Winner of the 2010 Golden Heart for Best Inspirational Manuscript, C.J. Chase likes to make her characters solve mysteries, wrestle with the difficult issues of life and faith, and fall in love. All wrapped up with a happy ending, of course.

Like a character in one of her novels, C.J. took a circuitous route to her own happy ending as an author. Armed with a degree in statistics, she began a promising career in information technology. But after coworkers discovered she was a member of that rare species--a computer programmer who could also craft a grammatically-correct sentence--she spent more time writing computer manuals than computer code. Leaving the corporate world to stay home with her children, C.J. quickly learned she did not possess the housekeeping gene, so she decided to take the advice of her ninth grade English teacher and write articles and stories people actually wanted to read.

C.J. lives in the swamps of Southeastern Virginia with her handsome husband, active sons, one kinetic sheltie, and an ever-increasing number of chickens. When she is not writing, you will find her gardening, watching old movies, playing classical piano (badly) or teaching a special needs Sunday School class.

You can visit her cyber-home (where the floors are always clean) at www.cjchasebooks.com

   

2011 Golden Heart Finalists	Vivi Andrews	Elizabeth Baldwin	Vanessa Barneveld
Anne Barton	Elisa Beatty	Anne Marie Becker	Tina Joyce Beckett
Liz Bemis	Shea Berkley	Jennifer Bray-Weber	Amanda Brice
Lindsey Brookes	Shoshana Brown	C.J. Chase	Shelley Coriell
Louisa Cornell	Laurie DeSalvo	Elizabeth Devlin	Sally Eggert
Sharon Fisher	Kelly Fitzpatrick	Jacqueline Floyd	Addison Fox
Katie Graykowski	Yvonne Harris	Elise Hayes	Rita Henuber
Tamara Hogan	Kim Howe	Jacqui Jacobi	Cara Lynn James
Darynda Jones	Autumn Jordon	Cynthia Justlin	Laurie Kellogg
Diane Kelly	Elizabeth Langston	Kim Law	Diana Layne
Gabriela Lessa	Jeannie Lin	June Love	Gwynlyn MacKenzie
Heather McCollum	Virginia McCullough	Jamie Michele	L.A. Mitchell
Laura Navarre	Kate Parker	Bev Pettersen	Hope Ramsay
Sara Ramsey	Kelly Ann Riley	Cate Rowan	Jenna Stuart
Joan Swan	Tatia Talbot	Liz Talley	Kayla Westra
Danniele Worsham

Special Guest: Editor Emily Rodmell

Posted by C.J. Chase Oct 28 2011, 12:01 am in editors, guest interview, Meet the Editor

As regular Ruby readers know, we sometimes have “Friday Free for All” Q & A’s here on the blog. Today we have a special guest to answer questions — Harlequin Love Inspired editor Emily Rodmell. And in addition to graciously fielding your questions, she has brought along a stack of prizes we’re be awarding to lucky commenters. Isn’t this a fantastic way to enter a weekend?

97 Comments

Ruby Release: Redeeming the Rogue

Posted by C.J. Chase Aug 5 2011, 12:01 am in author interview, Ruby Release

One of the most exciting days for a debut author—after the CALL and the first check—is the day the book goes up on the online bookstore websites for pre-order. Now some of the Rubies and Ruby readers are old hands at this book publishing stuff, but Redeeming the Rogue is my first book, so I [...]

68 Comments

What Color Is Your Book?

Posted by C.J. Chase Jul 7 2011, 12:01 am in color, mood, theme, writing

“Hey, CJ, what’s your favorite color?” A simple question with an obvious answer: green. For as long as I can remember, my favorite color has been green. When other girls had pink bedrooms, I chose green. As I type this, I’m wearing a green shirt. (But not the same green shirt I first put on [...]

50 Comments

Getting the Conference Appointment You REALLY Want

Posted by C.J. Chase May 23 2011, 12:01 am in conference, Networking, perseverance, submission tips

Conference horror stories. We’ve all heard a few, or more. Remember the one about the overly-eager writer who slipped her manuscript under the bathroom stall and interrupted a poor editor’s private time? Or was it an agent? I did a quick Internet search on writer+manuscript+conference+bathroom and got over 500,000 hits. Seems more than one writer [...]

24 Comments

Sisterhood

Posted by C.J. Chase Jan 25 2011, 12:01 am in motivation, Networking, romance community, writer's life

Sometimes I feel so incredibly blessed to be a writer during the information age. Can you imagine typing the 561,996-word Atlas Shrugged on a manual typewriter? Or worse, handwriting all 560,391 words of Les Misérables? But even more than the easy cut-and-paste of modern word processors, I’m thankful for the instant communication and the unexpected [...]

38 Comments

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