By: Kelvin Oliver
T4JYM: Can you share a short testimony with our readers?
RG: I became a Christian when I was five, but it took years to grow into an understanding of it all. I’m still growing The Christian life is so rich and deep, yet at the same time so simple. Every day I learn something new.
T4JYM: What advice would you give to someone interested in publishing their works?
RG: Learn the business. People often times have a romanticized view of writing. It can be that, but there is also the business side of it. Money drives publishing. It even drives Christian publishing. So you must understand that God told me to write this doesn’t fly with publishers. If they think you understand the business side of it, though, they’ll take a second look. The best way to do this is to attend writer’s conferences. A writer’s conference will teach both the business side and the creative side.
T4JYM: Who have been your biggest influences in life? Who have been your biggest influences in your life as a writer?
RG: I’ve had many people influence my life. Sometimes the influences have been negative, but God has used it in a positive way. I suppose my biggest influences as a writer are people I read growing up, because that’s what got me interested in it all. Love Judy Blume, C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, there are so many. Now that I’m a writer, I’m influenced by good writing. Any time I find a good book, I study the daylights out of the writing technique.
T4JYM: What genre type books do you write? Where do you get the ideas of writing your books from?
RG: I write both suspense and comedy, for separate publishers. Where do I get ideas from? That’s impossible to list They come from EVERYWHERE, and I mean EVERYWHERE. Getting the idea is easy, for me. It’s forming it into a marketable story that is challenging.
T4JYM: What is a typical day being at a book signing or doing a school visit like?
RG: Okay, well, remember the romanticized view of authors? One is that book signings include a long line of people waiting to meet you. Maybe if you’re John Grisham. If you’re Rene Gutteridge, you may have a few show up, maybe not. You’re more likely to have a crowd if you serve food, I’ve found out. And sometimes you don’t sell a single book. Book signings are a lot of fun when they go well. But when they don’t, they’re, well, not fun at all. But you do it because that’s what you’re supposed to do. And when they do go well, you’re thankful you did one.
T4JYM: How do you find time to write? Life is busy and time management is hard to do sometimes.
RG: When do you do your best writing and where? It has changed from year to year, depending on the age of my children. I’ve written at midnight, I’ve written in the middle of the day during naps, I’ve written twice a week for 12 hours. Now I’m on a good schedule of getting up and writing two hours in the morning, five days a week. My kids are still small, so I rely on my husband to help a lot I mostly write at home, but I have written in other locations as well. I find it harder to write away from home, like at an airport, because I’m a people watcher, and I always get distracted.
T4JYM: What college did you go to? Did you go to any classes for writing?
RG: I went to Oklahoma City University. I took hours and hours of screenwriting courses.
T4JYM: How often do you write a book and get it published? Do you have any editor that help edit the books and proofread for errors and mistakes?
RG: I can write a book every six months, but working for two publishers, that time line doesn’t always work out perfectly. And yes, I definitely have editors that work on my book. I have between two and four that work on every book.
T4JYM: When you are on your free time from writing, what do you like to do?
RG: Play with my kids, go to the movies, watch DVDs of 24. That’s my favorite show of all time. It just knocked Frasier out of the top spot.
T4JYM: When did you start writing? What kind of writing did you begin with? Do you do any other writing for fun, like journaling, poetry, etc.?
RG: I don’t do any other kind of writing. I started out studying screenwriting, then my professor asked me to try writing a novel. I was against it, but I did it anyway. Glad I listened to him.
T4JYM: What are your next plans for writing? Do you plan to do any more books along the same lines as this book? Will you move on to new writing?
RG: I’ve got several more books under contract. This Fall, Boo Hiss will come out, then in January, My Life as a Doormat. In February, Storm Surge will be out. I will be very busy this Fall and Winter promoting these books.
T4JYM: What is your upcoming book, Boo Hiss about?
RG: It’s about fear of change. The Boo Series follows a group of citizens in Skary, Indiana and how they deal with certain problems. It’s a comedy, always very fun. In this book, Skary, Indiana is on the verge of becoming a suburb, and the town is divided about whether or not it should be one. Oh, and there’s a snake on the loose, too.
T4JYM: Do you have any advice for writers who aren’t yet writers, but want to be?
RG: You must learn the craft. That’s number one. Learn how to write and write well. Go to writer’s conferences, as many as you can. That’s how I got published. I met an editor at a writer’s conference who liked my work.
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