Christina Dodd: From Historical to Thrillers, World Famous Books That Captivate and Excite!

I originally met Christina at a conference years ago when InD’tale was just getting started. She was setting up for the giant book signing and I was just wandering around (a bit starstruck). She looked up and made a sweet quip about my curly blonde hair and I returned the compliment about her edgy red hair. She laughed and joked for a few minutes with this stranger (to her). I never forgot that moment, though. To have a very big name author be so down to earth and friendly to a virtual nobody will forever be indelibly  written in my heart.  And because of that, she will always be a personal favorite.  
That is also why I was so excited to get the chance to interview her for the magazine. Of course, she didn’t remember the exchange when I mentioned it, but laughed again and admitted she would do it with anyone.  That alone says the world about the heart of this wonderful, kind, and amazing author. And, from her historical romances right through her nail-biting thrillers, that heart comes through in everything she writes. Read and and I’m sure you will agree!

InD: So tell us about you. Where did you grow up?
CD: I grew up in Sunnyvale, California, until I was 11, then we moved to Idaho, then Oregon for a while, then back to Idaho, which is where I got married and had two daughters. Then we moved to Texas and now we are in Washington state. I can look at Canada from my window.
InD: What were you like as a child?
CD: I was such a snot. My father died of a heart attack when he was 38, I have two older sisters and my mother was pregnant with me when he died, so we grew up in kind of tough circumstances. My mom was a housewife and there was no type of childcare in those days, so it wasn't until I went to school that she went to work. We lived off social security, so it was tough.
But on the other hand, I didn't know any better. Mom had taken my dad's insurance and paid off the house and car. We ate perfectly well. My sisters were the ones who were really impacted because they were going through puberty and high school without their father, so it was really tough, tough times for them. My mother ended up becoming a proofreader. I am a terrible proofreader, absolutely terrible, so I would hand her my books and say, “Would you proofread this?” and she would be like, “How do you not see this stuff?” She was a great mom.
InD: Did you like to read when you were young?
CD: Oh, yes. From 1st grade on. The ones that sucked me in were the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. I think my sister gave me my first one in 2nd grade and I went through the entire series and I just never stopped. I was a huge reader.
InD: Did you write at a young age?
CD: You bet! I won an award in the 8th grade, but I was one of those people who thought writers are special people and live on an island and write when they are inspired. I was not that person.
I married young, had kids and had a house in the suburbs, so I wasn't at all that kind of person. It took 10 years of convincing myself that I could do this.
InD: So, what were you like as a teenager?
CD: We lived in Nampa, Idah through most of my teen years and I did not love that.
InD: What did you think you were going to do with your life?
CD: By then, my mom and I were by ourselves. My sisters had grown up and gotten married before that time. The main thing was, I didn't think I wanted to go to college. I didn't think I should spend four years before getting a job, so I went to Boise State Technical School and talked to a counselor. She suggested I try drafting, so that's what I did. Until our first daughter was born, I was a draftsman. I designed roads, lines, and sawmills.
InD: Did you enjoy it?
CD: I didn't mind it, but I will say I am a much better writer than I was a draftsman.
InD: But it gave you some really good skills you could use.
CD: When I worked for Boise Cascade, we started a sawmill from the ground up. We did the foundation, the building, all the machinery... the entire thing from the bare lot up. It taught me that whatever it is, just do it one day at a time, put one foot in front of the other and you eventually will have accomplished something.
Now, I concentrate on writing one word, one page at a time. I still think it's very important to know how putting things together works, what you have to do, and that sometimes you have to go back and edit and fix things if you get it wrong, and sometimes things don't work. But eventually there you are with a building, or a finished book.

Read the entire fun and informative interview in the April 2022 issue of InD'Tale magazine.

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