Joining me today in The Loft is author Janina Grey. By day, Janina guides domestic and sexual assault survivors down their path of healing and empowerment. In the wee hours of the morning, she writes contemporary romance, bringing to life characters who face sorrows and successes, and happily-ever-afters. When Janina is not writing, she may be marching for women’s rights, reading tarot, providing life crisis counseling, or kayaking, camping, or drumming. The mother of two grown children, Janina and her husband share their 113-year-old Mohawk Valley farm house homestead in upstate New York with a few resident spirits and a very squawky murder of crows.
S: Good morning, Janina. Thanks for joining me today!
Why write romance?
J: There are so many reasons why I write romance, but the main reason is because there is not enough love in the world. There are not enough happy endings. There are not enough stolen kisses at midnight, snuggling during a snowstorm, dancing in the rain with your lover. There’s so much pain and suffering, and a glut of desensitizing, horrific sources of entertainment out there designed to help us forget the pain and trauma that comes with life, that it needs a balance. I’d like to be a part of the balance with stories that promote hope and love in a realistic way, so people can relate to the characters and learn from them.
S: In turbulent times, I think there is a greater need to get lost in stories of love and romance.
When it comes to writing romance, do you consider yourself a dreamer or a realist?
J: In order for story to work it has to be what people dream of having, but presented in a realistic way, so readers embrace the concept that one day they will have a love like that. So I believe I am both a dreamer and a realist. I believe in forever love stories, but I also understand the daily traumas that can impact those dreams of happily-ever-after. I try to incorporate the daily life dramas we deal with regularly because in the end those experiences help us navigate along our journey of finding true love.
S: Are there any characteristics your lead characters share?
J: My characters reflect my life experiences, after all we are taught to write what we know, right? So with that said, the majority of my characters are cis white people, but I’m working on being more inclusive. My female characters usually have green eyes, and I think this is because I have green eyes and it helps me see the world through their eyes and vice versa. The third book in the Earth and Sky series has a brown-eyed woman as the lead, and it was difficult, so I made her partner green-eyed and that is helping a bit. Most of my main characters are independent women who are fierce in defending their individuality and independence, and have suffered a major trauma. In "Ten Bucks and a Wish," Deanna Drake moves from her hometown Long Island suburb to Manhattan after her mother dies and her childhood/high school/college sweetheart breaks her heart. In "Love in the Forest," Brooke Meadows moves to Upstate New York to escape the trauma of a highly publicized sexual assault she experienced that actually left her with the unusual ability to communicate with dead people. In "Life is for Living," Jayde MacMillan finds herself ostracized by family and friends after “coming out of the broom closet”--choosing a Pagan path while leaving behind her Catholic upbringing--and finding herself pregnant following a totally unexpected one-night stand. Four years later, she has managed to successfully raise her twins, secure a job, and begin the process of purchasing a home for her and her children, despite the alienation of her support network and birth family. In "Lost in Your Rhythm," Liza Purkypile is facing her 30s after hiding away during most of her 20s as the result of a traumatic and life altering battle with cancer. As she begins to rediscover her independence, she also learns that she has picked up the uncanny ability to actually feel other people’s emotions, traumas, and energy by simply touching them. So the common theme among my main characters is a life-altering experience that helps them rediscover their independence while giving themselves permission to love again.
S: That's a very strong theme for a love story.
Have you ever tried online dating? Was it a hit or a miss?
J: Oy! After my first husband and I divorced, I spent close to three years sworn off men and dating, choosing to focus on my career and raising my two children. After two-and-a-half years, friends and family were threatening to create an online dating profile for me if I didn’t do it myself. So I joined the throng rushing to Match.com and wow, I could write a book about some of the characters I met. From awkward lunches filled with uncomfortable silence and dead end attempts at conversation, to backing down a driveway in a heavily wooded area of Upstate New York without even getting out of the car to meet the potential date who was waiting for me naked on his front porch, I can say I had my fill of online dating. Just as I was about to give up, a man contacted me through Myspace--remember that?--asking if I could give him some guidance with Pagan teachings. Six years later, we handfasted (married) and have been living our happily-ever-after since.
S: As a writer, did the pandemic and the subsequent isolation work to your benefit or detriment?
J: I adapt well to change, so when the pandemic hit, I jumped right in to figure out how to make the most of it. Luckily for me, my full-time day job required everyone to hunker down and work from home. All of my interacting with clients switched from in-person to online. I chopped off at least five hours of commuting a week, and was able to make my own hours. My kids are grown, leaving me with three empty bedrooms upstairs. I converted one into a work office, and kept my writing office downstairs. This made it very easy to separate work life from home life from writing life. As a result, I wrote the Earth and Sky series in half the time I would have if I’d continued to work from the office. I am curious as to how I’m going to move forward with my contemporary romance settings and timelines, since I can’t imagine how writing about falling in love during a pandemic is going to figure into it all. My stories may be stuck in 2018 and 2019 forever.
J: "Life is for Living" is now available for pre-order and will be released April 27. Even though the book works as a standalone, people should grab "Love in the Forest" to introduce themselves to the Earth and Sky world, meet many of the characters, and begin to get the feel of Barefoot Dan’s story before he meets up with Jayde in Book 2.
Website: www.janinagrey.com and www.quirkyflirt.com
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