My Dear Passenger,

I have always been a firm believer that everything, absolutely everything happens for a reason. Back when I was in high school I stumbled upon a book series titled High Heels Mysteries. I became obsessed with the story and fascinated by the way the author was able to combine romance, comedy and mystery so perfectly. At the time, I was part of my high school’s journalism team and I suggested to my favorite teacher, Mrs. Patterson also known as Mama P, that I should do an interview feature on the author. She smiled and said “Sure, but keep in mind she is a New York best selling author so the chances of that happening are low.” Well, my dear passenger, if you know me at all then you know I am a big fan of a challenge.

I quickly went to Google and looked up Gemma Halliday‘s contact information. As soon as I found her email I wrote to her explaining who I was and what I wanted to do. She answered a couple of days later with a resounding yes and pretty soon we were exchanging questions and answers for the feature.

I often look back at this story when I feel like everything seems impossible or nothing seems to be going right in life. When I first decided to relaunch the podcast, I was going through a pretty rough mental health decline and somehow Gemma came to mind.

It had been 10 years since I had reached out to her, but something in my gut told me it was time to reach out again and to seek inspiration from someone that understood the obstacles I was currently going through. Sure, she is a writer and I am a podcaster, but deep down we are both artists who have been given gifts and talents that must be shared with others and what better way to do it than together?

I decided to reach out to her and to my great surprise and honor she remembered me and was willing to do another interview! Today I have the pleasure of sharing her answers with you and I hope that they inspired you as much as they inspired me to keep moving forward and continue working on my dreams :)!

How do you personally define obstacles?

For me, obstacles are anything that presents an added, unexpected challenge to get to my goal. I always start with a plan, but obstacles roll in, and sometimes that plan needs to change. 

How have you been able to zig zag through them throughout the years?

I think the one thing that has helped me the most is being adaptable. My initial publishing plan was to find an editor, submit, get published, have my first book be a wild, runaway success, and coast on that success for the rest of my career. Obviously, that plan did not work out… at any step! 🙂 It was my 7th novel that was published—not #1—and it was not a runaway hit. I had to hustle to get sales of that book… and every subsequent book. 47 books later, I’m still hustling.

What would you say has been your biggest obstacle so far?

The changing publishing market. I will say this has also helped me the most, so it’s been both a blessing and a challenge, just depending on how it changes and how that affects my books. But with digital books suddenly being an option a few years into my career, the market changed profoundly. Like a huge shake-up that bankrupted some publishers. And with self publishing becoming such a viable option, it changed profoundly again. I feel like it’s been evolving ever since then, so the biggest challenge I have is staying on top of what works now and tweaking my business model as needed.  >

How did you handle it?

I’m still working on that as it’s an ongoing challenge! 🙂  But I’d say a large portion of my “work” hours are devoted not to writing but to staying on top of the business end of the equation and studying market trends. 

If you had the chance to change what you did, would you? Why? Or why not?

Great question. In hindsight, there are things I’d probably do differently in terms of what projects I’ve devoted my time to. For various reasons (usually due to publishing contract and timing) I have several series I’ve written, though some have been more successful than others. If I had to go back in time, I’d devote more time to growing those successful series and less to launching new ones. 

What would you say to someone who is feeling helpless/hopeless right now due to their obstacles?

One piece of advice that I’ve always kept in mind is that you can’t fail if you don’t stop trying—you just haven’t succeeded yet. There have been plenty of times where I’ve experienced a setback, and I could have given up. I know authors in similar circumstances who did. But you just have to try something new or try another angle. Keep going. And be real with yourself. If you get a “no,” take that feedback and see where you need to improve to get a “yes” next time.

Where are you in your self-growth journey and where are you striving to get?

Another great question. You’re making me think hard today. 😉

I have a special needs child, and for the last few years, my family has needed a lot of my attention. I’ve had to set projects and deadlines aside to be there for them. So right now, I’m in a place where I’m re-imagining what my writing career will look like for the next five years. I think finding a balance between family and writing and also working self-care in there too is where I’m at in my journey.  

Until the next stop dear passengers – Safe Travels!
-FMRP