Hi, this is Georgia.

In the summer of 2023, after long, grueling days in a corporate job, I started writing a romantic fantasy in bed to help me unwind. It started out as an escape—something to do that brought me joy—and quickly turned into something else entirely: a passion project.

I’ve struggled with long form writing my whole life because of my undiagnosed ADHD, so when I started writing this book (I wouldn’t be diagnosed until 2025), I inadvertently created a way to avoid giving up when the novelty and hyperfixation ebbed. Since I was writing a fantasy story about a magical band of heroes for hire (you know, an adventuring party), I created D&D character sheets for the main characters and used the game’s rules and mechanics to help write the story.

I have always loved the saying “the dice want to tell their story,” so I let them; I brought chance and dice rolling into the writing process. And I’m so glad I did. Rolling dice, just like when playing D&D, took me and the story in directions I never would have considered. By making the writing process a game, I also stayed interested and invested in getting to the finish line. The dice also solved the problem (for the most part) of writer’s block. Not sure how a character would react? Roll insight. Not sure if a character would be able to sneak through a guard-infested building? Roll stealth. Need to write a battle scene? Run combat. (That one was hard, by the way. Lots of notes. Lots of coffee. Lots of frustrated grumbling.)

With my trusty dice, I finished the first draft of the manuscript in early 2025. Since then, I’ve gone through several rounds of edits, worked with alpha readers, completed a redraft from the feedback of an amazing agent (thank you, forever, Sian-Ashleigh!) and undertook the querying process to find someone willing to take a chance on this book of mine (if you struggle with rejection aversion and want some exposure therapy, write a book and try to sell it). A very large number of rejections later, I started the year without an offer of representation. So I made a resolution on New Year’s Eve: This book is getting published in 2026.

I still have open queries out there, so never say never to traditional publishing, but I’m determined to get this book out into the world either way.

And, because I love writing in multiple genres and forms, I’ve taken on a pen name for the romantic fantasies side of things: Joanna Conrad Smith. You can find her on Instagram (@JoannaConradSmith) for all things D&D and Romantasy/Romantic Fantasy. Her list of followers is small, but growing.

With all that in mind, I’m so excited for you to meet my ragtag band of heroes in my debut novel, “The Gatekeepers.”