Gail Gaymer Martin Intervew

Q: Let me start with asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself.
A. I was raised in Michigan, but moved to Sedona, Arizona three years ago. I received a master’s degree in counseling and taught for nine years as a teacher and then became a counselor for 23 years. During this time I was writing articles for magazines using my counseling degree and experience. In 1989, I realized that my dream was to write novels and I began writing and sold my first novel in a year to Barbour Publishing after a number of novels with them, I submitted to Love Inspired and wrote for them until 2016 when I decided to work for Winged Publications.

Q: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
A. My third grade teacher wrote “Gail is a good writer” on my report card. At that time I was writing poetry. I began also to write stories modeling the Nancy Drew series and I was driven more and more to how much I loved creating stories.

Q: Could you give us the highlights of your professional writing career including how you got your first writing break?
A. As mentioned, I started writing poetry as a child and even worked writing articles as a teen for a county newspaper and a local paper writing school and teen news. After high school, I attend college with a journalist major and then changed to an English and public speaking teacher. By then I began freelance writing, using my counseling background. I wrote for parent and teen magazines on a variety of issues. Being a success with that, I started submitting children’s short stores and articles for children’s magazines and sold them. Next I wrote adult short stories and also sold them. It was then I realized that fiction was something I wanted to pursue. I joined a couple of writers’ groups, read everything I could about writing and got involved with local writers. Within a year, I had made contact online with some amazing writers, and I submitted my first novel that was rejected over and over. But one day I received a rejection from Karen Ball with a long letter, telling me that I would be an excellent writer but I needed to learn a few things, one being pacing. I was grateful and I did work on pacing and after reworking that novel, I finally sold it to Barbour Publishing. From that time on, I sold my novels to them, and then submitted to Love Inspired and sold there too. I’ve never had over 80 novels published and many of them have won numerous awards

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release, Secrets at Rose Arbor?
A: This book is a romance with some suspense. Discontent and penitent, Susan returns to her childhood home in Louisiana to make amends with her mother, to see her mentor, Libby and to re-evaluate her life, but instead of solace, her heart tangles with Justin Robard, facing his aunt Libby’s recent death which affects both their lives. But Susan finds purpose helping Justin keep the inherited plantation home tied to the conditions of his aunt’s will, and in the process, she learns a secret that will shock Justin and change his life, if she has the courage to tell him the secret that could set him free.

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for Secrets at Rose Arbor?
A: A few years ago, my husband and I stayed at a plantation house in Natchez that was turned into a bed and breakfast. The house captured my imagination as we enjoyed our time there, especially sitting on the back gallery and enjoying the rose arbor and other flowers. In our room, we found some very old money hidden in the lining of a wooden box and we showed the B & B manager. The incident triggered ideas in my mind and not long ago, the experience returned in my mind as a novel began to form.

Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?
A: The novel, though a romance, has a bit of suspense with a secret that is startling and once revealed, the secrets puts the heroine into a bad situation. I hope that this romance with a twist and the lovely setting will be remembered by the readers.

Q: What inspires you to write?
A. As I mentioned early, I began writing as a young child. Creativity has been part of my life, and I often experience things that almost become a movie in my memory. I have always used poetry and a way to express and deal with emotions, and my counseling background has naturally allowed me to analyze characterization. Writing is a natural.

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?
A. Before I wrote my latest work, Secrets at Rose Arbor, I had just written two novels, Love in the Air and Sedona Sunset focused on horse ranchers, a very new topic for me until I moved west. I think I’m ready to work on an idea I’ve had for a long time which is a mystery set on a college campus.

Q: When you’re not writing what do you like to do?
A. Music has always been an important part of my life. I played piano and handbells since my husband is the director, but my true love is singing. I have sung in quality music groups requiring auditions in Michigan, Twelfth Night Singers, Detroit Luther Singers – and I sang in an auditioned group in college. I have always sung in church choirs and have been a soloist for many years. I am also an avid reader, and though writing takes most of my time, I’ve begun giving myself time to read again, and enjoying many novelists that I have admired over the years.