Introduction -Tina Hogan Grant – Author of Reckless Beginnings
Tina was born in England and moved to the United States in 1979. She is the youngest daughter of science fiction author, James P. Hogan. After moving to California, she became a commercial fisher-woman and spent ten years fishing off the southern coast of California with her husband Gordon. After retiring from fishing, they moved to Frazier Park and spent the next ten years building their dream home, doing most of the work themselves.
After moving to the small-town community, Tina was finally able to settle down and begin writing her debut novel, Reckless Beginnings. An idea she had over twenty-five years. It was finally published in October 2018. She is currently working on the sequel Better Endings.
About the book – Reckless Beginnings
I’ve always loved to write but for many years it had always been just a hobby. My father has and always will be my mentor and inspiration when it comes to writing. Growing up I watched him work a full-time job to support his family and then come home and work until the wee hours of the morning doing his other passion which was writing. He stuck to this vigorous schedule for at least a decade, until he signed a book deal and after his 3rdbook he was able to quit his job and write full-time. He never gave up on his dream and became successful.
I had the idea for my debut novel “Reckless Beginnings” over twenty years ago. Back then I kept journals to try and make sense of all the chaos in my life and thought one day I would make a book out of them. But life got in the way and I went on to become a commercial fisherwoman and the idea of the book was soon pushed aside.
When my dad died in 2010, I told myself that if I was going to write this book, I’d better get cracking because you just never know how long you have on this earth. That’s when I began to get serious about the book. and It took eight years to finally have a launch date.
It’s a book that is close to my heart, women’s fiction based on true events that have happened in my life. I wanted it to read like a story, not a memoir. Names, places and some facts of some events have been changed. The main character “Tammy Mellows” is based on me.
Back then there was so much turmoil in my life, my sister went missing, I was only fourteen at the time and felt helpless. A few years later she still had not been found and I began to make hideous choices in my own life. The biggest was the discovery of my son’s father was a heroin addict. Reflecting back in my journal, all the signs were there but I chose to ignore them. Why? You may ask? Why was I in denial? Most women that find themselves in these situations tend to act the same way. We want the traditional happy family life and ignore anything that may disrupt it.
When I finally admitted to my fears and discovered he was an addict, I chose to stay with him, again looking back in my journals I ask myself why? The obvious was because I thought I could fix him, a typical co-dependent’s reaction. But as time went on I found myself drowning, losing my own identity and my own life. Within the walls of my home, I lived a nightmare, when in the outside world I gave the perception that everything was roses and I couldn’t be happier. I was fooling not only myself but others. Normality didn’t exist in my life, but like most I was afraid of change and feared to take the plunge to stand up for myself, afraid of the consequences I may face.
It wasn’t until my son was born that I became stronger. it was now about him, not me and because of my son and his well-being, I found the courage to do something about it and take action. I kept telling myself, I didn’t cause the addiction, I can’t control the addiction and I can’t cure the addition.
Now keep in mind this all took place over 25 years ago and today drug use is at an all-time high, and now with the opioid epidemic, addicts are turning to heroin because it cost a third of what prescription drugs cost.
More and more women are finding themselves trapped in the world of an addict, avoiding the obvious signs, believing they can fix the problem when we honestly can’t. It doesn’t get any better, it only gets worst. I’m hoping my book will help others become stronger, stand up to the addiction and once again take control of their lives.
To learn more about Tina visit Tina Hogan Grant
To purchase her book visit Amazon
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Wow. What a great concept. I hadn’t heard of this book previously, but I’m interested in reading it now! Learning more about her life and how she finally came to write her story peaked my interest!
I think her story will help empower women in similar situations that she was in
Thank you for your comment… we are having a blast meeting these remarkable women and hearing their stories. So glad you enjoyed.
So happy to be here. Thank you for this opportunity.
Thank you Kaci, you nailed the reason why I decided to write this book – For other women in simular situations who are looking for answers and need to know they are not alone. I wanted to show the flip side of addiction and how families and loved ones are affected by an addicts behavior.
You went through a lot, I’m glad to see you are an overcomer!
Thank you for commenting… yes, she is a very strong and courageous lady.
Thank you 🙂
Hi Ashlee. Yes, I did but from perseverance, determination and a whole lot of courage I prevailed. I’m hoping other women can learn from my experience.
Well way to go to keep the dream alive and follow through with writing the book. It sounds like an interesting story, I’m definitely going to check it out.
Wonderful, please do check out her book. It’s inspirational how she perseveres.
Again thank you. It was a tough one to write, visiting memories I had long since tucked away with no plans of revisiting. But in order for my emotions to surface within my writing, I needed to reopen those wounds.
Thank you for commenting. Writing the book was extremely therapeutic by helping me to understand myself better and why I allowed my life to become so distorted. After the book was published I realized I had more to say and thus began writing the second book, Better Endings. I have just completed the first draft and now working on revisions before it goes to the editor.
I am glad to hear that you never gave up on your dream, even if it took years to make it a reality. Congratulations on demonstrating that level of tenacity!
Look for her next book which she’s working on and hopes to publish soon.
The first draft is completed – Yeah! Now I’ll spend a couple of weeks doing revisions and then off to the editor it goes.
Hello everyone. I’m thrilled to be a featured author on Fat Jacks Coffee. A big thank you goes out to them. If you decide to purchase my book, I hope you enjoy it. A little update since the interview. I’ve been working hard on the sequel, Better Endings and I can finally say the first draft has been completed. I began writing the outline just over seven months ago and considering, Reckless Beginning took over eight years to write this is an amazing accomplishment for me. I can’t stop smiling :). Publication date is set for mid-October if all goes to plan. I should add while writing the second book and seeing how it unfolded, I now know there will be a third book. Currently, I have given it the name, The Reunions but that may change. Thank you so much for your comments, I will go through them and leave a personal reply. Feel free to ask me anything. That’s why I’m here 🙂
Love from India for Tina!