Interview with Christine Hartmann, author of 'Wild Within'
Christine Hartmann grew up in Ohio and Delaware and loves traveling to exotic, romantic settings. After a
college semester in Kathmandu, her first three “real” jobs were all in northern Japan, where she lived for almost 10 years. She currently splits
her career between her daytime occupation (improving the quality of veterans’
nursing home care) and her nights/weekend avocation (writing both fiction and
non-fiction books). Her husband Ron Strickland is a well-known long-distance
hiker and trail guide writer and the founder of the 1,200-mile Pacific
Northwest National Scenic Trail. Christine loves reading, pilates, bicycling,
and snorkeling, and health foods that taste like they’re bad for you. You will
often find her at a keyboard, a German shepherd at her side, and Ron whispering
sweet edits over her shoulder.
Her latest book is book one of the
Wild at Heart series, Wild
Within.
For
More Information
- Visit Christine Hartmann’s website.
- Connect with Christine on Facebook and Twitter.
- Find out more about Christine at Goodreads.
About the Book:
Two
thousand, six hundred miles of blistering heat, wilderness, and soul
searching—that’s what Grace signed up for when she decided to hike the Pacific
Crest Trail. It’s not a voyage for beginners, but with no husband and her
family still recovering from her bother’s death, Grace is more alone than
This
trail meant something to her brother, and she’ll hike it in his memory, but she
can’t do it alone. So with her brother’s gear and a small group, Grace takes
the most important first steps of her life.
Grace
finds something more than peace and magic on the trail…
When her
first day of hiking ends in heat stroke, Grace is rescued by a handsome,
red-haired hiker who calls himself Lone Star. Grace has an immediate connection
with him, and their brief encounter leaves her fearing her soul mate has
slipped through her fingers. Although he vows to keep in touch, Grace doubts
she’ll ever see him again.
When
fears become reality, the only people Grace can rely on may be killers...
Grace is
surprised to find notes left at supply posts along the trail. Lone Star’s
eloquent letters keep Grace going, clinging to the hope she’ll find him—and
happiness—at the end of her journey. But as the trail becomes more perilous,
menace grows within the group. And when Lone Star’s letters mysteriously stop
coming, Grace fears the worst.
As tensions flare and a killer
emerges, Grace must battle to survive…and reunite with the man she’s sure is
her future.
For More Information
Q: Welcome to The Writer's
Life! Now that your book has been
published, we’d love to find out more about the process. Can we begin by having you take us at the
beginning?
The idea for Wild Within emerged in an exercise class. Well, after class,
actually. One of my fellow students invited me to go to her author son’s
reading at a local bookstore. During the question and answer, her son
emphasized the need for finding an expert for whatever subject you want to
write about, such as finding an ex-FBI agent if you want to write about the
FBI. I left the reading inspired to write fiction, but searching high and low
for an expert to match my interests seemed difficult. “Wouldn’t it be easier to
find the expert first? Then I could craft a story around what the expert
knows.” My husband, Ron Strickland, is a nationally-known long distance hiker,
one of only two living founders of a national scenic trail. Ta da. I had my
expert. I shaped the plot around his experiences hiking the Pacific Crest
Trail, with a little murder thrown in. I leaned on him heavily for the hiking
parts, particularly since I can count on one hand the nights I’ve spent in a
tent.
Q: How hard was it to write a
book like this and do you have any tips that you could pass on which would make
the journey easier for other writers?
I enjoyed writing Wild Within. That said, it was a time
consuming and sometimes difficult process. I have a full-time day job, so I
squeezed the writing in during nights and weekends. The best piece of advice I
got was to write a very detailed outline. But I still had a problem keeping
track of where all the characters were along the trail at various time points.
I eventually drew a map of the major peaks and populated it with stick figures.
I moved them back and forth so I could keep straight who was ahead of whom.
Q: Who is your publisher and how
did you find them or did you self-publish?
My publisher is Limitless
Publishing. My amazing agents at Parkeast Literary found them for me.
Q: Is there anything that
surprised you about getting your first book published?
This is my first work of fiction,
and the feedback from readers has been terrific. They see the story from so
many different angles. For some it’s the romance that draws them in. Others
emphasize Grace’s healing process as she hikes the trail. Others like the
suspense. Sometimes people see things I didn’t even see clearly myself. That’s
a terrific feeling, having the book speak to so many readers.
Q: What other books (if any) are
you working on and when will they be published?
I am working on books Two and
Three of the Wild at Heart series (Wild
Within is book One). Book Two will be out—fingers crossed—this summer. Book
Three should follow before the end of the year.
Q: What’s your favorite place to
hang out online?
Does Thesaurus.com sound crazy? I
also like VRBO. It’s fun to create fantasy vacations to exotic places I’ll
probably never visit.
Q: What’s your nightly ritual
before retiring for the night?
My eyes usually conk out by the
end of the day. So I listen to an audio book. Sometimes Ron and I put a
Bluetooth speaker between our pillows and listen. We’re usually “reading” one
book like this together and I’m “reading” another one on the side.
Q: Finally, what message (if any)
are you trying to get across with your book?
One of my favorite hiking
expressions is “hike your own hike.” It means that everyone hikes for different
reasons, all legitimate, all compelling to the individual. The main character
in Wild Within, Grace, learns this
lesson over the course of her journey. She begins the trail overwhelmed with
burdens and expectations she’s taken on. She eventually finds her own sense of
what’s important in life.
Q: Thank you again for this
interview! Do you have any final words?
Thank you so much for the
opportunity. I leave readers here with my favorite three words from the book,
Grace’s response to a particularly dark situation: “I’m. Still. Fighting.” I
hope we all keep fighting in our own ways!
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