Interview with Gena Webb, Author of The Write Decision

What can you tell us about your new release, The Write Decision?

It’s the sequel to Finding Miss Write, the 1st novel in The Misadventures of Miss Write series. Most of it takes place in a courtroom, because the heroine, author Carla Williams, has been selected for jury duty. She initially was thrilled, thinking it would be a good research opportunity, but things quickly took an ugly turn. I had someone describe it as a roller coaster of emotions. I think that pretty much sums it up.

What or who inspired you to become an author?

Good question. I started reading at a very early age, and my summer vacations from elementary school found me either climbing a tree or reading a book. Occasionally, reading a book in a tree. Books take you to other worlds, normally much more glamorous than the one you live in. That’s where my love of words started, and eventually I switched from reading to writing. I’ve been writing most of my life and was always satisfied being a writer and not a published author, but always wanted to see my name on the front cover of a novel. And so, I started that journey.

What’s on your top 5 list for the best books you’ve ever read?

Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell. (How can any little girl not want to be Scarlett and loved by Rhett?)
Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach. (Not sure why, but I love that book!)
The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam. (I won a copy of this from my H. S. English teacher for memorizing more Shakespeare than anyone in the class.)
A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens. (“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” One of the greatest opening lines I’ve ever read.)
The Holy Bible. (All the action, suspense, romance, life lessons you could ever want, all in one book. Preferably in the King James Version, because it has beautiful, poetic wording.)

Say you’re the host of a literary talk show. Who would be your first guest?

Well, since it can’t be Abraham Lincoln or Martin Luther King, my two personal heroes, I’d have to say Jane Friedman. Her advice is always spot-on. And my first question would be: How does a 1st time author find a publisher willing to take a chance? That’s the hardest part of writing and the question every new author wants an answer to. My publisher, Journey Fiction, was an answer to a prayer. (Or several prayers.)

What’s your favorite thing about writing?

Getting an e-mail from someone asking when the next novel will be available because they’ve run out of anything to read. In other words, knowing that someone can lose themselves in a world you created.

What is a typical day like for you?

Sleep, eat, write. Sometimes eat and write at the same time. And occasionally, just occasionally, falling asleep in front of the laptop with one hand on the keyboard and a half-eaten cookie in the other. I’m a night owl, so I write all night (literally) while the hubby sleeps. Then I sleep while he reads my draft from the previous night and does whatever it is he does during the day. I find it so much easier to be creative when it’s just me pounding a keyboard while listening to a cat purring on the back of the recliner.

What scene in The Write Decision was your favorite to write?

There’s one scene describing a railroad trestle. I love that one, because it’s taken from real life. Like most authors, something in my life becomes the inspiration for a novel. The Write Decision took form when I sat on a jury many years ago. I made notes about my experience there, but never wrote the novel until years later. Because I think that particular railroad trestle is as spooky as described in the novel, it became a setting where the action took place. If there were awards for inanimate objects, the trestle would win. Hands down!

Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?

Let go and let God. God’s in control, He has a plan, and that plan includes only what is best for me. A hard lesson to learn when you’ve lost one spouse to cancer, but when you finally realize how true it is, life becomes so much easier. It’s more satisfying to live a life on autopilot, knowing someone else has the wheel.

Gena Webb is the author of the new book The Write Decision.

Connect with Gena
Author Page