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Member Q&A: Gwen Moore
Author: Jody Wallace
Original Publication Date in Love Notes: March 2008
Gwen Moore is one
of our newest members circa 2008. Let’s get to know her!
Q. We’re so
glad to have you as a member of MCRW. Are you a native of Nashville
or somewhere else? If somewhere else, where, and how did you end up
here?
A. Born in Texas, pre-school in
Arkansas, grew up in South Central L.A. (two blocks away from the
Rodney King video) and went to college there, in Germany, and in
Malibu, California (when Pepperdine moved from L.A. to the Malibu
campus). I moved to Nashville in 1974 to get a one-year Master's
degree in Library Science and came down with the Nashville bug. I've
moved away to New Haven, Connecticut, Jerusalem, Israel and back to
Malibu but I keep coming back here.
Q. What made
you decide to try your hand at writing romance novels?
A. I realized that what had just
happened to me would make a great novel for women my age. As I
wrote it, I realized that the relationship that followed the novel
would also make a good novel, and the one that created a 20-year
hiatus from romance would make a good novel . . . so I have at least
three stories in me at the moment.
Q. Tell us
about your "WIP" or work-in-progress? What in specific do you
write?
A. I learned at last weekend's
retreat that although what I'm writing is squarely in the
"inspirational" category, it's not "squeaky clean" material. It
seems I need to find a publisher who tends more toward risk taking.
I'm writing a fictionalized true story about an older woman and a
younger man who grow to love each other across professional
boundaries. The book to follow will again be a relationship with
the tension of professional boundaries, although this time the
characters are the same age. The third one, flashing back 20+
years, will involve the Nashville music business and two trips to
Israel.
Q: How do you
balance your writing with your other responsibilities? (Yes, as
always, I'm looking for tips...)
A. Don't hate me - I'm single. So
I don't have any legitimate complaints about the way I choose to
spend my discretionary time. I do try to maintain a network of
friends, church, choir, other music, working on my health, etc. I
was thrilled to be taking watercolor classes (kept saying I wanted
to for 30 years) when I decided I needed to set aside one night per
week to write and would have to postpone watercoloring. As
everybody knows, once you determine you're going to protect a
certain time, you're tested for awhile by a hundred other things
vying for that same slot. Then I also try to protect a part of each
weekend. But now I'm receiving a gentleman caller from up north on
occasional weekends . . . Hmmm . . . interesting timing, that.
Isn't it always a juggling act?
Q. What do you
do when you're not writing? Do you have a "day" job, hobbies,
obsessions?
A. Day job delight - getting to
chat with medical students every day in the student affairs office
at Vanderbilt. Part of my job is writing the Dean's Letters for the
fourth year class (ten per week all summer long) so I welcome random
tiny bursts of creativity in that. I'm also a songwriter, singer,
musician person, and I love movies.
Q. Do you have
children, pets, plants, a spouse, dust bunnies, a thimble collection
or anything like that?
A. My favorite collections are
from Europe: toilet paper circa 1972, and some sugar cubes from
1963. (Anybody remember those little cubes wrapped in paper that
advertised the restaurant?) I also collect tiny boxes, but I pretty
much quit that after the surface they're on filled up. Then there's
the enormous number of videos I've taped from TV, and the rest of
the media room . . . It's almost embarrassing. Again, I'm a single
person . . .
Q. What are
some of your favorite books, romance and other?
A. I've re-read the Chronicles
of Narnia and the Little House series multiple times throughout the
decades. As a child I loved Louisa May Alcott and Andrew Lang's
Fairy Book series, then Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden. My favorite
author as an adult has been Chaim Potok, especially “My Name is
Asher Lev” which also incorporates my love of art. I'm a big fan of
C. S. Lewis. The most recent romance I enjoyed was “Julie and
Romeo” by Jeanne Ray, which I heard about at an MCRW meeting.
Thanks for the tip!
Q. If you could
go on a dream vacation anywhere in the world on someone else's
perfectly legitimate dime, where would you go, who would you take,
and what would you do?
A. Ever since I saw South Pacific
as a child, I've wanted to go to Tonga, which was Bali Hai to me.
Then I found out decades later that it was filmed in Tahiti!
Nevertheless I still want to go to Tonga with the husband I have yet
to marry and I would enjoy him, eating, sleeping, swimming and
writing to my heart's content.
Q: Tell us a
secret!
A. Here's something you would never
guess about me: I was a member of a contemporary Christian rock band
in 1977 called Fireworks. I sang on the first album and had three
songs on their second album. We were part of a reunion concert last
November of three groups from that era - that was quite a trip.
Love Notes, the official monthly newsletter of Music City Romance
Writers, is provided to paying members free of charge. If you are an MCRW member and would like to submit an article to
Love
Notes, visit the main newsletter page
for more information. If you would like to reprint one of these articles in your
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original source. For any other uses, please contact the
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