While i was 1-clicking the hell out of Amazon Freebies one night, i stumbled across
The Life List.
I had no knowledge of Chrissy Anderson, nor did i read the blurb about the book before snapping up this bargain.
Now i am here to tell you, hand on my heart, it was one of my best 1-clicks ever!
The Life List, and the 2nd book in the trilogy, The Unexpected List (which i purchased as soon as i turned the last page in The Life List!!) have stolen my heart and my mind and they have me waiting in anticipation to see where this story ends up with the upcoming (sometime soon i hope) final installment with The Hope List.
These books have your heart pounding while you watch Chrissy make decisions after decision that leave you feeling like you are watching that kind of car crash that you cannot look away from. Every time i think about these books the heart rate elevates..... still!
I will be doing a review of both The Life List and The Unexpected List soon...
but until they are ready...
Meet Chrissy Anderson, Author and main character of The List Trilogy!
Chrissy Anderson is the author of The Life List and the people, their quirks and the major events of her story are derived from personal life events. She see’s bits and pieces of her checkered past in almost every woman she encounters and she wants to help them, tell them they’re NOT crazy. Chrissy’s choices were stupid and sometimes sleazy, but, unfortunately, not all too uncommon.
Chrissy currently lives in Portland, Oregon, with the love of her life and her beautiful daughter. A former fashion executive, she is now a writer, wife, and mother, who spends her life doing exactly what she always wanted, doting on those she loves.
So before we get to know Chrissy a bit more... check out the book description for The Life List.
Book Description:
The Life List is the ultimate chick lit novel and most of the story is true. It takes place in trendy, suburban northern California during the late ‘90’s with several comical ‘80’s high school flashbacks. Chrissy Anderson, a twenty-eight year old fashion executive, created a seven-point life list at the age of sixteen and she’s been steadily checking off the boxes and mocking the style and life choices of everyone around her ever since. Her life begins to run amuck when she unexpectedly meets a much younger, Leo, who makes her question her “perfect life”.
Chrissy’s lifelong friendships and her marriage are put to the test as she tries to sort out her feelings for Leo. With the help of her brassy, no-nonsense therapist, Dr. Maria, Chrissy learns more about herself than she anticipates. But, it isn’t until the untimely death of her best friend that Chrissy is catapulted into long overdue authenticity and scrambles to correct the mistakes of her past….trying to figure out if it’s Kurt, Leo or both that she has to get rid of to make everything right.
Women of all kinds- twenty-somethings, housewives and superwomen wanna-bes- will all be able to relate to the pressure of constructing the ideal life, only to fall short.
Not everyone will agree with Chrissy Anderson’s decisions, but all will pause as they follow along on her journey to ask, “What would I do if I were her?”
Trailer:
Chrissy has shared with us an interview that she did with a Portland Magazine. Read on to see what is the inspiration behind The List Trilogy!
Interview with Chrissy Anderson
I sat down with author, Chrissy Anderson to learn more about her motivation for writing The Life List. Chrissy’s first book in The List Trilogy introduces us to her life, her best friends, her co-workers and her two loves, Kurt and Leo.
Through death, infidelity, therapy and massive amounts of wine we find Chrissy on the other side of a common dilemma that most women face when asking themselves, did I take the right path in my life? If I didn’t, do I have the courage to change course?
Read on to hear, in her own words, what Chrissy has to say to every woman who faces these questions in her life.
____________________________________________
Chrissy, when did you decide to write "The Life List?" Was there a defining moment where you said 'I have to write a book'? Tell me about it?
It was a month after Kelly died. I was working at a very high stress job, living a very high stress life and missing out on a lot of wonderful things. When I returned home from Kelly’s funeral it was almost impossible to get motivated about anything, let alone work. One morning I woke up at sunrise (super rare for me) and I made a list. I know, I know…but, some things never change! This list was different than any I made before it though. It was a list of the creative projects I always dreamed of tackling, a happy list per se! Some of the things on my happy list were: plant a garden, listen to more loud music, organize my photos, learn how to play the guitar and write a novel about my real life love story- all simple creative stuff I had been putting on hold because life kept getting in the way.
As the sun came up, I remember wondering what might’ve been on Kelly’s happy list. I got so sad thinking about all of the things she never got to do. All of the stuff there was supposed to be time for…one day. Kelly died before that day ever came around. I remember sitting there with a cup of coffee (that moment was the inspiration for The Life List book cover) and I heard Kelly’s voice telling me, “Hey moron! All of that stuff you want to do is available to you if you just decide to do it”. It was so simple…If I just decide to do it! By the end of the day I decided to stop letting life get in the way of really living it. I wrote my resignation letter (as I listened to loud music) and I bought 10 books on how to write a damn good novel. Since that day, I’ve also learned how to play the guitar and I sold my home so that I could buy one with enough land to plant a sizable garden. I can’t grow a vegetable to save my life, but that’s okay. Kelly already saved it.
