Interview with Gina Welborn

Gina Welborn

Gina Welborn is the author of “Sugarplum Hearts” in the Highland Crossings anthology.

Published by: Barbour Publishing

Date: February 2012

Gina, what got you interested in the colonial time period?

Fame and fortune. I’d written manuscripts in numerous other time-periods but couldn’t sell them for various reasons, so Laurie Alice asked me if I’d like to join a novella collection about Scottish immigrants. My thoughts immediately went to my name slathered in itty bitty font beneath the names of the other fabulous authors in the collection, which had been a lifelong dream of mine from the second I'd been asked me to join the collection. So I said “absolutely yes!” and totally ignored the fact I knew practically nothing about the colonial era besides what I’d learned from multiple family trips to Jamestown and Yorktown. Since the collection was to be a generational one, I immediately went about praying I would get the last story, preferably, set around 1840. Clearly God, Laurie, Pamela, and Jennifer had better things in mind for me. My novella is set 1790 in the beautiful Fayetteville, North Carolina. In fact, I’ve grown to love the early federalist era so much that I wrote “Sugarplum Hearts” with the intention of someday telling the romances of three (or more) secondary characters in the novella. Feel free to guess which ones as I await fame and fortune to come my way.

What inspired your latest colonial work?

Wikipedia. Carrie, don’t give me that “be serious” look. (CFP: I am giving Gina the Carrie "eye" right now!) Really, Wikipedia. Since what little I knew about the colonial era was from reading “A Patriot’s History of the United States” and from watching Glenn Beck when he was on Fox, I set about googling. Somehow I came across an article about candy-making that resonated with me. When the original plot idea I had wasn’t working out, I called my mentor, friend, and writing partner in this collection, Laurie Alice Eakes. She asked me of all the research I had done, what one thing stood out to me the most. Candy. Sweets. Lemon drops and toffee and marzipan figurines. Her suggestion was to make my hero the immigrant instead of my heroine. We then brainstormed a bit more until I had the basics of plot and main characters.

Do you have a favorite colonial place you like to visit and why?

Gina's mother with two of her children at Jamestown

We live a little over an hour away from Jamestown. In the last ten years we’ve been in Virginia, we’ve taken various extended family members and friends to visit sites all over the state, including Jamestown both before and after the 400^th anniversary renovations. The new museum is glamazing! Plus we always have fun playing in the fort, in the native huts, and on the boat replicas. History doesn’t have to be boring. Nor should it! It’s hard to go to any of the museums and reenactment sites in Virginia and not be in awe, fall in love, and have fun no matter what time-period is the focus.

Gina, do you have a favorite colonial recipe you enjoy?  Would you care to share it with CQ readers?  Readers, you can find Gina’s Apple Pie recipe this coming Saturday on CQ.

I love desserts of any time-period. Yum-me. Many of the food items readily accessible to us, such as sugar and refined flour, were expensive and often in short supply during Colonial times so desserts were not an everyday thing. However, many foods we consider desserts were meal-time basics: fruit pies/cobblers/crisps, marmalades, jams, jellies, and candied nuts. Dried and preserved fruit helped many a colonial family through a winter when hunting and fishing were scarce. 

Here’s an overview of Highland Blessings:

Head to historic North Carolina where a brooch unites the lives and loves of four women. Dangerous accusations force Seona to leave Scotland with the brooch in tow, but will she find peace before her past is revealed? Years later, Fiona hopes to recover the brooch only to wind up on the whipping block. Can she trust the man who comes to her rescue? Seren sells the brooch to open a confectionery, but will the precious heirloom be lost to a hopeless dream? When the brooch is stolen, can Brynna reclaim it before she loses something even more valuable?

Here’s the official snippet about Gina's story:

When Scottish broker Finley Sinclair bargains he can sell Seren Cardew’s entire stock of candy for triple the selling price, she thinks he’s out of his newly-immigrated mind. But Seren is desperate to make a go of her fledgling business. With little funds left after selling a treasured family heirloom, Seren knows Finley’s proposal is what’s needed to save her dream. But on the way, he might steal her stock. . .and her heart.

Links to buy Highland Crossings:

Christian Book Distributors

Highland Crossings at Amazon 

HC at Book Depository 

Highland Crossings at Barnes and Noble 

Author bio:  Years—okay, eons—ago, Gina Welborn worked in news radio scripting copy until she realized how depressing human tragedy was, so she took up writing romances and now only thinks “It is time for a dead body?” when she’s at a lull in her newest manuscript. This Oklahoma-raised gal now lives in Richmond, Virginia with her youth-pastor husband, their five Okie-Hokie children, and a Sharpador Retriever who doesn’t retrieve much of anything (but he can sit really well). Her first novella, “Sugarplum Hearts,” part of the HIGHLAND CROSSINGS anthology, will be released by Barbour in February 2012. Her second novella, “All Ye Faithful,” in A CASCADES CHRISTMAS release later in 2012. Gina likes to put a spiritual spin on her rambling at www.ginawelborn.com or at www.inkwellinspirations.com, a team blog with eleven other inspirational authors.

Giveaway:  Gina is giving away a copy of Highland Crossings this week.  Leave a comment and your email address to enter in the drawing (next Sunday).