of: Jackie Gamber,

author who created the Leland Dragon series!

By which the interview commenced,
between Jorie and Ms. Gamber!

I am thankful to announce that I have my second Seventh Star Press author dropping by my blog for an interview today! I am always seeking to propose questions that are not overly asked previously, and I am hopeful, that if you have known of Ms. Gamber’s work previously, you will find something new to learn about her through her visit on Jorie Loves A Story! I look forward to listening to her replies and learning more about a writer who showcases dragons, as they are one of my favourites in the fantastical realms to encounter! Let me yield, to Ms. Gamber!

I presume that dragons are your favourite fantastical creature who reside outside our physical realms, as they are at the forefront of the Leland Dragon series? Was this a lifelong passion to bring dragons into a sweeping epic such as the Leland Dragons, or did it develop a bit more slowly, taking you for an adventure as it unfolded?

Gamber responds:

My writing of the Leland Dragon Series definitely came as an adventure as I went along. I’ve always been drawn to science fiction and fantasy as a reader, and as a writer, because of the “what-ifs” and the vast storytelling capabilities; I love the challenge of making something utterly fantastical seem perfectly probable and real. Kallon Redheart and Leland Province grew from that place. I had a germ of an idea, and wanted to make Kallon and his world as real as possible.

I can appreciate this myself, because whenever I settle my heart and thoughts to write in a fluid moment of clarity, I find that my pen yields to the adventure of discovery! I never know precisely where my pen will lead, as I always have attributed writing as being a vehicle that is inspired by One not of ourselves but as a Guide to allowing the creativity to flow through us and outwardly fuse inspiration into ink which spilts onto the page! The adventure for me in pursuit of story and characters is singularly one of the best moments a writer can experience! And, I could not have stated it better ‘making something utterly fantastical seem perfectly probable and real’ as this is a sentiment I could have spoken myself on behalf of my own writings! We breathe life into nothingness which paints a palette of pictures through the words which give life to our stories!

What draws your eye when it comes to story-telling in general?! Were you a natural bourne writer or did you have to develop it as you progressed from one story to another!? Did your pursuit of writing stem out of your love of reading, such as my own path developed!?

Gamber responds:

I’m not sure which came first; my love for reading or my love for writing. I remember loving books as mysterious little tickets into great unknowns. I remember teaching myself to read, and struggling over words that didn’t look like something I remembered hearing. I wanted to read, so I could go to the places books promised to take me. I wanted to write, too, because I had so many worlds in my own head, so many places I’d escape to in my imagination, and I wanted to make stories for others to escape into.

In a sense, then, I must have been born into writing. But just as I was driven to improve my reading, I have also been driven to always improve my writing. If talent is a seed, it must also be nurtured and cultivated, and practiced. My ultimate goal is that each story I write is a little more skillfully told than the last; in that way, I get closer and closer to opening each world a little more real.

You struck a chord inside me with this response, as I have always referred to myself as ‘a natural bourne writer’ yet I think I mistakenly left out a significant piece of the puzzle! As like you, the lines between when I became the ‘writer’ and the ‘reader’ are blurred,… due to my learning difficulties as a child I did not have the ability to learn to read on my own, but I yielded the words inside the stories to my Mum! She had this magical way of imparting the inflections of character, story, setting, and locale in such a way that I had my favourite ‘go to reads’ of which she read to me nightly! A winding path lateron led me to a quirky out-of-the-box 4th grade teacher who helped me develop my ‘passion for reading’. Yet. At the very same time, I was ‘writing’ solely through the influence of my maternal grandfather’s insistence that I ‘play a game’ called “Once Upon A Time” — a game that involved world-building and story structure! No action. Just your thoughts and your creativity! I concur with your ability to rise in your growth as a writer – each story I craft I notice stepping-stones of progression that although rather microscopic in size I can see the transformations!

Has your writings always developed out of your dreams? In this way, would you consider yourself a think-writer!? Whereupon your characters and stories stir together through your mind’s eye, traversing the gates of your imagination before you bring them into the present?

