know better than anyone what it’s like
to have everything I thought I always wanted, only then to say, “Uh-oh.” But it’s
damn near impossible to un-do plans that involve other people’s lives without
suffering huge amounts of shame and regret. I think that’s why so many women
identify with The Life List. At least
that’s the bulk of the feedback I get anyway.
What exciting story are you working on
next?
You
wouldn’t know this because you’re not right here with me living in the moment,
but about an hour ago I accidently exited this interview without saving it. Just
spent over an hour trying to recover the document…failed miserably.
Apparently
all that was saved was everything above this question. I’m so pissed I could
scream…or drink a martini. Which is what I just summoned my husband to make for
me.
Gah! Okay,
here is my second attempt at this question. Undoubtedly, it won’t be as good as
my first attempt.
I’m working
on The Hope List, part III of The
List Trilogy. It’s the gut-wrenching finish to my real life fairytale and my
hope is to release it by March, 2014. However, it feeds into a whole new
trilogy and so much more planning goes into this last book. I pray my readers
don’t turn into angry torch wielding villagers if I have to delay the release.
Some fun
news…Once The Hope List is put to bed
I’m taking a break before the next trilogy to work on a test pilot for
television. Yep, I got contacted by a screenwriter who thinks The List Trilogy
would make great TV! A sort of Ally McBeal meets Desperate Housewives kinda
thing. So, that’s my next big project and I’ve never been more excited!
When did you first consider yourself a
writer?
I haven’t
yet. My editor and publicist keep nagging me to call myself a writer, but
without graduating from Harvard with an advanced degree in English, I struggle
with the title. Up until I wrote The Life
List I was a business executive in the fashion industry. I’d never written
an essay, a magazine article, or performed any kind of freelance writing work
to save my life. Never even had the interest. But once I came up with the
storyline to The Life List, or rather
the courage to tell my real life love story, it’s all I became interested in. I
quit my job and it’s all I’ve done since. I write for hours and hours a week,
and when I’m not writing I’m peddling my writing to anyone and everyone. The
sales and marketing of this writing gig is BRUTAL and I thank God for my
business acumen to guide me though it. To be successful in this line of work,
one needs some serious right-brain power. Believe me, it’s not all creative and
artsy-fartsy! It’s one thing to write a book, quite another to publish it and
sell it. I could’ve gone the agent route, but quite truthfully I didn’t think
any of the ones who contacted me could market my work better than me. For me, a
five thousand dollar advancement with no promise of future money was enough to
hand over the fate of The List Trilogy. No way!
(Thank God
I’m sipping on this martini now. I’m so pissed about losing the answer to this
question my head is spinning. Or, perhaps it’s the vodka working it’s magic,
eh?)
I’ve met
crooks who call themselves “mortgage brokers,” I’ve gotten food poisoning from
people who call themselves “chefs,” and I’ve met some butt ugly women who call
themselves “models.” Just because you call yourself something doesn’t
necessarily make you that something. My books would have to go
New-York-Times-Best-Seller before I ever consider myself a writer. That’s just
humble ‘ol me.
Anyway, the
most I consider myself is a story teller. I’m a hopeless romantic with a huge
potty mouth and lots of sarcasm. As long as there’s a market for my kind of
writing style, I’ll continue to write, and you can call me whatever you want!
Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
Ha!
I wish I could write all day, every day. But I’m a wife, mother, daughter,
sister, Aunt, friend, cook, housecleaner, dog-sitter, gardener, laundromat, jogger,
writer…In that order. At the end of the day, all I can squeeze in is one of my
shows on the DVR and a cup of tea or glass (or 4) of wine.
I’m a very scheduled/regimented person. I carve out three six hour days a week to devote to all aspects of my writing (i.e. actual book writing, blogging, marketing). I won’t even touch the work if I’m not able to get in a full uninterrupted six hour slot, it’s too unsatisfying. I wish it could be more, but like I said above, there are so many other things that have to get taken care of. I don’t function well when laundry starts to pile up, there’s no food in the fridge, or when the toilets are dirty! I’m only able to work on my writing when everything else in my life is in order. All of my writing work also has to be done at 3pm. That’s when I pick my daughter up from school and the second part of my days begins. It’s impossible to devote myself to her needs (she’s knee deep into learning division and it’s a grind) and to enjoy the time with my husband when he gets home shortly after that if I try to cram in writing after 3pm –so I don’t even try. It’s hard, impossible sometimes, to block out the creative stuff after 3pm and at times can be very frustrating. But it’s a good frustration and I feel so blessed to have it. I wish that feeling on everyone!
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I’m a very scheduled/regimented person. I carve out three six hour days a week to devote to all aspects of my writing (i.e. actual book writing, blogging, marketing). I won’t even touch the work if I’m not able to get in a full uninterrupted six hour slot, it’s too unsatisfying. I wish it could be more, but like I said above, there are so many other things that have to get taken care of. I don’t function well when laundry starts to pile up, there’s no food in the fridge, or when the toilets are dirty! I’m only able to work on my writing when everything else in my life is in order. All of my writing work also has to be done at 3pm. That’s when I pick my daughter up from school and the second part of my days begins. It’s impossible to devote myself to her needs (she’s knee deep into learning division and it’s a grind) and to enjoy the time with my husband when he gets home shortly after that if I try to cram in writing after 3pm –so I don’t even try. It’s hard, impossible sometimes, to block out the creative stuff after 3pm and at times can be very frustrating. But it’s a good frustration and I feel so blessed to have it. I wish that feeling on everyone!
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
My house
has to be clean (i.e. beds made, laundry done, dishes in dishwasher, dinner
planned out) before I can focus on my writing. Once that’s all done, I light a
candle and sit at my desk with hard copies of The Life List and The
Unexpected List in front of me. I also have the music I reference in the
books playing in the background. I’m musically inspired! No music = No fun!
As a child, what did you want to be
when you grew up?
A flight
attendant or a waitress. Obviously there was an overwhelming desire to serve
people, huh!? Guess that explains why I make such a good mom!
Anything additional you want to share
with the readers?
Nope. I
think I shared enough. Thank you so much for the opportunity to be a part of
your blog. Other than losing half of the interview after I it was already done,
I had a blast! Go check out the reviews to the trilogy on Amazon and tell me
what you think after reading them! I love hearing from you guys. It might take
me a week, but I reply to all e-mails. Martini is kicking in now…Thank God for
cocktails!
Links:
Thanks for the great interview,
Chrissy – and for re-creating your answers for us!
