Master Class in Tenacity with Author Christine Gunderson -87

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Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:00:01

Welcome to Author Express. Thanks for checking us out. This is the podcast where you give us 15 minutes of your time and we give you a chance to hear the voice behind the pages and get to know your new favorite author in a new light. I'm Shawna Rodrigues, one of your hosts, a fellow author, host of The Grit Show and Authenticity Amplified Podcasts, and the founder of Authentic Connections Podcast Network, which makes this podcast possible. Let me tell you a little about today's guest. Christine Gunderson grew up on a 4th generation family farm in rural North Dakota, where she read Laura Ingalls Wilder books in her very own Little House on the Prairie. She's a former television anchor and reporter and former Capitol Hill aid. She currently lives in the Washington DC suburbs with her 3 children, star the wonder dog, and a very patient husband.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:01:02

When not riding, she's selling the Chesapeake Bay with her family, playing Star Wars Monopoly, rereading Jane Austen novels in the school pickup line, or unloading the dishwasher. Her debut novel, Friends of Secrets comes out on August 1st. So it's out there and you can buy it. With Lake Union Publishing and has been called a timeless, beautiful, relevant, laugh out loud, funny homage to motherhood. I'm so glad you are here with us. Welcome Christine.

Christine Gunderson [: 00:01:31

Thank you so much for having me.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:01:33

Yes. I'm so excited to hear more about your adventure to getting this book published. But let's start with, tell us something interesting about where you are from.

Christine Gunderson [: 00:01:42

You know, I was very lucky whenever this comes up at parties or anywhere because I feel like I grew up in a fascinating place. I grew up on a farm, a 4th generation family farm in rural North Dakota. I had 10 people in my high school graduating class, The 10

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:01:57

Oh, wow.

Christine Gunderson [: 00:01:58

Same 10 people from kindergarten basically all the way through high school. It was a very tight knit farming community. Some of the people who I went to high school with, my grandfather and my grandmother went to high school with. So it was a beautiful place to grow up. It was a farm. I had a horse. I had a cow for 4 h. We had a chicken.

Christine Gunderson [: 00:02:17

It was a wonderful place to grow up. But as I have left North Dakota and moved out to the East Coast and traveled around the world, I've come to see and appreciate how unique it really is. I don't like trees. I like wide open spaces and but, yeah, it was a a beautiful interesting, different place to grow up.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:02:34

How did you end up going from North Dakota to DC area? Was it a short trip or was it a lot of little journeys along the way?

Christine Gunderson [: 00:02:42

It was kind of a roundabout trip. After college, I got a job as a television reporter and anchor at an ABC affiliate in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. And one of the politicians that I was assigned to cover as a reporter ended up winning a house seat and moving out to Washington DC. And I gotten to know him and his staff by covering them and they said, hey, you wanna come out and be the press secretary? I was a registered independent. I had no political convictions or interests, but they were really nice people and I thought it would be an adventure. And so I said, sure, I'll move out to DC. And, that was like 27 years ago and I met my husband, had a whole bunch of really interesting jobs and ended up staying out here, and the rest is history. I'm still here.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:03:30

Yes. Your passion for adventure led you on quite a journey at Zayef.

Christine Gunderson [: 00:03:34

Yeah.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:03:35

That's wonderful. I love that. So my first question for you is actually, if you had written the same book when you were 20, would have been the same as it is now.

Christine Gunderson [: 00:03:46

That is a great question. And I could not have written this book when I was 20 because I didn't have kids. Oh. And motherhood is a really big part of this book. And it's also a lot about exploring the difficulties I had going from a working person to a stay at home mom. And finding friends once you are no longer a young person in a job. Finding friends, finding your footing as a mother, finding your place in the world, finding your identity when you no longer have a job where people are telling you that you're doing well and giving you praise and accolades, and the struggles of being a good mom but also not losing yourself to motherhood. These are all things that I explore in the book and I could not have written this book without being a mom.