Gamber responds:

Wow, I really like that term, “think-writer”. That’s exactly how I would describe my process. I’m rarely ready to sit down to a story without a good lot of pondering, first. I do find that morning time, in between sleeping and being fully awake, to be some of my richest fodder for creating. When I’m starved of that time, I generally suffer for it.

Ahh, yes, I wish I could explain exactly ‘when’ and ‘where’ I first learnt of the expression “think-writer” but ever since the very day a fellow writer imparted the merit of what this term encompasses; I have had the honour and privilege to pass on the term to other writers who create their stories in this manner! It opened a door inside my mind as a way of self-reflection and self-expression of ‘how’ I create and in that truth, I understand a cardinal piece of who I am as a writer. I am thankful that I not only recognised it as a possibility in you (smiles) but that in my mentioning of it you have found it applies to you! I love random joy! No one has quite put into terms my own methodology of writing practice until I read this reply of yours! Its one of the moments in this interview I saw myself looking through a reflection of a mirror and was touched by the blessing of our paths crossing each other!

Do you remember the origins of your passion for epic fantasy? Do you recollect a singular book, author, or character that leapt off the page, and gave you the impression that your heart would be warmed by fantasy evermore!? I am not necessarily asking about your ‘favourite’ or ‘go-to’ author/book, but rather, where the underpinnings of your passion for the genre first developed!?

Gamber responds:

I know exactly what book I was reading when something clicked. I didn’t realize at the time, of course, that it would be considered “fantasy”, I only knew it was a story about kids just like me who got caught up in a supernatural adventure. I realized then that stories didn’t have to be about here, and now, they could be about anything! Anywhere! I decided then that’s what I wanted to figure out how to do. The book, which I still own today, was “The Frightened Forest” by Ann Turnbull. It was a Scholastic Book I ordered through my elementary school back around 1974.

Oh, my dear stars! Books through schools! A programme they had whilst I was growing up a few years following you (as I was in elementary school in the early 80s) which sparked a curiosity inside me! They were called ‘book faires’, where inside the libraries (ironically my grades never had the option to go to the library very often! perhaps too crowded?) on such rare occasions we could go in them to find a long table (several put together into one long line) stacked high with books! I was the cheeky girl (as I was told by the attendants!) who refused to find books ‘in her own age group’! I had special permission to choose a book a good two grades if not more higher than my ‘supposed’ reading age! This is even before I met my 4th grade teacher who helped me find true enjoyment in reading without making it arduous! I had the curiosity, I had the will to read, but I had hurdles! Ironically or naught, my inspiration to write and read fantasy fiction came from two motion pictures (rather than books!): “Pete’s Dragon” and “The Neverending Story”!! (the latter is a book but I didn’t realise this at the time!)

Are there storytellers, artists, musicians, artisans, and other creatives in your family who might have planted the seed for the creative arts in your life from an early age!?

Gamber responds:

My mom is definitely a creative who has always strived for outlets. She was involved in Community Theater and similar pursuits. She loved to sing. She had a box of snippets of writing; stories, I think, and poetry. I didn’t understand the significance at the time, but I remember now how she had enormous bookshelves, always filled, and that many of the books were “how-to’s” for writing. She never talked about it, but I think she wanted to be a writer, too.

I smiled whilst reading about your Mum and her secret dream of being a writer. I have a grandfather in my family who dreamt of being a writer as well, and am thankful I too, have pieces of his writings left behind to not only cherish but to see the beginnings of his own writing life! At first I felt sorrowful that he couldn’t obtain his dream, but then, a part of me reflected that if he hadn’t worked on writings and drawings in his spare time – the legacy of his talents might not have filtered down in my family line! As creativity is one of those rare gifts that is best given through passion and time ignited in harmony. All creatives, whether professional or amateur give back to the greater whole simply by leaving a fingerprint of their creative soul behind for others to find! How lovely you had someone to inspire your own path too!

