We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tara Conrad a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Tara , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

There’s that age-old question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I didn’t decide on that until I was in my 40’s. My husband and I married at eighteen, high school sweethearts. I traded college for motherhood—a decision I do not regret. I was lucky enough to be a stay-at-home mom who also became a homeschooling mom. I taught all four of our kids right through their high school graduations. But then I was stuck wondering Who am I? I had my undergrad degree in psychology, but after going through some significant trauma, I knew I didn’t want to pursue that path. My husband knew I wanted to pursue a graduate degree (I was the first one in my family to go to college), and he also recognized that after the trauma, I was lost. So, he encouraged me to start writing. At first, it was to heal, but then I decided to pursue a degree in creative writing. After a few semesters in the master’s program, a part of me that I didn’t know existed came to life, and I applied to MFA programs and was accepted into all that I applied for. I chose Southern New Hampshire University and loved every second of my time there. It seemed like everything finally came together for me, and at forty-five years old, I could finally answer the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” An author.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

After I graduated with my MFA, I accepted a publishing contract from a small publishing house. I was excited that my romance series would finally get into readers’ hands. Unfortunately, that experience was not what I anticipated. Making the transition into Indie publishing was not a difficult one. It felt right like it was what I was supposed to be doing all along. Starting an Indie author career on a non-existent budget was daunting, to say the least. Now that I had the rights to my books back, the process of rewriting, re-editing, reformatting, and recovering started. I also had to start building my brand, which is still a work in progress.
Once the books were ready, I had to figure out how to get them to the readers. That’s where the booktoker and bookstagrammer community came in. I spend countless hours directly reaching out to book influencers, asking them if they’d be willing to read my books. It was hard work. Many days, I questioned if it was all worth it, but I believed in my story enough to keep going. I’ve met some amazing readers along the way who have become friends. Their excitement about my books is contagious and is what fuels me to write the next book.
Since starting my Indie author career, my steamy Fire and Ice series has grown. I’ll be releasing books nine and ten in early 2024. I also have two sweet standalones in my Real Life Romance World.
Being an Indie author is a full-time job, one that I wouldn’t be able to do on my own. My husband, George, is my partner in every step of this journey. He has a hand in the entire process, from helping me work out plot holes and helping me put those unforeseen twists into my storyline when I feel like I’ve hit a brick wall. He is my cover designer and formatter. I couldn’t do any of this, wouldn’t want to do any of this without him.
Since starting my writing career, we also opened a small publishing company. After the negative experience I had, and after hearing from so many other authors who had similar experiences, we wanted to do something about it. We started His One, Her Only Publishing in the hopes of being a safe publishing route for new authors who want to get their books into readers’ hands. We aim to educate our authors on the publishing process so they feel empowered. At the end of their contract, they can renew with us, or we hope that we’ve given them enough knowledge that if they choose, they can successfully self-publish.
We’re also bringing romance authors to Scranton, PA, in 2025 with Electric City Love Con. I love the romance author and reader community so much. I’ve truly found my tribe in the romance author community, and I want to bring more of that to my hometown. So, on August 2, 2025, George and I are hosting over 200 romance authors for what is going to be an incredible day of meeting our readers.
I am so grateful to be a part of the Indie romance author community and can’t wait to see what the next step in my journey holds.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding part of being a romance author is when a reader emails or comments on a post to tell me how my book has affected them. My romance is steamy, but each couple has a pretty intense storyline. My books deal with topics such as insecurity and the need, as a woman, to please others—to a fault. One of my characters struggles with severe anxiety and panic attacks, and how they deal with it as a couple. In my most recent books, the couple struggles with pregnancy loss and infertility. These are all things that are “real.” Many readers see themselves in my characters. I’ve laughed and cried with my readers. There’s nothing more special than a reader telling me that they felt seen and heard or that their heart healed a little more after reading my books. Opening my email to find a letter from a reader telling me how my books got them through a really difficult period in their life, and they thank me for writing them—that is why I do this.
Let’s face it, life is hard. If my stories can help make something easier for even one person, then I want to write a million more stories to touch a million more people.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The lesson I’ve had to learn is how to overcome self-doubt. To find strength and confidence in myself that I thought was gone forever. To learn to silence that voice in my head from people in my past and my own insecurities telling me I’m not good enough or I can’t do this. I’m not going to lie, that’s not easy, and I’m not always successful. Sometimes, the negative thoughts yell louder than the positive ones, saying I can do this. It’s often a daily struggle for me to stay out of those dark places. We went through several years of very traumatic events, things that have left scars. For a long time, I thought I was broken and would never heal. If you’ve read my books His Melody and Her Nightingale, a lot of what those characters feel and go through I took from myself. The situations that caused those emotions may be different, but the self-doubt, the thinking that I was not good enough, and the panic attacks they’re all real. They’re all things I’ve experienced.
Writing quite literally has saved my life. It first gave me an outlet for the emotions I was grappling with and then opened up this whole new world.
Putting myself out there in both the readers’ and writers’ communities has also helped. It’s hard to be vulnerable in front of other people, but it’s also allowed me to heal some of what I thought were broken parts inside me. I’ve learned they might’ve been fractured and a little beat up, but with some love, the pieces are all coming back together.
There are still dark moments—days when those thoughts creep back in and make me question everything. Thankfully, my husband and our now adult children are very loud cheerleaders. When they see me doubting myself, they cheer louder and help me renew my purpose. They give me the support and space to fall in love with not only writing but myself, too.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.TaraConradAuthor.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taraconradauthor/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TaraConradAuthor
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@taraconradauthor FB Reader’s Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/571538573826855