Anne: It's been a while since I've done an author interview, but I've been so impressed with this lady's two novels about a cancer patient that I asked her for one. I know she must be really busy, but she agreed.
Thanks, Christine. I really appreciate you taking the time to share with us. After reading the very thorough account of the things the heroine was going through with her treatments, my curiosity was set into high gear. I wondered several times through the two books if you have had cancer yourself, or you have had relatives with the disease.
Christine: I have not personally had cancer although we have a long family history of it. I have had a close friend in Taiwan (my age) who had four rounds of cancer before going home to Jesus. I also interviewed a neighbour who had just finished chemotherapy and radiotherapy for breast cancer. Some of the best quotes in the book are hers. An author has to research many things and there are forums online which I read and learned a lot from. A breast cancer specialist also checked my manuscript. I made some changes for the novel, like having one specialist instead of several, but the aim was to be as accurate as possible.
Anne: Right. I know our books are fiction, but even so, details need to be accurate to be believable, and yours definitely fit that category. I read that you are an Australian. Since my readers are from the US and a few other countries, could you tell us what you love most about your native country?
Christine: I am an Australian but it is a little more complicated that that. 80% of my life is lived in Taiwan where I'm a missionary. When I'm in Australia I love the lack of pollution and the beauty. I also love the variety of weather.
Anne: Australia is high on my list of "Someday I'd like to visit .... Now, every author seems to have a story or two about how he or she got started writing. Care to share?
Christine: I am a very reluctant novelist. I had written non-fiction and knew that fiction would be much more difficult. God had to give me the ideas and then push me for more than five years before I was willing to obey. The final push was reading one of Francine Rivers biblical fiction novellas and suddenly thinking, "That's how you practice. You're a Bible storyteller already, write a biblical novel for practice." I wrote two practice novels and then took four years to write and edit 'Grace in strange disguise'.
Anne: Wow--four years! But I could tell the care you put into the two I've read. Just one more story, please? What made you decide to be a Christ follower?
Christine: I had the privilege of being raised in a missionary family, so it was hard to avoid the Bible. Mum and Dad are prayerful people with a practical faith, and that must have had an impact.
I was home from boarding school (part of being a missionary in those days was sending children overseas) and feeling especially miserable from a guilty conscience. My mother and I were doing the dishes, and she said, "Is your heart feeling like this dirty plate?"
I nodded.
She then plunged the plate into the water and washed it clean. "Would you like Jesus to wash you clean like that? You can ask him to forgive you."
I used to be embarrassed at my 'simple' testimony but now love it because many people come to Jesus is a simple way and it doesn't take a wonderful evangelist to do it either.
Anne: True. I have a lot of friends who are deep-dyed Christians, but they don't remember the experience. So, thank you so much for your time, Christine. People, if you haven't read Christine Dillon's novels, Grace in Strange Disguise and Grace in the Shadows, I really, really do highly recommend them. The draft of the third in the series is finished, and she'll be starting the long editing process in about a week, so I'm really hoping to see this one out within a few months. I don't recommend a lot of self-pubbed authors, but this lady is one of the best.
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