Meet Nina Marie

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nina Marie. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nina below.

Nina, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.

I have always had an overactive imagination. Matter of fact, I’ve been criticized for having “too much” of an imagination. However, my imagination is what keeps me writing. What keeps my creativity alive is me constantly asking “what if” and letting my imagination take over completely. A simple task like running to the store, could become a novel, if that was something I wanted to happen. For example, the ride there, the time in the store, the ride back home could have so many different results. Perhaps my FMC gets in a fender bender with a guy on the way to the store. Maybe she meets him again reaching for the same loaf of bread. Of course, there could be some inspiration- like maybe color of the sky is the same as his eye color or maybe I see or hear something in the parking lot that reminds me of something and again, I let my imagination take over to create a scene for a book. Life is my inspiration and that keeps my creativity alive.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

My name is Nina Marie and I’m a local indie romance writer. My books are open door romance that do have aspects of healing and self-discovery to them. I currently have four published books: The Rosalynn Series- a book about past life love and Unexpectedly Yours, a best friends to lovers quick read that leaves you feeling all warm and gooey inside.
My fifth published novel, She Ran, is being released January 18th. This is a romantic suspense about a free spirit who finds herself falling in love with the wrong man. Narrowly escaping death, the story follows her while she’s on the run, healing, and finding love with her guarded neighbor.
As an independent author, I publish through Kindle Direct Publishing, so you can find my books on Amazon and Kindle; however, some of our local libraries also carry my work and you can buy copies at Colorado 2nd and Charles as well.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I think the three qualities that were most impactful in my journey were courage, persistence, and the willingness to learn.
I think it’s kind of scary to write something knowing that people will read it. I know that sounds silly as an author, but we really do put ourselves out there when we’re releasing a book. We know it’s not for everyone. We know not everyone will love it, but we still do it anyway. And we DO want people to read our books, but in a sense it almost feels like you’re walking out in public naked. We’re just out here baring our souls to the world- no big deal. LOL
I think with that in mind, it’s the act of constantly putting ourselves out there that gets people to read our books. Especially if you’re an Indie author because we have to do all of our own marketing. If you want people to know that your books exist, you have to stay persistent about it. The more persistent you are, the more people see you, the more word gets out about your book.
Lastly is the willingness to learn. Not just writing, but the behind the scenes stuff that people don’t really think about, like marketing, ads, designing book covers. Sure you can pay people to do this, but many indie authors can’t afford that out of the gate. You have to be willing to learn if you want to do better- just like in many other aspects of life.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

My biggest area of growth or improvement that I’ve made in the past 12 months would probably have to be overcoming being shy. Prior to writing, my social media hardly ever had personal pictures or reels of me. When I started writing, even then I didn’t post a lot of myself. But in the past year, the more that I was comfortable with writing and writing romance, the more secure I became with myself. Now my social media has me all over it. I make reels a lot. I post things about my books constantly. I post content that deals with my book genres. A year ago I would have never reposted anything “sexy”!
I also believe that my writing has improved- which is expected in authors. The more we write, the better we get at it. I look back at my first books and I’m like, “did I write THAT? My bad…”
But hey, it’s a journey and I’m here for every step of it.