Christine Gunderson [: 00:04:39

So I don't know what book I would have written when I was 20, but it was not not this book.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:04:44

Oh, yeah. No. That's important. That's important to know what more you bring to the table and that depth that you have. And you have quite a writing journey, and we're gonna get to more of that in just a minute as well. So first, why don't you summarize your book for us in 1 or 2 sentences?

Christine Gunderson [: 00:04:58

Well, this is a challenge. Alright. I'm gonna try. I may put some commas and ands in there, but I'm gonna try Aloud. Aloud. Okay. Friends with Secrets is a story of 2 mothers who are very different on the outside but share a lot of commonalities on the inside. And one of them has a deep dark secret which if revealed will destroy her marriage and her life And together these 2 mothers must decide if they want to protect the children at their school or protect the secret.

Christine Gunderson [: 00:05:32

And that is what friends with secrets is about.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:05:35

Oh, I love that. I love that. There's like some intrigue that goes along with that. So we have some depth of characters and relationships and some knowledge of where they're at and place in their lives, but also a little bit of intrigue. I like the intrigue with that. So do you think that the characters are obviously really important to that? Does where it's located play into it a lot? Because you've lived in some interesting places.

Christine Gunderson [: 00:06:00

It's set here in the Northern Virginia suburbs and, you know, the Northern Virginia suburbs are fascinating place because we have so many And so it And so it makes, I think, for a really fascinating setting for a novel because everyone out here is really interesting in a whole lot of ways. They've lived all over the world. They have interesting careers. They do vitally important things every day running the country. And it's also, you know, I've lived out here for, like I said, 27 years. So this is sort of what I know. So I have written what I know and it's also a beautiful area. So I set the book here on the shores of the Potomac.

Christine Gunderson [: 00:06:43

Oh. In Alexandria where I live. And, we have a lot of history and we have a lot of interesting people. So that's why I wanted to set the book here.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:06:52

That's lovely. And we touched on this briefly, but I spent a short transient period of time in Northern Virginia. And my impression for that short time was that it was a very transient place, but I also lived closer to the Pentagon, which is also very probably even more transient. Alexandria is a little further out and not as close to DC and probably is not close to that. The military piece of the Pentagon City is probably makes it even more transient. And I love that you've been there for 27 years, and it makes you feel, well, if it's not as transient. But when I was there, I felt like most everyone I met, and it could have been the work that I was doing, the time that I thought I was there, it felt very transient. But have you experienced it being a place that more people come to and fall in love with and stay, or do you feel that transient nature where you are too?

Christine Gunderson [: 00:07:37

You know, it's interesting. I feel like it's a place that people move to and no one ever thinks they're going to stay here. I know so many people who moved here from other places around the country to work on the hill. And we were all going to do this for a couple years and then go back home. And yet, it was funny when my children finally started school. There were parents in my son's kindergarten class who I had worked with on the hill. And when we when he graduated from high school, there were parents in his graduation class who I had worked with on the hill. So we had all come out here as young twenty somethings and we were gonna work on the hill for a couple years and go back home, and yet we ended up getting married, having children, and 18 years later, we were all at, you know, a graduation ceremony together.

Christine Gunderson [: 00:08:21

So I I think it's both. I think it's transient. Again, given the nature of the military and the state department and all of the agencies. But I also think it's a place where people come to do good things and do good work, and a lot of them end up staying. And the friends that you make when you first move out here in your twenties tend to be this sort of core group of wonderful people that you are still in touch with 20 years later. So it's a it's a cool mix of new people and people who become lifelong friends.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:08:50

Yes. And you're there to do the work brings you there, but there's just the work's endless. So there's still more to be done. Right?

Christine Gunderson [: 00:08:56

Right. Yes. None none of these problems have been fixed in the last 27 years, so no no one's going home.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:09:01

No one's going home.

