River of Thoughts

Christine Royse Niles — Changing the world one word at a time

A New Gift For You

Feature Box

Being a writer can get overwhelming, can’t it?

I’m here to help. The Growing Writer’s Survival Kit offers you an ever-expanding set of tools to get through any roadblock you’re facing.

  • Looking to cut through the chaos? The Next Steps Planning Worksheet will help you through your next project.

  • Ready to launch your book? A Minimalist Guide to Book Launches will cut through the noise and get your work out there.

  • Feeling down? The Secret might encourage you when you hit one of those days when you just plain can’t keep going.

Get your FREE copies (and get notified when Time to Write is released):

Get it now!

Eta Mama, Eta Papa

by Christine | Leave a Comment

Exactly five years ago, we were in Ukraine, three weeks into our five-week adventure for Masha’s adoption. For the next few weeks, I’m posting excerpts and a photo or two from each day. Sometimes funny, and sometimes proof of how naive we were, I hope you’ll enjoy our little trip down memory lane… Friday, 8 June, 2007 – Eta Mama, Eta Papa As I’ve mentioned before, our time with the girls is getting a pretty routine. [At the park] they checked out a teeter totter and a slide you could fry an egg on before settling on a row of four […]

Read More

Five Reasons Why I Work

by Christine | 6 Comments

Work has picked up lately.  More specifically, travel for work has picked up lately. When I’m not on the road, I work from an office in my house.  In my yoga pants. Travel means putting on big-girl clothes like the rest of you do every day.  Makeup.  Shoes. I have to look like a real live human being.  And sit in conference rooms and draw on whiteboards and lead conversations and make decisions.  That takes a lot of effort, and to be honest, some days I wonder if it’s worth it. I wonder why. Last February, I was honored to […]

Read More

The Night The Lights Went Out In Com.bat

by Christine | Leave a Comment

Exactly five years ago, we were in Ukraine, three weeks into our five-week adventure for Masha’s adoption. For the next few weeks, I’m posting excerpts and a photo or two from each day. Sometimes funny, and sometimes proof of how naive we were, I hope you’ll enjoy our little trip down memory lane… Thursday, 7 June, 2007 – The Night The Lights Went Out In Com.bat The cries of a thousand warriors filled the air as darkness enveloped their underground lair. OK, so it was more like about 40 teenage boys hollering when the power went out at Com.bat, the […]

Read More

The Little Top

by Christine | Leave a Comment

Exactly five years ago, we were in Ukraine, three weeks into our five-week adventure for Masha’s adoption. For the next few weeks, I’m posting excerpts and a photo or two from each day. Sometimes funny, and sometimes proof of how naive we were, I hope you’ll enjoy our little trip down memory lane… Wednesday, 6 June, 2007 – The Little Top It dawned on us this morning that our time in Ukraine is almost over; we only have five more days in town. On Monday morning, our 10-day waiting period will be over, and the court decree for our adoption […]

Read More

Garbage Day

by Christine | 2 Comments

Exactly five years ago, we were in Ukraine, three weeks into our five-week adventure for Masha’s adoption. For the next few weeks, I’m posting excerpts and a photo or two from each day. Sometimes funny, and sometimes proof of how naive we were, I hope you’ll enjoy our little trip down memory lane… Tuesday, 5 June, 2007 – Garbage Day This morning, we witnessed one of the strangest aspects of Ukrainian culture we’ve seen to date. There are no dumpsters in/around our apartment building, and it took us some time (and some interesting conversations) to figure out where to throw […]

Read More