I learnt in a previous interview you had mentioned that you were ‘a soldier, a secretary, and a Mum’, of which I found fascinating, because writers’ live such dynamically different lives, as the whole of our experiences shape our perceptions and inspire the stories that nestle into our spirits that find their way spilt onto the page! I would well imagine you’d have a lot to draw from given this revelation! First and foremost, thank you for your service, as I always try to give back a bit of gratitude to soldiers’ whenever I can (which is why I volunteer with Soldiers’ Angels), and secondly, my own Mum was a secretary so I know that the fast pace of an office can be such an interesting set-up for diverse characters and personalities! Do you find that people you’ve either interacted with or met have formed the basis of a character of yours?

Gamber responds:

Thank you for appreciating those who serve!

I think everyone I meet, or even observe, has become the basis for any number of my characters. Many of my “why” questions come from meeting or knowing someone whose choices puzzle me. I get to wondering about motivation, about what might have happened in their past to set the framework for their life perception…all that stuff. Those are the good bits that get tucked away into the corners of my mind for me to do my “think-writing”. Somehow, and at some point, from all that pondering, characters are born from it.

Your quite welcome! Its my pleasure and honour to give back to those who give so much to all of us! Little ripples of gratitude I am thankful I can give freely and randomly! Its nice to give a piece of joy to someone who least expects to receive it! I smiled seeing you incorporated your new favourite superlative into this response! I do this as well, but more than naught, not necessarily from ‘people watching’ but rather from environment watching! I get caught up and lost in the small details of everyday hours. Usually attached to my museful eyes peering out into nature through the windows of the car and/or whilst walking in nature. My mind’s eye is free to associate wherever a creative thought wants to take me. I created some lovely poems lost in my daydreams, think-writing in the supreme sense, only to wander back inside to my desk and pen — the words lost and tangled in the thoughts which resumed from whence I returned! I think though seeds of those ramblings etch themselves back into my writing when I least expect them too! Do you find this as well?

Have you ever found your creative voice to take a backseat or absence, whilst you had to live through a particular period of your life?! How did you walk through that time, and what led you back to the pen, so to speak!? IF you’ve never experienced writers’ block, what do you think helped forestall its arrival, in case others’ are worried it could affect them!?

Gamber responds:

There have been long, dry periods in my life when there has been no writing. At all. Sometimes it’s been by choice, thinking my real life needed me to be perfectly present. Other times, I’ve suffered a block, when I haven’t been able to get my thoughts in line to make any kind of sense worth writing. I used to think that people who say, “I write because I have to, or I’ll go crazy!” needed a reality check, because I thought I was able to set aside writing as I needed, if life needed me to, and I was just fine. Becoming older (and hopefully wiser), though, I’m realizing that even during dry periods, whether by choice or by block, I never really stopped processing. That whole “observe life, input questions, fill in the blanks, make character-people” is so much of part of how I live, not just write, that it goes on whether I’m aware of it, or not. Sometimes it’s in full swing, under a bright, blue sky—other times it’s getting smothered, as though I’ve thrown a blanket over it. The more I learn to release the process as a part of who I am, the better I feel. And the stronger I become.

Any time I’ve suffered a block, it hasn’t been my writing that’s stoppered up. It’s me. When I understand that being blocked isn’t a wall, it’s a signal, it helps me find that thing in my life that’s out of alignment. Address that, and the words flow again.

When I first read your response I was partially confused – did I write a longer paragraph of a question than I remembered? OR was Ms. Gamber’s response so bang-on accurate for my own inner reflections that I could not distinguish her voice from my own! It was a brilliantly classic moment of seeing how the writing world is as small as the art world! You tend to seek out and find others’ who create in a manner in which is familiar to your own style as much as you find others’ who write in a different vein. At this moment, I found happiness in seeing another writer I could directly relate too speaking on a subject I could personally attest to being one of my own struggles as much as one of my own transitions! This particular question I asked to better understand what was rather dear to me to know! Thank you for helping me connect the pieces!

