“Reading is a passion of mine, and when I find myself identifying with the characters, anxious to get to the next page to find answers to my questions, I know I’m into a good book! The daughter-mother-grandmother theme in Ruby Among Us pulled me in. Wonderful story-telling.” Jordin Sparks

Carrie:  What motivated you to write Ruby Among Us?

Tina:  I was living as a single mom in Wyoming and feeling particularly down about my situation in life when I began to think about my daughter and worry about what would happen to her if I were to die while she was still young. I asked myself the question, “What would she be told about me?”

And then like a typical writer, I expanded my questions to the hypothetical. “What if someone decided to take her away from everything that has to do with me? How would she feel? Would she try to find out about me?” And I sensed she would, so I typed out what amounted to a few paragraphs of fiction, or maybe a few pages, I can’t remember, and then I called it Ruby Among Us and closed the file. It wasn’t until I later that I pulled that file back out and it turned into a book.

Carrie:  Give us an idea of what Ruby Among Us is about.

Tina:  In Ruby Among Us, the desire of Lucy’s heart is to know everything she can about her mother, Ruby. If only her grandmother, Kitty, wouldn’t hide the truths that Lucy so desperately needs to know, keeping them both imprisoned in a past that Lucy doesn’t even understand. Why is it so important for Kitty to divulge some secrets, but keep others hidden away? Lucy soon learns that Kitty has been keeping secrets long before Lucy ever came along – secrets that have everything to do with Ruby and more. That’s why the key that unlocks ones future sometimes lies in someone else’s past.

Carrie:  What’s your favorite scene from the book?

Tina:  I have to say that one of my favorite scenes is in Chapter Two (on page 16) when a young Lucy is playing paper dolls with her mother, Ruby. My editor really liked that scene and seemed very touched by the tenderness of that memory for Lucy.

All of my favorite scenes are of Ruby and Lucy together when Ruby was alive and Lucy was very young. That single mom/daughter relationship is so very real to me since I have been down that road with my own daughter before I met my husband, Albert.

Carrie:  What authors influenced your writing?

Tina:  Every author I’ve ever read before writing Ruby Among Us has probably influenced my writing in some way. I’m a book person rather than favorite author person. Some of the books I read and loved before writing Ruby Among Us included The Hundred Secret Senses, The Secret Life of Bees, Jane Eyre, Gone With the Wind, The Shell Seekers, Madame Bovary, and The Mark of the Lion Series, to name only a few. I guess the traits all of those books have in common are probably a strong sense of, or desire for, family connections and the search for redemption.

Carrie:  Tell us about your writing process. Do you have any rituals?

Tina:  I guess you could say I am more of an organic writer. I write in successive drafts, which can be time consuming, but it works for me. This just means that later I will have to create an outline to give to my editor or publisher instead of before. I like to let the story unfold rather than planning it out on paper.  As for rituals, I have to have music, a quiet house, and something hot to drink nearby. As long it’s not too loud, I find the flow of my writing sort of moves with the music. Some days I sit down to write and I just can’t think of anything, but then I realize I forgot to turn on iTunes!

Carrie:  What is the primary message you’d like your readers to take away from this book?

Tina:  First and foremost, Ruby Among Us is about mothers, daughters and the secrets that bind their hearts together. It’s about what happens when loved ones keep secrets and what can happen if the secrets are ultimately told. On another level it’s also a very spiritual story about grace, faith and redeeming love in the lives of the three women in the story.

Carrie:  You chose to set Ruby Among Us in California—San Francisco, Sacramento and the wine country. Why was this an important choice for you and for the story?

Tina:  It was a natural choice because I spent quite a bit of time in that area during the time that I lived and attended school in Sacramento. I traveled through the Sonoma Valley every other weekend to visit family friends in Santa Rosa and the scenery and the rich heritage of the community just grew on me. It’s a wonderful place. It just fits.

Carrie:  Would you be willing to share your biggest challenge/failure and how it changed your life? How about your biggest success, personal and/or professional and how it affected your perspective?

Tina:  I can say that learning to wait on the world of publishing has been a good lesson for me. Readers don’t often hear about this, but publishing moves on a completely different clock than the rest of the world. In one way, they are fast because they are often working a few years into the future on titles and plans for their readers. In another sense, publishing moves very slowly in that it takes time to publish a book once it has been turned in.

After taking what seem like long agonizing months to write a book and find a publisher, this part can seem slow for the author, but then all of a sudden the book is out on the shelf and you wish you could take it back and make it better. At least that’s how I feel. I’ve really come to respect the process publishers go through to bring good books to readers. It makes me feel even more grateful to be a part of it.

Carrie:  What is your favorite turn of phrase or word picture, in literature or movie.

Tina:  “After all, the richest source of my fiction does come from life as I have misunderstood it – its contradictions, its unanswerable questions, its unlikely twists and turns.” -Amy Tan, from The Opposite of Fate

Carrie:  What are you reading now?

Tina:  I am currently reading The Sister, by Poppy Adams, When the Soul Mends, by Cindy Woodsmall, and my daughter and I are reading Judy Moody Goes to College, by Megan McDonald. The next book on my list is Kristin Billerbeck’s newest novel called Back to Life. I love her books.

A bit about Tina Forkner:
Tina Ann Forkner writes fiction that focuses on the intricacies and spirituality of faith in family relationships. She graduated with honors from CSU Sacramento before settling in Wyoming where she lives with her husband and their three children. She stays busy serving on the Laramie County Library Foundation Board of Directors and also enjoys volunteering with local Mothers of Preschoolers groups, gardening, and spending time outdoors with her family. Tina’s next novel, The Rose House, releases in 2009.

Check out Tina’s Website! 
Click HERE to read an excerpt of Ruby Among Us 

To enter to win a free copy of Ruby Among Us, leave a comment below or call 206–309–7318 ~ A winner will be drawn and announced October 15th.