Christine Gunderson [: 00:09:01

Yeah.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:09:02

We all gotta stay. We all gotta stay. Yes. Yeah. When I was in Boston, I went to graduate school in Boston, and I still have a big affinity for New England and the northeast as well. And when I was there, I remember telling somebody that like Boston was a place that I couldn't see a way to stay, but I didn't wanna leave. And so you can't imagine yourself staying there, but you can't imagine leaving either. And so it was kind of this quandary of, like, where you land.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:09:23

And I never thought of do you see that way, but it sounds like it could be very much the same with those pieces. Is there a certain chapter or portion of the book that sticks with you the most?

Christine Gunderson [: 00:09:34

I think the opening of the book where one of the characters is in target is a chapter that is near and dear to my heart because it actually happened to me. And so there are a lot of things in this book that are episodes from my own life as a mother, but those opening chapters are chapters, experiences that I actually had. So they resonate with me and I've had the good portion to hear from a whole bunch of readers since it came out as an Amazon First Reads pick. And I think it resonates with a lot of other women too. So I would say those that opening chapter is is one that I definitely lived.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:10:11

Oh, I love that. I love when the book have that resonance because that's one of the best things as a writer. Like, you want to be connecting and having that. That is so beautiful. So what is the thing you've learned the most about your writing journey?

Christine Gunderson [: 00:10:24

I think I've learned patience. I'm not a particularly patient person. And I've learned a lot of humility because I did not find instant, instant success when I started doing this. And for a long time I wrote and I didn't wanna tell anybody I wrote because I didn't have anything to show for it. And I sort of thought, well, I'm gonna write this novel. And then after it's been named as an Oprah pick and it's been made into a movie, then maybe I'll tell people that I'm a writer. Right? Because I'll have, you know, success. And instead, I started writing and started getting rejected and wrote another novel and that one got rejected and another one and another one.

Christine Gunderson [: 00:11:02

And I eventually realized that I could either hide this part of who I was and this dream that I had that wasn't coming true, or I could just be honest about it. And so I started blogging with some other writers and I started just being very open about the fact that, okay, I got rejected again today. I don't know if this dream is ever going to come true. This is really hard, but I'm not gonna stop writing. And now, 10 years and 6 books later, I finally have found a little bit of success. And it is published, and it is out there. And I'm so glad that I was honest about it because now I feel like I have this whole community of people who have put their arms around me and have been cheering me on and are so happy to see that it led somewhere. And I've had people say, you know, I I have this hobby that I want to become a job, and I've seen you struggle.

Christine Gunderson [: 00:11:58

And it makes me wanna keep going. So it's taught me a lot of humility, and it has taught me a lot of patience because it took me a really, really long time to finally have a book published with a traditional publisher. And it's not an easy path and it's not for the faint of heart. But I'm so glad I was honest about those struggles, and I'm so glad I kept going.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:12:22

Yes. I am too. I'm so excited for that. And it's so interesting that, really, the people who succeed are the ones that stick with it and keep trying and keep learning what they need to do differently and how they can keep going and how they can keep growing. And so much of it can be, like, the topic intersection, like, what you love and you're passionate about that you're writing about that, like, connects and hits with the right agent, with the right with the right with the right at the right time to have that perfect alchemy for it to come out and have that success and to have the patience for that right moment in those places and everything to come together. It's a lot of patience. It's a lot of, like, honing your craft and having the patience for that stuff to come together. It's it's not it's not easy to have that patience.

Christine Gunderson [: 00:13:05

Yeah. And it's also not something we can control, unfortunately. Yes. You know, I mean, we can work as hard as we can work. And like you said, we can take classes. We can learn. We can have critique partners. We can hear the ugly truth about this book that we thought was perfect that actually has needs to be completely rewritten and starts in the wrong place and has a saggy middle.

Christine Gunderson [: 00:13:24

But we don't actually get to control the process. Like, we row the boat, but we don't get to steer it. And we don't know exactly where it's going, and we don't know exactly when it's gonna get there. And that's Yeah. I think really hard and really, really humbling. But it also takes us places that we might not ever have expected to go. Yes. That's the amazing part.

Christine Gunderson [: 00:13:47

Yeah.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:13:47

Are you rolling on a river that has all these turns that you don't know if you're ever gonna make it to the ocean? Like, is there an ocean at the end of this river? Like, every river leaves the ocean, but is there actually it's like, are we actually gonna, like, dead end? Or in the dead end part of this river, is it actually gonna lead to the ocean? Because I know they should all lead to the ocean, but does this one because

Christine Gunderson [: 00:14:04

And maybe I'm on one of those weird rivers that flows north. I mean, who knows? Right? Who knows? Who knows? Who knows? Why this is so hard.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:14:08

I'm rowing against the current. Right? The current. Exactly. That's why it's taking so long. So, yeah, so even when you think you're staring, even when you're doing it, it's just because that's where the river leads and not because of anything you're doing on the river. So yes. Yes. That's so exciting.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:14:26

I'm thrilled that you are finally getting to have this opportunity. And I love when you guys read the show and as you read her quoting that she was writing in in the pickup line at schools and doing this piece of developing and honing her art and not knowing that that it would come to this opportunity that when I peaked today before getting to, meet with her, that she had over 1600 reviews already on her on her book. And so it's definitely, like, getting to people, and people are getting to read it. And it's definitely finally connecting, and to have that experience is so exciting. So I hope you savor that because you've definitely put in the the time and the effort and the pieces to finally get to a point where you can connect. I'm so excited for that.

Christine Gunderson [: 00:15:06

Thank you. Thank you so much. It's been I think the the emails that I've gotten from readers have been the single greatest part of all this. You know, you write a book, you throw everything you have into it, and you just you don't know. Will other people connect? Will other people relate? And when they do, it's such an amazing, amazing feeling. And it it makes it all worthwhile because that's why we write to connect with other people. So it's magical. Yeah.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:15:31

Yes. Okay. So 2 more questions. 1, what is the best place for people to find

Christine Gunderson [: 00:15:36

you? Okay. My website, www. Christinggunderson.comoramazon, or you can purchase or download the book.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:15:45

Perfect. And we'll have both of those links in the show notes for you. And what is the book or story that has inspired you most either recently or just overall?

Christine Gunderson [: 00:15:54

You know, that is such a great question, and it's so hard to answer because, you know, many of us have loved books our entire lives. But I would say for me, it's Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding. So that book came out when I was like a single person living in DC. It resonated so deeply with me, and it was so funny and so clever. I absolutely loved the way she wrote a book that spoke to the these experiences that so many women were having. I feel like my book is sort of like Bridget Jones Youth Diary for Moms. I I wanted to write a book that spoke to the experiences that so many women have, but I wanted to do it in a way that allows you to laugh and escape. And that's what that book did for me.

Christine Gunderson [: 00:16:47

I reread that book every year. I think Helen Fielding is a comic genius. It's just a book that that it's so honest, and it speaks so honestly and yet with so much humor to these really sometimes deep human experiences. And that's that's why I love that book so much. So and it also, of course, is a Pride and Prejudice style plot woven in, and I'm a huge huge Jane Austen And so to me, it's

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:17:17

Yeah. I was waiting for Jane Austen. I was because of yeah. I was waiting for Jane Austen in there. So I love it that, like, you're you're bit it's this influence by. So it all comes together. Yeah. Yes.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:17:25

Yes.

Christine Gunderson [: 00:17:25

Yes. But Bridget Jones gives you a little pride and prejudice and a lot of humor.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:17:30

So to me,

Christine Gunderson [: 00:17:30

it's a perfect book. A perfect book.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:17:33

I love that. Thank you so much. Congratulations, and thank you for being here to share with us today.

Christine Gunderson [: 00:17:38

Thank you so much for having me. It's been a delight.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:17:43

Thank you for joining us. I hope you take a second to give a stars or a review on your favorite podcasting platform. It really makes a difference in folks being able to find us. We'll be here again next Wednesday. Follow us on Instagram @authorexpresspodcast to see who's coming up next. And don't forget, keep it express, but keep it interesting.