Story & Lesson Highlights with Tina Hogan Grant

We recently had the chance to connect with Tina Hogan Grant and have shared our conversation below.

Tina Hogan, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
When I’m writing my stories, I easily lose track of time; in fact, it’s almost guaranteed. I get so much joy from creating a fictitious world and getting to know my characters and following them on their journeys.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m proud to say I’m an award-winning author, born in England and moved to the U.S. in 1979. I spent a decade as a commercial fisherwoman on the southern California coast before retiring to the mountains, where my husband and I built our own dream home.
I write women’s fiction, family sagas, small-town rural stories, and romance series; all with strong female leads who know what they want and aren’t afraid to go after it. My writing blends emotional depth, suspense, and heartfelt relationships, drawing inspiration from my own adventurous life.

Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who taught you the most about work?
Growing up, I watched my father work tirelessly to provide for our family while my mother stayed home to raise my sisters and me. He also had a dream of becoming a published author. After family dinners, he’d retreat to his office and write late into the night, the sound of his typewriter echoing through the house.

My father often told me, “There’s no such word as can’t.” He believed that with hard work and determination, anything was possible. I admired his discipline and dedication to his dream. It paid off; his novel was published, and three years later, he left his day job to write full-time, ultimately authoring 36 books. His work ethic and perseverance shaped how I view work to this day. My father has always been my inspiration and mentor when it comes to writing my own books.

When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
My debut novel, *Reckless Beginnings*, explores this very turning point in my life. At twenty-one, I was living under the control of an addict, too afraid to push back or speak up. That all changed when I became a mother. My son’s safety and future gave me a strength I didn’t know I had. Slowly, I stopped seeing myself as a victim and began seeing myself as a survivor. That shift gave me the courage to take back my life and rewrite the future for both of us.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Is the public version of you the real you?
A: It truly is. *The Tammy Mellows Trilogy* reflects my real life—the heartache, the challenges, the disappointments, and the courage it took to rise above it all. Every event in those books actually happened; only the names were changed. I’ve never felt the need to hide behind a persona. As the saying goes, “My life is an open book.” For me, that couldn’t be more true.

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
I’ve never been one to be controlled. I’ve always made my own decisions, and that independence is one of the reasons why I chose to self-publish after my debut novel was released through a publisher. I quickly learned that I had lost all creative control over the cover, the editing, and even the marketing. That didn’t sit well with me. Writing is my passion, one I discovered later in life, and I’ve never looked back. Today, I’m doing what I was born to do—on my own terms.

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