I know you’ve referenced your heritage in several interviews, as you disclosed how you passed on the gene for webbed toes to your son, however, I was curious, did your family pass down living histories of generations past!? Mine did, but even with that blessing, my Mum and I are still unearthing family lore and hidden ancestral roots that we could only have dreamt possible a few years ago! Do you find research into your family’s history an enjoyable adventure that sparks ideas of setting, time, place, and locale!? I am starting to find that my own wanderings are encouraging me towards historical fiction, even moreso than my own readings of that branch of literature! Have you uncovered anything particularly smashing to share? For us, it was sorting out that our fabled Civil War Captain was actually bourne of immigrant parents who crossed over from Ireland! Learning about our connections to the Underground Railroad is also rather exciting, but for each piece we recover, we find a labyrinth of questions!

Gamber responds:

Much of my family history is an enigma. Dysfunction has splintered generations; I knew my paternal grandmother, but that’s as far back as any real history I’ve got. However, my dad has done a lot of research on his side of the family, and discovered a whole book written about “The Gentle Johnstones” (that’s my maiden name) and our ancestry from prehistoric Scotland, to Northern Ireland, and into the New World. “Gentle” was meant to be ironic. Apparently they were fiercely territorial! And I remember reading a passage that described their women as just as fierce, and hefty, with big arms that could swing weapons with all the might of their male counterparts. And the men were proud of their women for it. It clicked something in me to read that; a sort of acceptance of myself I hadn’t previously had, because I’m no petite woman. My husband likes to say I’m “strong like bull”. And I’ve fought my whole life against my own body; starving it, punishing it, hating it, wishing I could fit into today’s standard of waif-like beauty. But look at my ancestry! This body has been hundreds of years of genetics in the making, and today’s fads don’t have anything to do with it. I’m healthy and strong, and finally, I’m okay with the way I’m made. My dreams don’t have anything to do with the size of my jeans. Or genes.

Thank you for being fearless, honestly open and forthright in your sharing of such a impactful moment of your life! This is such a powerful and empowering statement of growth and self-acceptance! The connecting ties to your ancestry as much as pulling forward from the annals of time a singular truth which as it was brought forward to the present directly impacted your own self-image and self-confidence! Rock on, Ms. Gamber!

What do you like to do when you decompress from writing!? Do you like to travel, walk in nature, or pick up an interest or pursuit that has to fall by the wayside whilst your either knee-deep in research OR wholly consumed by the current story at hand!?

Gamber responds:

I love nature, nature, nature. The more I’m in it, the better I feel, and the more fuel I have for more writing. My husband has a love for motorcycles, and when he finally talked me into riding on one with him, I accidentally discovered I loved it! I get to be up close and personal with nature, all over the place! I love to be with trees, and to touch them and smell them, and to hear them shimmying about in the wind.

By Jupiter’s moons, I could not agree with you more! Every daring chance I get to resume my sojourn in nature, I take the chance! Even the day before this interview went live I had a small window of where I could take a walkabout drinking in the Wintry breezes, clean air, and lumbering stillness of the natural world. I stumbled across a lazy alligator (a baby by all counts!) rolling through the drifting waves of the lake-shore as he ambled along to a berm! His entire countenance was of ease, tranquility, and joy. You could barely make out the essence of his head above the surface of the water, whilst his tail haphazardly appeared every so many feet strokes! (alligators tend to swim by dog-paddling using their tail as rudders!) Off in the distance as the crow flies was a lovely elegant White Egret who took flight just as I was dipping around a corner as the softest blue sky you ever did see was shrunken from sight due to the foliage of the forest obscuring its view! Do you know trees speak to you? I would love one day to visit a tree long enough to hear its whispers! My favourite embrace of a tree was given at a Welcome Station in New England as I met the biggest tree of my years and simply had to give the tree a big ole bear hug! I never fail to acknowledge the gentle lullings and movings of trees as the winds shift through their branches,… absolute bliss if you ask me!