What 3 words would you use to describe your book?
Relatable
Fateful
Forgiving
Your readers have been connecting with your story. If you could go back to when you were 16 and tell yourself one key learning message that would have helped you avoid some of the mistakes you made - what would that message be? Do you think your 16-year old self would hear the message?
The message would be: If you aren’t honest about your dreams and/or don’t share the same life’s desires as your partner, you’ll either…
1) never survive as a couple or
2) one or both of you will live a pretty miserable life.
Sure, dreams change, but I think the fundamentals of them stay the same. I think it’s our common fundamentals that keep us happy as a couple. The common fundamentals are what keep us in love…they sure help with the sex, too! And no, I would NOT have heard that message when I was sixteen!
Tell me about your favorite place in "Freakmont"? List some places you miss that others would enjoy discovering. What are your favorite places in the area where the book takes place? The Lafayette Reservoir? Others?
I call Fremont “Freakmont” for a reason, but if I had to name a favorite place/thing about the city it would have to be my old high school, American (go Eagles!). Granted so much has changed since I went there, but in my mind I can still feel the magic of spirit week, the football games, cheerleading and first kisses. God bless the 80’s, right?
Coincidentally, a few months ago I was in Moraga. I drove past Donald Drive, the street where Leo’s apartment was and my heart literally skipped a beat. I also went to my old cottage in Lafayette and threw some rocks into the creek behind it. I didn’t drive by my old home in Danville though. It still really bothers me.
Sadly, Buckley’s (the place where I met Leo) has been closed for years. Hmmmm, I would have to say my absolute favorite, good memory place to go in the Bay Area is The Bistro at the Lafayette Park hotel. Many, many drinks were poured for me there. A big shout out to my boy, Nadar! He always treated me so good!!!! I’ve lived in Portland, Oregon for 8 years now, but whenever I get back to Lafayette, I stop into The Bistro for a martini…or three.
I understand the journey is not over and that you're writing a sequel to "The Life List". Can you give us a quick idea of what new lesson Chrissy needs to learn?
It’s out! In the second installment in the trilogy, The Unexpected List, Chrissy strives to be completely honest. Surprisingly, she does a good job, but unfortunately, it’s to her disadvantage. The ending is a shocker and I can almost hear readers shouting at her to LIE! Something they were yelling at her to STOP doing in The Life List. Of course she has a new lesson to learn in the last book of the trilogy- The Hope List, but I won’t give it away just yet. All I can say is, Chrissy sure grows a lot from where she started in the beginning of The Life List, when she’s just twenty-eight, to the end of The Hope List when she’s forty-four.
Do you think you can stay 'best friends forever' with people you knew in High School? Should you?
I definitely think you can, but I don’t think you should. I think it limits your growth. There’s a lot of judgment that can come from a woman you’ve known your whole life. I prefer to have several besties. I have a professional best friend, the one I can always talk strategy and ideas with- she makes me a better person. I have my girl’s night out best friend, the one who I can count on for a real good time- she makes me relax and feel sane. And, I have my soul searching best friend, the one who lets me play good angel vs. bad angel without any judgment (that’d be Courtney).
What was your low point while writing the book? Did you ever 'give up'? What got you restarted?
Your high point?
There were soooooo many low points! They (whoever “they” are) say writing is a “craft” and the ones who do it often and do it well almost make you feel foolish for jumping into the scene. They have like, masters degrees in English from fancy schools and they write for literary journals and stuff! I’m about as opposite of that as you can get, but in my heart I knew I had a relatable story so I had to try.
A year into the first draft of The Life List, I deleted the entire manuscript and EMPTIED my recycle bin! Doesn’t get any lower than that! But, I kept thinking about Francesca (my beloved fictitious friend from The Bridges of Madison County who I refer to a lot in my novels) and how dangerously close I came to becoming her. I knew I had to do something to make women pause and ask themselves “is this the life I really want?” before it’s too late. And I also wanted to give them the courage to do something about it if it wasn’t. So, I started over.
Then, the second draft was found to be too unbelievable by focus groups! You see, in reality, two of Chrissy’s best friends were actually diagnosed with cancer and on the exact same day and that’s how I originally wrote the story. It is pretty unbelievable though, right!? Anyway, although it was true, readers found the cancer stuff to be too contrived, so I had to make major edits. It was really hard for me to change the storyline and rewrite one of my sick friends as a happy and healthy character when in reality she was fighting for her life just like the other one. But, the focus groups were right and the changes were for the better. If it took 20,000 galley edits and some pride swallowing to finish The Life List, so be it.
