Current Issue: Fall 2026 with Featured Author Ginny Drake

Macrame: How did your writing journey begin and what part of your life writing occupies today?

Ginny Drake: My writing journey really began as a teenager when I developed a love for poetry (like most teenagers do at some point). I wrote so many bad, angsty poems back then, but it helped me develop a genuine love for the craft. I’ve written off and on ever since, but being a mother of two, one of whom is autistic, and working to keep a roof over our heads meant I never really had the time to devote to writing the way I wanted to.

Fast forward to today, and I’m actively working to make writing my career. I’ve sent out 143 submissions this year alone, and I currently have about eight major projects in the works. Writing has gone from something I squeezed into the margins of my life to something I’m determined to make room for.

Macrame: You mention liminality as one of the areas you explore in your writing. This concept has received more attention in the recent years. What does liminality mean to you?

Ginny Drake: Ha! I was just talking to a friend about this the other day. You know when you have a great idea, but it takes you forever to put it into action, and by the time you’re ready, you notice it’s suddenly everywhere? That’s me.

I love words. I’m a logophile, and about nine years ago I was reading something about the word liminality when I had this grand idea for a book. By the time I finished building the concept, I had nearly 100,000 words of notes and had spent years discovering just what liminality meant to me.

The best way I can describe it is through an excerpt from a book I’m currently writing:

“In the seam, the in-between, transitional place, the nullity. So many names to describe the same damn place. It is a place of nothing and everything, a place of beginnings and ends, a cusp into the unknown.”

That’s what liminality means to me. It’s the space between what was and what will be, where endings and beginnings coexist and the possibilities are not yet defined.

Macrame: How do your interests in spirituality and folklore influence your writing?

It comes into play quite a bit. I love a good Southern Gothic and Appalachian folk tale. Folklore has been a love of mine since childhood. I adored Aesop’s fables as a child, and that interest grew into fairy tales, then mythology, and just kept going from there. These days, I enjoy trying my own hand at those styles and have written quite a few short stories that draw from those traditions.

As for spirituality, I think it comes through most strongly in my current poetry. I’m an Omnist with a Druid bent who believes in God. I know I’m a bit of a conundrum, but I’ve never been particularly good at fitting into one tidy little box.

Macrame: What genres of writing interest you the most, and is there a message or an overarching theme you hope to put out into the world with your written words?

Ginny Drake: Oh, I’m all over the place! There are just so many stories to write that it’s difficult to slot myself into a nice, clean “she writes fantasy” box. I write primarily speculative fiction, along with some literary fiction, poetry (I actually just finished my first chapbook!), nonfiction, and, more recently, children’s books.

As for an overarching message, one thing I’d really love to accomplish is teaching children critical thinking skills early on. When I recently wrote my first children’s book, I developed the O.Q.I. method, which stands for Observe, Question, Investigate. My hope is to carry that approach throughout a series of books, encouraging children to be curious, ask questions, look beyond the obvious, and learn to think for themselves.

Macrame: As a creative person, do you see your creativity as a driving force behind your writing, or is writing just another outlet for your imagination?

Ginny Drake: I think the two are inseparable. I’ve always been a creative person, and writing is one of several ways I express that creativity. I also paint, make things with my hands, experiment with crafts, and generally enjoy creating. But writing has become the medium that allows me to explore ideas and stories in the greatest depth. I don’t necessarily see one as driving the other. They tend to feed each other.

Macrame: You have a background in art, psychology and holistic medicine. How does your knowledge in these disciplines find its way into your writing?

Ginny Drake: I think psychology finds its way into my writing the most. When I’m developing an antagonist, I can really delve into the psyche of the character, exploring their motivations, thought processes, and what makes them tick.

My degree in holistic medicine tends to be more useful when writing nonfiction, although I’ve incorporated that knowledge into my speculative fiction as well. It may just be that it would take another holistic medicine enthusiast to recognize it!

And art? Well, art is everything, isn’t it? It’s creating and making, taking feelings and ideas and bringing them out into the light, turning them into something tangible that others can experience and feel for themselves.

Macrame: Who are you as a reader? What is on your reading list now?

Ginny Drake: By now, I’m sure you expect that my reading habits are a little bit all over the place too! I just finished Dead of Winter by Rebecca Zanetti, and I’m about to start Child of Ashes by Elizabeth Hunter. I also keep collections of Chinese myths and folktales on my bedside table for a little reading before bed.

I’m not particularly loyal to one genre as a reader either. I enjoy exploring different worlds, ideas, and storytelling traditions. I track my reading on Goodreads, and I believe I’m somewhere around 3,000 books read since 2012, when I first started keeping track. I suppose I’m a bit of a book hoarder, just with a very organized digital record!

Macrame: You announced that you are working on your debut novel, “The In-Between.” Can you share with us a little bit about your novel and your process in working on it?

Ginny Drake: I’ve spent nearly nine years developing and building this world. When I finally began working on the first novel, I realized there was another story that needed to come before it, one that would establish the world and explain how everything came to be. So I shelved the book I was working on and started over with The In-Between. I’m currently about 70% of the way through the rough draft.

The In-Between will be the first book in my Liminality series. When the fabric of reality begins to thin, ordinary lives start to unravel, pulling three seemingly unrelated strangers into a supernatural conspiracy involving ley lines, ancient guardians, and a shadow syndicate known as the Collective.

In this world, modern society coexists with the aether, an energetic layer that carries the memory and magic of existence. When mysterious anomalies, targeted attacks, and unexplained fires begin disrupting their lives, three individuals find themselves on a converging path toward Vatra, a secluded sanctuary in Midhaven, Kansas, overseen by an enigmatic Oracle named Ursula Dragomir.

There’s Zoe Park, a hardened New York City survivor with enhanced sentinel instincts, forced to flee after a targeted magical fire destroys her home. Shay Landry, a bayou-born intuitive and mother fighting to protect her son from the dark forces closing in around them. And Evelyn Brighton, a brilliant, sharp-edged symbologist whose fascination with forgotten markings takes her from Estonian archives to ancient Romanian villages and dangerous liminal spaces.

It’s a story about the unseen layers of our world, the things that exist just beyond our understanding, and what happens when the boundaries between them begin to break down.

Macrame: What advice can you give our readers regarding writing or life in general?

Ginny Drake: Nike beat me to it. “Just do it” sounds cheesy, but at the end of the day, that’s what got me going as a writer.

I keep a note on my desk to remind me to keep writing. Forget the rejections, forget the cynics and the doubters. If you want it, and I mean REALLY want it, then do it. No one is going to do it for you, and there are no shortcuts.

You have to do the work. The writing, the research, the editing, and the submitting. You have to keep showing up, even when things don’t go your way.

But at the end of the day, you’ll feel good knowing you gave it your best shot and tried to achieve your dream. At least, that’s how it works for me.

Macrame: As we approach the winter holiday season, how do you plan to celebrate, what traditions do you embrace, and what do you most look forward to during this time?

Ginny Drake: Family. That’s the most important part of the holidays for me. Family will gather around my table, and I’ll have prepared a feast because I love to cook.

Rituals come and go, and material gifts eventually fade, but the memories of gathering together are what stay with us. Those are the moments I’ll remember most. It’s the food, the conversations, the laughter, and simply having everyone together that make the holidays special to me.