Episode 60: Kristin Contino, author of A House Full of Windsor
Kristin Contino shares the inspiration behind her new release, A HOUSE OF WINDSOR, which reviewers are calling nostalgic, charming, and full of family drama.
Interview Notes:
Debbie Windsor, the main character in the novel, is a huge royal family fan, with a life that somewhat parallels Princess Diana’s ups and downs and a hoarder of royal family souvenirs. Told from dual point of view, her daughter Sarah is an etiquette expert and they both end up on a hoarding reality show. A book folks are calling nostalgic, charming, and full of family drama.
Kristin shares her inspiration; how the book changed in editing, and readers might be surprised to know about Sarah’s love life from earlier versions.
What books would Kristin recommend? She recently finished WHEN WE’RE THIRTY by Casey Dembowski. Kristin describes it as the perfect fun summer read – a romcom set in New York.
Kristin has a book club she runs on Facebook called Royally Good Reads and she is just starting ONCE UPON A ROYAL SUMMER by Teri Wilson @teriwilsonauthor which is about a theme park princess who falls for a single dad who turns out to be a true prince.
Her writing advice is all around the challenges of comparison, rejection, and the value of cheering on your fellow writers. We have a whole conversation about the danger of comparing yourself to someone else’s highlights reel and how the “24 hour publishing deal” or “overnight success” is never that.