Hello fellow book lovers,

We are half way throught the year already, how has that happened!?

The years writing progress so far:

• Book 1 and 2 of the Faulkes and Stone series written and one round of editing done.

• The Things We Left Behind is next on the list of books to self-publish

• When The Darkness Falls (Fantasy novel) written but not edited

• Requests for book 2 in the AVA series have been coming in, so that is also on the list of books for publishing, but it needs editing again first!

• Introverted Indies has been a success! We are now open to mini interviews. Find the link here

An Interview with Christine Layne
Romance Author

Thanks for joining me at Indie Author Insights to chat. First, tell me a bit about yourself, Christine.

I live in Colorado and have been writing since 2020. I’ve always wanted to write, but never had any ideas that grabbed me so I never finished anything. I finally wrote my first novel from start to finish in 2020 and have been ever since.

Fantastic, can you tell me more about your writing?

My first contemporary romance novel, Because of Blake, came about after I checked my mail at our community mailboxes. I don’t even know where the thought of two people meeting at the mailbox and getting involved came from, but I took it and wrote a book about it!

Because of Blake is about a widowed single mom who meets her hot neighbor, but has too much anxiety over her husband’s death to jump into a relationship. I don’t really know how long it took to write because I was working on other projects, but if I had to guess, I’d say probably 4 months.

The tropes for Because of Blake are single mom, reverse age gap, anxiety rep, neighbors to lovers, and he falls first. Triggers might include adult language, sexual situations, death of a family member.

Romance is a popular genre at the moment. What else are you working on currently?

I’m currently working on my fourth romance novel, expecting it to be released in February. It’s a fake dating, opposites attract, age gap romance. But I also started the outlining for my fifth novel so that will come hopefully next year as well.

Exciting things to come then! Being an author has highs and lows, can you tell me your best moment and how you faced the harder ones?

I think the best moment of my author journey was when one of my ARC readers for Because of Blake messaged me 3 months after its release to tell me she loved it so much, she’s read it three times. It felt so good to know I wrote someone’s comfort novel. It’s something I remind myself of whenever I’m in those low points. Not every day can be great, not even every month can be, but those small wins are what makes being an author so worth it.

And what do you find hardest about being an indie author? For me its the marketing!

I hate marketing. It’s hands down the worst part of this whole gig. I’m not the greatest at it, but I have grown my audience slowly. The best pieces of advice I can give is to keep at it. It won’t happen overnight, but you’ll build a following through consistency. Also, promote yourself, but be sure to celebrate with others in and out of your circle. If you see someone post about their debut, repost it. If you see someone asking for help and you have an answer, go for it. We’re all in this together, and what goes around comes around. Helping others helps you too.

If you could go back in time and give your past self one piece of advise, what would it be?

Don’t be afraid of social media haha

I agree. Social media can seem so daunting. Do you have any other hobbies you enjoy when you’re not working on your novels?

I like to do any sort of art, but mainly I paint. I also take Jiu Jitsu classes with my son, and that’s really fun!

Excellent. So where can readers by your books and keep up to date with new releases?

Because of Blake

Love Hops 

 Mud, Love and Chemistry

Find Christine’s Link Tree for keep in touch here

Thank you for reading!

Lydia x