Gina Holder Interview

Q: Let me start with asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself.
A. I’m a stay-at-home mom. I live in Colorado with my husband and daughter. My husband and I have been married for twelve years. I homeschool my daughter. I love reading Christian fiction. I also love music. I play the piano and organ, and love to sing. I’ve lived in 6 states and have visited 43 states and 14 countries on four continents.

Q: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
A. I first knew I wanted to write when I was around the age of twelve. I fell in love with Anne of Green Gables and I wanted to be an author just like her. I started writing short stories and by the age of 15, I began writing my first novel. My second attempt at a novel at age 18, eventually became my debut novel, Whither Shall I Go? released in 2017, 15 years later.

Q: Could you give us the highlights of your professional writing career including how you got your first writing break?
A. I’m an independently published author, so, I guess you could say I got my first writing break when I decided to grab this thing by the horns and make my dreams come true. As a young adult, I wrote mostly non-fiction articles for a Christian girls’ newsletter and for an online website, but my heart was always to write fiction. During that time, I graduated from a two-year writing program and a three-year Bible program, but I set my dreams aside when I got married and started a family. In the fall of 2014, I began writing again and with a lot of challenging work and persistent study I finally saw my dream become a reality.

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release No Greater Love?
A: No Greater Love is the story of a former thief searching for her birth mother and a police officer searching for a thief. Paige McDonald find an inscription in a hidden Bible and the words send her on a journey of personal discovery. She arrives in the town of Whitman at the same time a string of robberies and threats against the mayor have the local police on edge. Her sudden appearance makes her the subject of much suspicion from both the locals and the police. Patrol Officer Hamilton Bryant lost a good friend in the line of duty and has swore off marriage, but he can’t help being both suspicious and attracted to the newcomer. It will be up to him to both prove Paige’s innocence and find the real criminals before someone gets hurt.

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for No Greater Love?
A: My inspiration began with Romans 5 verses 7 and 8. I wanted to tell the story of someone who felt like they were unworthy of anyone’s love because of their past. The particulars of the story came from both news articles I’d read over the years and some personal experience. The book is dedicated to a childhood friend of mine, a US Marine who was killed in Afghanistan in 2010. I used my friend’s story as part of the book to fuel Hamilton’s desire to remain single.

Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?
A: What I hope readers take away from this story is that there is no greater love than the love that God has for his creation. He doesn’t love us because we’re worthy of his love, he loves us in all our unworthiness.

Q: What inspires you to write?
A. My inspiration comes from the Scriptures. My heart’s desire is to share the heart of God with readers in both an entertaining and relatable way. I believe principles from God’s word can be shared through fiction in a way that is neither intimidating nor preachy, and readers can be touched on a spiritual level by the struggles and trials that the characters experience.

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?
A. I am currently writing Forgiven Again, book two of my Shadows Over Whitman series. This book will continue the unresolved conflicts from book one, No Greater Love. Forgiven Again will focus on Whitman Mayor Kathleen Phillips and her campaign to be governor of Oregon, as well as her personal relationships with her family and high school sweetheart.

Q: When you’re not writing what do you like to do?
A. I’m a book blogger, I love reading both for review and for pleasure. I also love watching movies with my daughter and with my husband.