So far, the feedback tells me it was worth it.
My high point? Hmmmm, I experience a high point almost every day now with the emails and facebook posts from all of the mini-Chrissy’s out there! It feels fantastic to tell women who are experiencing the same struggles as I did that they’re NOT CRAZY! It’s like we’re starting our own little club called, The Listers! Hope it grows!!
If you could see one person, alive or dead, reading your book, who would it be?
Dead?
Duh! Kelly. I went to a psychic/medium a few months ago and allegedly Kelly came forward. The psychic said she was giggling and that her message to me was “You always did reach for the stars. Don’t give up now!” The whole thing felt authentic, although in life Kelly would’ve said something more like, “A romance novel? Can’t you just be normal?”
Alive? Easy cheesy! Rita Wilson. She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s my Dr. Maria when The Life List becomes a movie. Every time my cell phone rings and it’s a Los Angeles prefix my heart literally skips a beat! I have a weird feeling that one day I’ll hear her voice on the other end of the line.
What’s the #1 thing you want people to feel after reading your book?
Validated
You cover some heavy topics in your book. In fact, one in particular, is very controversial - teen abortion. How did you prepare for writing that piece of the book? What message do you want your readers to take away from reading about that experience?
The chapter is appropriately titled SINKING. There’s an abortion clinic near where I live and the staff let me hang out in the waiting room for a week. To say it brought back a lot of bad memories is an understatement. I sat in that waiting room and studied everyone that came in and out. Most days I’d just close my eyes and listen and smell. It was intense. If I had enough money I would’ve paid every single girl whatever she wanted just to give birth and give the baby to me.
It’s hard because I have two perspectives. The one of a scared young girl who wants the mistake to go away and the one of a grown woman who feels incredibly sorry for the sinking feeling she’ll carry with her for the rest of her life. I don’t share the perspective of the girls who get abortions and don’t give a crap about their choice. Those ones repulse me. Outside of the book I don’t really like to talk about the choice I made. As it should be, it’s an uncomfortable subject.
I wrote SINKING over the course of a week at a very crowded Starbucks so that I wouldn’t break down and I’ve only re-read it twice. At the time I wrote it, I felt very strongly about having it in the book- I thought it rationalized why Chrissy would stay with Kurt for as long as she did. But, when the book was about to go to print, I got scared and pulled it. But, my editor talked me off of the ledge and reminded me of how important and human the chapter is. I guess the message I want readers to take away from SINKING is that almost everyone has a deep dark secret that haunts them every single day and in a lot of instances that secret makes them stuck. Most people, no matter how friendly and outgoing, are hurting from a past mistake. I’m here for them, in confidence, if they want to talk about it.
I've heard you say you still talk to Kelly. What do you say to her in the quiet moments when no one else is listening? What do you wish she could say back to you?
I talk to Kelly every single day when I clasp on a certain bracelet. Usually I’m just bitching about something that’s bothering me. It’s exactly what I would do if she were still alive! I’m super impatient about this book stuff and I want to fast track the whole process. Kelly talks to me in my dreams and tries to calm me down…she forces me to enjoy every step of the process and reminds me that I did this for fun so I better have a little!
She sends me messages all of the time too. For instance, I’m deathly afraid of flying and just recently had to get on a plane. As I clasped on my bracelet in the morning I asked Kelly for a sign that I’d land safely. No kidding…every single woman I encountered prior to boarding that airplane was named Kelly- my taxi driver, the airline ticket agent, the flight attendant! I was like “Alright already…I get it! I’ll be okay!” I think all spirits try to communicate with the living. It’s up to us to be open to the idea and listen.
What lesson did your relationship with "Slutty Co-Worker" teach you?
I LOVE that woman! Funny thing is- she’s the only character in The List trilogy who isn’t based on just one person. Slutty co-worker is a morph of three women in my life at the time I met Leo. I’d give anything to have a real person like her in my life! But, I do manage to learn from Slutty Co-worker every time I write about her. Mostly she reminds me to not care what everyone else thinks. Yes, despite all of my therapy, I still need to be reminded on that.
If that has you more than a little curious about The List Trilogy, grab the links below to find out more. I promise you, as hard as some of the lessons Chrissy learns are; and as much as her choices may have you being judgmental and revisiting your own values,
this is a journey that you will not be sorry you went on with Chrissy!
Links:
To purchase The Life List, click here
To find out what Chrissy's up to, visit Facebook
For more on Chrissy Anderson and The List Trilogy, visit Ask Chrissy
No comments:
Post a Comment