Sensational 7 Q & A with Christy Raedeke!

Have you ever wanted to know what it would be like to hang out with your favorite author(s)? In an attempt to get a better understanding of authors, my Sensational Seven Q & A takes a closer or more personal look at these authors to give you a glimpse of the personalities behind the writing of your favorite books.

“Talent alone cannot make a writer. There must be a man behind the book; a personality which, by birth and quality, is pledged to the doctrines there set forth, and which exists to see and state things so, and not otherwise.” By Ralph Waldo Emerson

Christy Raedeke is many things, among them an award-winning writer and avid adventurer.

Raedeke's love of mysticism and thirst for ancient knowledge has taken her around the world. She has trekked in the Himalayas, floated down the River Ganges, explored the catacombs under Paris and Rome, studied feng shui in Kuala Lumpur, cloistered at an hermitage in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, spent Halloween in a 16th century Scottish castle, and gone looking for shaman among the Mayan ruins of the Yucatan.

Raedeke was the 2008 recipient of the Edna L. Holmes Fellowship in Young Readers Literature from Oregon Literary Arts and her writing for young adults has earned several awards and accolades. She is a member of the PEN America Center and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).

When not globetrotting, Raedeke lives with her family in Oregon. Her debut novel, Prophecy of Days is in stores now!

If you were given a chance to travel back in time, what year or place would you go / Why?
I’d like to be an expatriate in France in the 1920s, as described by Hemingway in A Movable Feast. I’d like to chill in Cap d’Antibes with the Fitzgeralds, drink with Picasso, attend the Salons that Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas hosted, shoot the breeze with Ezra Pound, run the bulls with Hemingway. It was a dicey time because of the war, but all these incredible creative people—painters and photographers and writers and poets—were friends. They were producing some really amazing stuff and revolutionizing the world of modern arts and letters. I love almost all art and literature that came from that era.

Describe your novel in seven words or less?
Young girl takes on worldwide shadow government.

Please share with us about your favorite book and fictional crush to date?
This is such a hard question! Seriously hard. I usually like the oddball characters, like Danny in The Keep and Hassan in An Abundance of Katherines. I don’t think I can choose a favorite book but I’ll say the best Young Adult book I’ve read this year (though it’s not new) is How I Live Now. I think about it all the time.

If you could be any character in fiction, whom would you be / Why?
Can it be non-fiction? I’d love to be Tenzin Palmo, a female monk who secluded herself in a remote cave 13,000 feet up in the Himalayas for more than twelve years of. She was born Diane Perry, an ordinary English girl. That kind of extreme dedication and focus, especially coming from someone not born into the Buddhist tradition, absolutely fascinates me. I’ve read her book, Cave in the Snow, about five times. Of course, I have none of the willpower to do anything like this, as evidenced by my biography title in question number 6 below.

If Hollywood made a movie about your life, whom would you like to see play the lead role as you/ Why?
Parker Posey is one of my favorite actresses, and I love her in Christopher Guest’s hilarious movies. Though we look nothing alike, I think if she gained a few pounds she could capture my je ne sais quois!

If someone wrote a biography about you, what do you think the title should be – please explain?
I have a problem with moderation, so the title of my biography would probably be: Whoever Said Less Is More Probably Never Had Quite Enough More: Christy Raedeke, A Biography.

How would you describe yourself/life in seven words?
The good stuff is in the fringes…

Bonus:

**Is there any additional info you would like to share with your readers about what’s next for you and your books?**
I am in that weird place, right before book release, waiting for reviews and reactions. It’s terrifying! Not knowing whether the book will be liked or reviled is really stressful. This business is hard! All the uncertainty and all the waiting….

But I can’t express enough how important the Book Blog community is to debut authors. You are all so kind and generous with your blogs and your support—it’s very heartening! And very unexpected. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

Thanks Christy for stopping by!

For more information about Christy Raedeke and her books, please visit her website here.