I read in a previous interview that you took up knitting, (back in 2011), have you continued this pursuit as you were lamenting that you weren’t sure if you were going to improve OR simply enjoy the mediated repetitiveness that knitting can provide? I speak as a novice knitter, who took up the needles herself, infused with yarny dreams in the Spring of 2009, and can actually assert she can ‘cast on’ in 2013! As previously, I had to have a bit of assistance, as I was better at the ‘stitches’ than I was at beginning the casting! I celebrate each milestone I achieve, as I find knitting to be my balm in the sea of life! If you continued to pursue it, do you have a favourite type of yarn or pattern?

Gamber responds:

I do still pick up knitting here and there, in fits and spurts, and usually have to re-learn again each time I want to make something. I love wool, and the wool blends of today that make it softer and practical for washing. As an extremely tactile person, yarn is such a boon for my creative senses. When it comes to really decompressing, from writing or otherwise, the best of both worlds is to knit outside. An ideal life would be a front porch rocking chair, looking out onto leafy mountains, with soft yarn in my hands.

To borrow a sentiment of knitting from my Mum (whose my knitting soul sister!), the textural joy of threading natural fibers through your fingers is both a blessing and a blissful joy of comfort! I was like you for most of the years since my first cast-on project – constantly having to re-learn and be re-taught how to do everything. I tend to be the tortoise in the room, where I might take a bit to pick up something I am learning but then, I reach the stage where I even surprise myself, tucking my skirts into a rhythm of knowledge that flows freely through my fingers! My Mum put it best when she said working with wool and natural fibers (she and I adore alpaca and baby llama!) is such a tactile love of happiness! Ohh, I want to live inside your dream as to where to ‘knit’ and ‘be’.

Have you always been a tea drinker!? I read in one of your interviews (from 2012) that you’ve mastered the art and delicacy for making homemade green tea lattes! I find this wicked sweet, as I, myself, have started to make green chai infused tea lattes with almond-coconut milk! My journey towards incorporating natural medicines, green and herbal teas started in my early twenties. Nowadays, although I do indulge in a sinfully smooth coffee latte, my favourite is still soaking into the aroma of a tea latte! I have found that this can change per region (whilst on my travels I noted this!), as I had a Dragonwell Tea Misto in Fargo, North Dakota, but to  interpret this in the Southeast I nearly found it impossible to duplicate without confrontation! Have you noticed differences in tea culture as well!? And, do you still continue to match tea with books?

Gamber responds:

Your green chai sounds delectable! I do enjoy almond and coconut, both. I find that tea culture seems to be spreading throughout the U.S. of late, with even grocery stores carrying a far wider selection than they ever used to. The advent of online shopping has brought all sorts of teas into anyone’s home; it’s so great! I do see the tea cultures, though, in differing regions, and I enjoy experiencing it that way. I still have a lovely website for my Booktasting (www.book-tasting.com)* although it has been a while since I’ve added new content. I have a bookshelf of books awaiting their tea pairing! It’s still one of my favorite hobbies.

*Am not certain the website is active at the moment. I could not get it to launch. Am checking on it!

It is quite delectable! All you need to do is put in 3 mugfuls of almond-coconut milk (it comes in a blended form in the refrigerated milk section?) into a medium saucepan, turn the heat up a bit, and place the green chai tea bags (or you can use loose tea if you happen to have them!) inside one of those tea steepers? I used to have the metal ones which clasp to where you can have them bob or sink depending? I could not find those for the life of me, so I took out our mesh steeper which has a ‘loose fitting top’ and placed that in the center of the saucepan? I turnt up the heat ever so slightly (so not to curdle the milk!) until the temperature reached perfection. I steeped it for approx. four minutes or so, as I used three tea bags once the temperature of the milk was level! You simply remove the steeper and pour the decadent liquid into your favourite mug! Enjoy the cuppa!! I put the footnote on your website as at the time of this interview posting I could not get the url to go live? :( 

What is the one thing that readers might be surprised to learn about you, that you haven’t previously disclosed in an interview!?

