When you are looking for a writer's group Gina.... what do you look for? What are you looking to get out of the group?

Passion - I've been in a lot of groups and workshops - the ones I like best are the writers who are writing because they have to. I'm not looking for applause in a writer's group but a critique, a real genuine honest to goodness with no holds barred critique. I want to hear something I haven't heard before about my work. Something to make it better.

You tend to develop very vivid characterizations in your stories, how do you "flesh" them out and where do you find them?

I don't know where I find them - I guess each one has a little compartment in my head. I sometimes use the same characters over and over, their personalities might change but there is always something about them that is me.

To date, what have been your most exciting and frustrating moments in writing?

The most exciting were the readings in Manhattan. To have people want to hear what you have written. There is nothing like it. There were all different kinds of writers - some younger - some older (hard to believe) but they all had that passion - and they all had a lot more education then I do so I felt in awe. Yet when I read there was no difference just a bunch of writers trying to reach an audience. The most frustrating moment to date is trying to find an agent. It's a good thing I'm not thin skinned.

What elements of writing do you find the most difficult?

Editing is the hardest part of writing for me. Like all writers I think OK, I'm finished and it's good. Then I look back and I say "what is this crap". Then I edit. That's hard.

You have had some success in getting your short stories published, what has that experience been like?

The first short story I wrote in an adult ed class was called "The Gardener". I sent it out a few times and then one day there was a letter telling me my story had been accepted in a small literary magazine called The Fiction Primer. I couldn't believe it. It was also picked best of issue. This was about ten years ago. When I got that little magazine in the mail it was like I had never accomplished anything up 'till then. That's how good it felt. I've got a big book of rejections about 300 or so. But I kept sending out my stories and I've been lucky enough to have a lot of them published. Nothing big like Redbook and I don't think you'll ever see me on the Oprah show but I love what I do and I'll keep doing it.

Tell us about the experience of writing your first novel.

My first novel - "Just Whisper" has been in the works for years - It's a psychological thriller. Paranormal stuff, possession, a door slamming in the night, that type of thing. It's finished and I'm still editing it. I thought after writing all these short stories this would be easy. This is the hardest thing I've ever done. I'm working on the second one "Hydrangea," it is a comedy from a short story about a family from the South who names all their daughters after flowers and shrubs and stuff. The third one is "Desert of Glass," which is also a short story that I'm developing into a book.

Which do you find more rewarding, writing a novel or writing a short story?

Short Stories - you can finish them. But I think in the long run I will probably like writing novels better. Ask me next year. This is the year I am determined to find that agent and sell the book.

Which do you find more challenging, writing a novel or writing a short story?

A novel - The hard part for me is continuity - when did it happen? Are my facts right? I mean, even fiction has to have a true ring to it. How did Dan know to go to room 112? Ehmmmm..... He didn't stop at the motel desk first so how did he know? I had to rewrite that section again. No little bird popped out of the sky and said "Dan, Jen is in room 112." Continuity, that's my problem. That's the problem for most writers. You want the reader to keep turning them pages. But if it doesn't make sense they won't. Even a parnormal with ghosts and spirits has to have some honest meaning.

Gina, how do you like to relax? What are some of your hobbies?

Gardening - I love gardening and cooking (not to often). I like to sit outside and listen to music. I love music. I also love to eat which isn't to good.

To date what has been your favorite piece of writing that you have authored, and why?

That is really difficult. My favorite story ehmmmmm? I like a lot of them "Mrs. Lambert" - an old lady alone. "Hydrangea" - a funny girl with platnium hair. "Irish Lace" - takes place in the 1800s in Ireland, about the British and Irish and how it affected a young woman and ruined her life. "Faces" - a Sci Fi about the last park on earth. "Desert of Glass" - Another Sci FI about a young man who had to save his planet by crossing a desert of icebergs of glass on a motorcycle. I think these are my favorites.

Is there anything else that you would like to share with our writers?

I have been moderately successful, notice I didn't say financially. I love to write; I also love to read. Like Stephen King said, you can't write unless you read. I read constantly - Writing to me is like stepping into a pond of cool water on a hot day when you're feet are burning. It's the scent of new mown grass in the summer. The smell of lilacs in full bloom. Writing has given me a satisfaction nothing else has. I write to entertain not to moralize or change, just to entertain. I have met the nicest people in the world through writing. I have met the most talented writers - some unassuming some pompous. If someone were to ask me how to be successful, I would say be yourself always write what you read. I don't write what I know - I take a journey with every story I write. I go places I've never been. In my mind I travel through my stories - up mountains and I run in the sand at the ocean. So I don't believe you have to write what you know. Write what you are. Imagine, fantasize and write.