Please welcome author Gloria Repp
BIO
Adventure, mystery, and wild creatures all play a part in Gloria Repp’s many books for children. She grew up in the Hawaiian Islands and the Pacific Northwest, and it was there she learned a love for wilderness that pervades her stories. Over the years, experiences gained from raising three children, teaching school, and editing have made useful contributions to her work.
She has happily transitioned into Indie Publishing, and for research, she takes frequent trips to explore the forests in New Jersey’s beautiful Pine Barrens. She just published a novel set in the Pine Barrens, The Forever Stone, and she is plotting the fourth story in her frog-fiction for young readers, Tales of Friendship Bog.
About the book
A determined young widow . . .
“Don’t bury yourself in that wilderness!” her relatives say. “Even though you’re a widow, you’re still young.”
No matter what they think, Madeleine decides to go. She’ll help her aunt restore the old house; she’ll sign up for an online baking course; and she’ll bury–yes, bury–those terrible memories. ”From now on,” she tells herself, “I’m going to be strong and independent.”
Her plan seems to be working, except for the panic attacks, until she has to deflect the attentions of two men.
The doctor, who has a fire-scarred past, is not upset by her panic attacks and knows he can help her to heal. The writer, who conceals more than one secret, admires her spirit and is certain that she needs him.
God uses both men and her father’s gift of a floral paperweight to remind her of His enduring “forever love,” and as she yields to Him, she finds the courage to take a new and challenging path.
Interview
What is your writing process? Do you have a ritual?
I have an office with a door that shuts, a favorite chair, and a preference for early mornings. I write best when those three are aligned, but I really don’t have a writing ritual.
Do you have a favorite tech gadget?
My favorite tech gadget is shaped like a long, slender cylinder and is light enough to hold in one hand. It has a piece of synthetic rubber embedded at one end and a graphite rod that protrudes from the other end. By means of an ingenious mechanism, pressing on the rubber piece advances the graphite as needed. I could not do without my automatic pencil.
In keeping with the Saint Valentines Day theme of the month, do you have a personal love story?
I was only a freshman, a foreigner from Canada, just arrived at college in South Carolina. He was an upperclassman, an officer on the Council, and his eyes were very blue. Would I like to try out the ice cream at Velvet Freeze? Yes, I would. The school year passed quickly, enlivened by many outings and dates, and when it ended, I went off to a summer job and so did he.
My father declared that I could not return to that college: “It’s too far. You’re too young to be in love. That boy’s too religious.” I stormed and cried, but since I was still a minor, he threatened to have me arrested at the border if I ran off on my own. So I transferred to the local university and he went back to college in South Carolina, and . . . the letters started arriving. One letter every day, day after day after day. Writing didn’t come as easily to him as to me, but he wrote GLORIA on a time-slot in his study schedule and kept at it. I finished my university work and began teaching school. He finished college, went home, and then began graduate work at a school in Illinois. The letters flew from South Carolina to British Columbia; from New Jersey to British Columbia; from Illinois to British Columbia, and back.
Four years passed, and then I was free to take courses at his college in Illinois. The letters stopped, but we continued. Reader, I married him.
Are you writing now?
Yes. Each day I write as much as I can on the fourth book in the Friendship Bog series; I’m also plotting the fifth through seventh books as well as researching my next novel.
How do you juggle writing and promoting?
I write in the mornings and try to get a few items done each afternoon from the endless list of marketing tasks and opportunities. I never feel as if I’m on top of the marketing, but I’ve learned that I need to put the writing first or it won’t happen.
Favorite quote or Verse?
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26
For more information on Gloria and her books please visit her website:
