3xA MA: CJ Redwine

I feel like authors deserve so much from the readers. I believe that authors are people who really connect with us. It was actually an author who I "sorta" owe my life to. Authors and their words make us feel and they can help us.
In this event, I want to get to know the authors. I’d like to get interviews or blog posts about THEM in connection to their book. Who is the mind behind each author?

For each post, I leave links to connect with the author. Please take the time to use one of those links and leave a message for each author, if you can. It can be towards the book or it can be something as easy as “I love the post you wrote on Out of Time! <33”

CJ Redwine is the author of Defiance and Deception! I first talked to her when she was recommending me sites that were for emotional help. I was in a ...mood and I really still do remember her tweeting me a couple links. They helped so much. <33

1. Any pets? Descriptions please!
I have two cats and a dog. The dog is a huge black Chow with a purple tongue. He looks scary, but he's nothing but a teddy bear. (Unless you're the UPS man. Then you're dead.) One of my cats, Jack (named after Captain Jack Sparrow) is a bobtailed tuxedo who weighs 18 lbs. With no long tail to help balance out his appearance, he basically looks like a watermelon with legs. He's cuddly and has a really loud purr, but he's terrified of strangers so no one outside our family ever sees him. And our last cat is Sam, otherwise known as She Who Will Rule The World. She's a gorgeous calico who runs the dog, the other cat, and absolutely anyone who walks in our door.

2. I'm on a Marina and the Diamonds kick right now. What's your favorite band?
I don't have a favorite! I have really diverse musical taste--everything from Shinedown to In This Moment to Bebo Norman to One Direction to instrumental soundtracks. I have huge playlists built on Spotify. I have one for every project I've written and one for each of the projects currently taking shape inside my head. I have a dance playlist. An inspirational one. Instrumental. Rock ... you get the picture. I have songs for every mood.

3. Are you messy or organized?
I'm generally pretty organized, but my house is often messy because I have four kids and deadlines.

4. Favorite subject when you were in school?
English (back in the day, that's what Language Arts was called) and History.

5. Were you involved with any clubs/teams/activities after school as a kid/teen?
I was a cheerleader for two years, participated in an award-winning marching band, did musical theater and touring choir, and entered local and state writing and music contests.

6. Can you cook? 
I can! I love to cook. It's fun to make up new recipes and find new family favorites.

7. If you wrote Nonfiction, what would you write about?
I can't even ... I tried to come up with an answer but everything that came into my head (llamas! medieval times! space exploration!) all turned into fictionalized stories (THE DAY LLAMAS TOOK OVER THE UNIVERSE. MY JOURNEY BACK TO MEDIEVAL TIMES AND HOW I SHOWED THEM CORRECT PERSONAL HYGIENE. LOST IN SPACE WITH BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH AND DEAN WINCHESTER.) and so I think it's best to say if I wrote non-fiction it would be a writing manual on how to take non-fiction and turn it into fiction because really.

8. Pet unicorn or pet dinosaur?
OMG UNICORN.

9. Coloring inside or outside of the lines? And what color you'd use!
I always color inside the lines because I suck at art and desperately need the guidelines. And I can't pick just one color because it's kind of like music for me. I have TONS of pretty colored pens, crayons, markers, and pencils in my office because you never know when your To Do list will need to alternate between Aqua and Purple with pink stars next to the things that will blow up in your face if you don't do them NOW.

10. One word/writing concept that you'll never understand? I'll never understand irony. 
I don't know if there's a writing concept that I won't understand. I've taught writing for years and so most of it is embedded somewhere in my brain, but understanding isn't the same as executing, and I'm always striving to improve everything from word choice to world building.

11. If it's not too personal, why do you go by CJ Redwine and not by your first name (whatever that may be)?
CJ is my nickname, and because I have a public job and so does my husband, the more barriers I can put between my legal identity and the rest of the world, the safer I feel for both myself and my kids.

12. Pet peeve?
People chewing with their mouths open or licking their hands while they eat. PLEASE. STOP.

13. Tell us about your most recent (weird) dream!
I can't remember! I dream every night and sometimes it sticks with me for a little bit, but usually it disappears because my waking mind is so full of plot (usually I have 6-8 stories in there at once) that there's no room for other things.

OMG Unicorn too. I had so much fun writing up these questions. And I didn't even think I could love her anymore, but I do! Eep!

Enter the giveaway below! Thanks for checking out my blog and remember:  
Be kind to one another. - Ellen

CJ's Facebook | Goodreads | Goodreads for her Book | Twitter | Website |

C.J. Redwine loves fairy tales, lemon bars, and any movie starring Johnny Depp. She is the author of the Defiance trilogy, a post-apocalyptic fantasy from Balzer + Bray/Harper Collins. C.J. lives in Nashville with her husband, four kids, two cats, and one long-suffering dog. To learn more about C.J., visit her website at http://cjredwine.blogspot.com/

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