This week we welcome Gina Holmes to Author Memories.
Gina Holmes is the President and founder
of Inspire a Fire and Novel Rocket and award-winning author of Crossing Oceans and Dry as Rain. In 1998, Gina began her career penning articles and short stories. Ten years, and a stack of rejection letters later, she held her first published novel. She holds degrees in science and nursing and currently resides with her husband and children in southern Virginia. She works too hard, laughs too loud, and longs to see others heal from their past and discover their God-given purpose.
of Inspire a Fire and Novel Rocket and award-winning author of Crossing Oceans and Dry as Rain. In 1998, Gina began her career penning articles and short stories. Ten years, and a stack of rejection letters later, she held her first published novel. She holds degrees in science and nursing and currently resides with her husband and children in southern Virginia. She works too hard, laughs too loud, and longs to see others heal from their past and discover their God-given purpose.
A Funeral For My Doll Head
by Gina Holmes
When I was a child, I was so tenderhearted that I couldn’t bear to see anything suffer. Not even inanimate objects. My big sister, Chrissy, and I would fight like there was no tomorrow. Hey, I was a softy but I was no pushover. During one of our knockdown
drag-outs, she broke my doll. Tore it’s head right off and smashed its body.
drag-outs, she broke my doll. Tore it’s head right off and smashed its body.
Gina as a child
Try as I might to repair little Sally, she was unfixable. And so, I carried that doll head around, loving her even more than I did before. I took her head with me wherever I went.
My mother and sister said nothing for a while, thinking I was just either being morbid or trying to make my sister feel bad for what she’d done. After months of this my mom finally asked me to please throw the broken toy away.
I was horrified., “I have to love her. No one else will.”
My mother and sister said nothing for a while, thinking I was just either being morbid or trying to make my sister feel bad for what she’d done. After months of this my mom finally asked me to please throw the broken toy away.
I was horrified., “I have to love her. No one else will.”
Now, we can analyze this and draw a lot of nice and somewhat dysfunctional conclusions, which would probably all be true to some degree. That story says a lot about the child I was, and about the woman I would become.
I still can’t stand to see anyone or thing suffer. If I’m being honest, I still feel bad about tossing out broken toys. Through maturity and Christ, I’ve picked up some truths that have made me a little more discerning about fixing my own self and learning when to throw away things that are broken beyond repair. That was a long process that I still struggle with at times.
I think in many ways, I’m the same way with the characters I write in my books. In my debut novel, Crossing Oceans, I tell the story of a young mother who is dying and has to choose between her own personal happiness, spending her last days in the man she love’s arms, and her daughter’s needs.
I had a lot of readers mad at me for what Jenny decides.
In my latest novel, Dry as Rain, I have a couple struggling with the aftermath of infidelity. Not even I knew, until the book was almost written, if that doll head was worth saving. Even as I wrote the last words, I still wondered.
Now, as I write my third novel, I’m telling the story of a woman in an abusive marriage that must find the courage to let go or resign herself and her child to the fate of permanent brokenness.
Letting go has never been easy for me, but I did eventually, tearfully, let my doll head have a funeral. And I’ve learned to do the same with some relationships and characters.
I still kind of miss Sally though.
I still can’t stand to see anyone or thing suffer. If I’m being honest, I still feel bad about tossing out broken toys. Through maturity and Christ, I’ve picked up some truths that have made me a little more discerning about fixing my own self and learning when to throw away things that are broken beyond repair. That was a long process that I still struggle with at times.
I think in many ways, I’m the same way with the characters I write in my books. In my debut novel, Crossing Oceans, I tell the story of a young mother who is dying and has to choose between her own personal happiness, spending her last days in the man she love’s arms, and her daughter’s needs.
I had a lot of readers mad at me for what Jenny decides.
In my latest novel, Dry as Rain, I have a couple struggling with the aftermath of infidelity. Not even I knew, until the book was almost written, if that doll head was worth saving. Even as I wrote the last words, I still wondered.
Now, as I write my third novel, I’m telling the story of a woman in an abusive marriage that must find the courage to let go or resign herself and her child to the fate of permanent brokenness.
Letting go has never been easy for me, but I did eventually, tearfully, let my doll head have a funeral. And I’ve learned to do the same with some relationships and characters.
I still kind of miss Sally though.
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Leave a comment with a valid email address by midnight, Oct 30th
to be entered to win a copy of Gina's latest novel, Dry as Rain.
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Leave a comment with a valid email address by midnight, Oct 30th
to be entered to win a copy of Gina's latest novel, Dry as Rain.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dry as Rain, Tyndale, Sep 2011
Behind every broken vow lies a broken heart.
When Eric and Kyra Yoshida first met, they thought their love would last forever. But like many marriages, theirs has gradually crumbled, one thoughtless comment and misunderstanding at a time, until the ultimate betrayal pushes them beyond reconciliation. Though Eric longs to reunite with Kyra, the only woman he has truly loved, he has no idea how to repair the damage that’s been done.
Then a car accident erases part of Kyra’s memory—including her separation from Eric—and a glimmer of hope rises from the wreckage. Is this a precious opportunity for the fresh start Eric has longed for? Does he even deserve the chance to find forgiveness and win back Kyra’s heart . . . or will the truth blow up in his face, shattering their last hope for happiness? A richly engaging story of betrayal and redemption, Dry as Rain illuminates with striking emotional intensity the surprising truth of what it means to forgive.
Read the first Chapter HERE.
When Eric and Kyra Yoshida first met, they thought their love would last forever. But like many marriages, theirs has gradually crumbled, one thoughtless comment and misunderstanding at a time, until the ultimate betrayal pushes them beyond reconciliation. Though Eric longs to reunite with Kyra, the only woman he has truly loved, he has no idea how to repair the damage that’s been done.
Then a car accident erases part of Kyra’s memory—including her separation from Eric—and a glimmer of hope rises from the wreckage. Is this a precious opportunity for the fresh start Eric has longed for? Does he even deserve the chance to find forgiveness and win back Kyra’s heart . . . or will the truth blow up in his face, shattering their last hope for happiness? A richly engaging story of betrayal and redemption, Dry as Rain illuminates with striking emotional intensity the surprising truth of what it means to forgive.
Read the first Chapter HERE.
Follow Gina on Twitter (Ginawrites)
or on Facebook (Gina Holmes Waters)
and of course, you can always find her
blogging on her award winning writer blog, Novel Rocket.
www.ginaholmes.com
or on Facebook (Gina Holmes Waters)
and of course, you can always find her
blogging on her award winning writer blog, Novel Rocket.
www.ginaholmes.com