Gamber responds:

I can moonwalk! Yes, like Michael Jackson. Also, I can do a pretty darn good robot. I’ve been doing the robot as a dance since before it really became one

Loved your response here! That’s the coolest thing you could say as I love how unexpected and wickedly brilliant the answer truly is!

If you could change any part of your life, would you take the steps to make a radical change OR have you already arrived at the place by which you hoped to be!?

Gamber responds:

I’ve definitely taken steps to make radical changes in my life. I’ve always endeavored to not let fears and anxieties keep me from pursuing the things I really want (even though I don’t always manage it the first or second try. If worrying burned calories, I’d be Kate Moss). But I also believe the moment I believe I’ve “already arrived”, I’ve stopped growing. Living. I’ve still got plenty of steps to take!

You and me both on this level! I am in a season of transition and I think whilst these occur in our lives, we have to live through our faith as a guiding source of courage! Life is best lived when we embrace the risks that alter our stars in the best ways possible! Generally speaking, the serendipitous nature of change can affect our lives in such creatively curious ways, that the journey becomes an adventure in being mindful of the hidden paths are feet will walk in order to arrive where we are meant to be! The time in which we find ourselves where we are going is not always when we perceive ourselves to arrive but rather, we are led to where we are needed at the time that is right. None of us are ever fully grown until the day the world offers us no inspiration, curiosity, or a healthy thirst for adventure! May our hearts always be open to the unexpected and embrace all the seasons that life will bring us. For knowledge arrives in gentle whispers whilst we are making plans that may not be meant to transpire!

Jackie Gamber is the award-winning author of many short stories, screenplays, and novels, including “Redheart” and “Sela”, Books One and Two of the Leland Dragon Series, as well as the upcoming Book Three of the series, “Reclamation.”  For more information about Jackie and her mosaic mind, visit http://www.jackiegamber.com

And meet Jackie elsewhere on the world-wide web at: Allotrope Media, Gamber on Twitter, Gamber on Facebook, & Leland Dragons.

Thank you, Ms. Gamber for dropping by Jorie Loves A Story today! And, thank you to Mr. Zimmer for making this Interview possible as a bookend to my review of “Redheart”!! Ms. Gamber I was humbled and honoured to not only have you here today on my blog, but to peer into a window of a writer’s life which mirrored my own! The little murmurings of our synchronicity made me smile as wide as the moon! I am forevermore grateful that our paths have crossed in this way, as you truly touched me by your ability not only to be earnestly honest in your answers, but share such an intimate view into who you are as a woman, a writer, a nature-loving soul, and as a creative! My heart is full of gratitude which is overflowing! Please leave a note for the author if you have anything you’d like to say or ask!

Be sure to catch the first half of this showcase:

Jorie reviews “Redheart“, Book One of the Leland Dragon series!
This interview was made possible by Seventh Star Press! They have my full gratitude!

{NOTE: There is no affiliation with Amazon and Jorie Loves A Story,

the link to the author’s page was provided by the author herself.}

Similar to blog tours, when I feature a showcase for an author via a Guest Post, Q&A, Interview, etc., I do not receive compensation for featuring supplemental content on my blog.

I decided to include this for:

as I simply want to spread the joy of this interview!

{SOURCES: Cover art of “Redheart” by Matthew Perry and Jackie Gamber’s photograph were all provided by Tomorrow Comes Media and used with permission. Seventh Star Press logo badge provided by Seventh Star Press and used with permission. Post dividers were provided by Shabby Blogs, who give bloggers free resources to add personality to their blogs. Author Interview badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Jorie submitted her Questions to Mr. Zimmer, who forwarded them to Ms. Gamber, for which she replied in earnest. Jorie was grateful to have this opportunity to interview her. “That Friday Blog Hop” badge was provided by XOXO Rebecca!}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2013.

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