Gina Conroy

Q: Let me start with asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself.
A. I’m a girl with big dreams, never really knowing if they’ll happen, but I keep trying! I guess I’m stubborn or persistent, depending on who you ask. That trait even rolled over into my personal life when I first had three boys, then a girl. Good thing I got my baby girl because that’s one dream I might have had to give up on. Baby girl is now 9 and my oldest is 17. It truly is the best season of my life so far!

Q: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
A. I’ve always known I wanted to be a writer…an actress, a dancer, even an acrobat. LOL! Guess I stuck with the one that came natural to me. I remember discovering the power of words and the freedom and peace of jotting down my private thoughts in a diary when I was about nine. And I’ve kept a journal every since, though nowadays I call it blogging, and it’s not so private.

Q: Could you give us the highlights of your professional writing career including how you got your first writing break?
A. In 1992, I started my first novel, then I had a baby two years later and stopped writing. I didn’t know I could write and raise a family until I found ACFW in 2005. It was then I also discovered there were rules to writing and my first novel didn’t follow any of them! I started learning the craft and struggled with balancing writing with raising a family and homeschooling. I started http://writerinterrupted.com to figure it all out, got to know the person who would later become my agent, and finally, when God thought I was ready, I got the call for my first contract. It about seven years and much sweat and tears!

The short story of my writing break is I was invited into a anthology group by some friends who believed in my writing and wanted to see me published. But the project got rejected, then about two years later, the line was open to what we had originally proposed, so we sent it in and a week later got accepted to Barbour’s Romancing America line.

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release?
Cherry Blossom Capers is a collection of four stories featuring four women who encounter love, danger, and mystery beyond their neighborhood near Washington, D.C. Tara Whitley, assistant chef at the White House, helps FBI agent Jack
Courtland unmask a state-dinner saboteur. Attorney Ciara Turner and her nemesis Daniel
Evans investigate a judge’s murder. Archeologist intern Samantha Steele almost loses her
nerve and children when she and security guard Nick Porter investigate a forgery at Mount Vernon. Coffee-shop owner Susan Holland and builder Vince Martini encounter danger in her late uncle’s mansion.

My novella, Buried Deception, combines my love of mystery and suspense with my fascination with archaeology. I’m going to steal the words from Vickie McDonough, award-winning author of 24 books and novellas, who said this about my novella, “Murder. Thefts of priceless artifacts. An ornery, little boy with a penchant for getting into trouble. Gina Conroy’s fast-paced debut novella has it all and takes readers on an emotional ride. A charming romance winds up this satisfying who-dun-it.”

It’s a fun series of novellas where characters from previous stories have cameos in the others! So if you’re someone who hates to say goodbye to a “friend,” then you’ll enjoy the reunions in Cherry Blossom Capers.

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for Buried Deception?
A: Several years ago when I was homeschooling, we took the kids on a cross-country trip up the east coast. I remember walking through Mount Vernon’s Mansion wondering if all the antiques were real and what would happen if one of them was a forgery? The rest, as they say, is history!

Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?
A: The characters and how they learned to trust and surrender to God and love.

Q: What is your favorite scene/chapter from the book?
A: Any scene with Nick is a favorite of mine. He was so fun to write. But when you get Nick, Samantha, and Cody on the page together, sparks really start to fly!

Q: What inspires you to write?
A. I’m not sure inspires is the correct word, it’s more like what drives me to write? I haven’t a clue! It’s just this need to put words and thoughts on paper. It comes when I have too many thoughts of my own that I need to share, or when I get a character or plot idea that just won’t go away. It also comes when I connect with God on a deeper level and feel he has something he wants to teach me that might also be something someone else needs to learn.

Q: How has being a published novelist differ from your expectations of the profession?
A: Since this is a smaller published fiction work than I expected of my first release (come on we all dream of a three book deal,) I didn’t have many expectations. The process was smooth and painless, (except that I had already added 36,000 words to my original novella after it was rejected the first time, but it was never sold. Then I had to cut it back down to 20,000 words. Yes, it was painful.) Back to my expectations…I knew there’d be a lot more work involved on the publicity end, but I guess I didn’t expect all the time it actually takes. I’m just hoping it pays off!

Q: What advice or tips do you have for writers who are just getting started?
A: Study the craft of writing through books and blogs, find a community who can encourage you and teach you the ropes, and just write! I’m still working on taking my own advice on the last point!

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?
A. I’m working on a WWII Rosie the Riveter novel inspired by grandmother who kicked her no good husband out of her home when the loan sharks came to collect money he owed. She then worked as a Rosie and raised her three children until her youngest was 16. Then she remarried. Her story is such an inspiring one to women of all eras! My agent is shopping it around now.

Q: What is something your readers might be surprised to learn about you?
A. I spent almost a year in Africa on a journalism/missionary internship, and I preached to dozens of bush churches with an interpreter. I’m also pursing another lifelong dream/goal of ballroom dancing.

Q: When you’re not writing what do you like to do?
A. Watch movies and see my children perform, snuggle on the couch with my daughter, go out to eat, travel, and ballroom dance. It’s my new passion, that costs a pretty penny, so I won’t be upset if you bought more than one book!

Q: Anything else you’d like to tell or share with us?
A. Hold on to your dream, whether it’s writing or something else. Now may not be the time for it to manifest, but you can still be learning and growing. Then when you get the opportunity to pursue your passion, you’ll be ready!