Contemporary author Hope Gibbs joins me today to chat about her new southern women’s fiction, Where the Grass Grows Blue.
Bio:
Hope Gibbs grew up in rural Scottsville, Kentucky. As the daughter of an English teacher, she was raised to value the importance of good storytelling from an early age. Today, she’s an avid reader of women’s fiction. Drawn to multi-generational family sagas, relationship issues, and the complexities of being a woman, she translates those themes into her own writing.
Hope lives in Tennessee with her husband and her persnickety Shih Tzu, Harley. She is also the mother of five. In her downtime, she loves playing tennis, poring over old church cookbooks, singing karaoke, and curling up on her favorite chair with a book.
Hope has a B.A. from Western Kentucky University and is a member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, Women’s National Book Association, and is a tour guide for Bookish Road Trip.
Welcome, Hope. Please tell us about your current release.
Where the Grass Grows Blue is one woman’s journey to either accept her turbulent past by embracing the power of forgiveness or risk losing a second chance at love in a small Kentucky town. It’s a quintessential southern experience full of complex family dynamics, lifelong friendships, and a complicated love affair that spans twenty years.
Penny Crenshaw’s swift divorce and her husband’s new marriage to a much younger woman have been hot topics around Atlanta’s social circles. After a year of enduring the cruel gossip, Penny leaps from the frying pan into the fire by heading back to Kentucky to settle her grandmother’s estate.
Reluctantly, Penny travels to her hometown of Camden, knowing she will be stirring up all the ghosts from her turbulent childhood. But not all her problems stem from a dysfunctional family. One of Penny’s greatest sources of pain lives just down the street: Bradley Hitchens, her childhood best friend, the keeper of her darkest secrets, and the boy who shattered her heart.
As Penny struggles with sorting through her grandmother’s house and her own memories, a colorful group of friends drifts back into her life, reminding her of the unique warmth, fellowship, and romance that only the Bluegrass state can provide. Now that fate has forced Penny back, she must either let go of the scars of her past or risk losing a second chance at love. Can she learn to live an unbridled life?
What inspired you to write this book?
It started back in 2018. I had been a stay and home mother of five for almost two decades. When my second son was getting ready to leave for college, it hit me. My job, the one I had devoted my life to, was getting ready to end. An empty nest was suddenly barreling my way.
To help me figure out my mini-midlife crisis, I began re-evaluating my life. On the advice of a friend, I started “journaling” my feelings on a laptop as an outlet. That lasted about a week before I noticed I wasn’t writing about me or my feelings and goals—I was creating a whole new character named Penny Ray Crenshaw. It was thrilling, fulfilling, and it gave me the confidence that I was more than just a wife and mother.
A year later I typed out the words, THE END.
What exciting project are you working on next?
I’m finishing my upmarket fiction novel, set in the south of course, that focuses on a tight-knit group of women whose lives are shattered by the shocking death of their beloved friend, Ellen, who has died unexpectedly and under mysterious circumstances. But before they can even process their grief, they stumble across a web of secrets and lies, unraveling Ellen’s perfect life. Now they must rely on each other to find out who the real Ellen Foster was, while grappling with the idea that they never really knew her at all.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
Strangely, I did not start calling my self a writer until I signed with my publisher, which is silly looking back on it now. I was so scared to even use that term. Maybe I didn’t believe in myself because I had no formal training, had never enrolled in a creative writing class.
Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your workday like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
Right now, I’m busy getting ready to launch Where the Grass Grows Blue, blogging, writing articles, setting up book signings. There’s also my work with Bookish Road Trip which keeps me busy. So technically I’m writing CONSTANTLY, but it’s more business related, not creative. Hopefully, in the next few weeks, i will return to books two (which is almost finished) and three (which I’m plotting out).
In my downtime, I play competitive tennis. Right now, I’m currently on seven different teams (that sounds like a lot doesn’t it?). It’s been a great outlet for me. Exercise of any kind opens up my mind and helps with creativity.
I’m also getting into pickleball. Similar to tennis in some ways, but very different in others. My husband plays all the time, so it’s been a great way to spend time together.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
That I can write anywhere, at anytime. I wrote this book when I still had four children at home (the oldest had already left for college), so I toted around my laptop to all of their sporting events—which were nonstop. When there was a break in the action, I wrote. I’ve even pulled out my laptop during changeovers in my tennis matches.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
As a child, I wanted to be a writer. But it wasn’t books I aspired to; rather, I wanted to write for soap operas. Every Friday afternoon, I would come up with little storylines in my head for my favorite characters. It was not exactly age-appropriate entertainment, but it certainly stoked my creativity.
Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
Thank you for supporting Where the Grass Grows Blue. I hope you enjoy spending a little time in the Bluegrass state with Penny and Bradley.
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