Welcome, Author, Tara L. Roí

Thank you, Tara L. Roí, for sitting down today with me. I love to get to know the person behind the writer. Let us start with a simple question. When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?

I had a bizarre dream one night when I was in my mid 20s. When I woke, I understood that dream was meant to be a scene in a movie and that I needed to write the movie. So I went to the library and found some books on screenwriting and through a series of synchronous events ended up taking a course and then going back to Yale to finish my bachelors degree in film studies and screenwriting. I wrote scripts for 10 years, none of them sold. And by then was working as a journalist. I was also writing copy for nonprofit organizations. One day while reading Lisa Kron’s book Wired for Story, characters from a script I had written got in my head with the idea of rewriting their story as a novel. That book came out in 2018. I published it under my real name.

I have vivid dreams as well about my stories, and I love Lisa Kron. She has helped me become a better writer. How did you come to write Refashioned by Love?

I had entered the MFA in writing popular fiction program at Seton Hill University. In the first semester, we were charged with writing the synopsis for our thesis novel. I was already working on another book at the time, HARBOR book 2 in my Love & Disaster trilogy, so I thought I would make it easy on myself by centering a character with life experiences similar to my own. I did not make it easier on myself. I had been making fashion from trash for about 15 years at that point. Still, I had to do a ton of research into the fast fashion industry, into professional fashion design and sewing techniques that I had not yet learned, and into the waste management industry.

What is Trashion?

Trashion, also known as Trash fashion, is a global art movement that started decades ago. The term Trash Fashion was coined in New Zealand in 2004. Honestly, this is the kind of thing people have been doing forever. In the 1930s and 40s women made dresses for themselves and their children out of flour sacks. These were called gunnysack dresses, and they were cute because back then the companies printed really lovely patterns on the flour sacks. A Native American tradition going back centuries at least if not millennia is to take the quills from Porcupines that have died and turn them into jewelry and garments. Because the quills are hollow, they are like long, narrow beads.

Today, Trash Fashion artists like myself pick up found objects from the ground. Or pull things out of the recycling bin or ask our friends for materials lying around in the garage. (I sterilize everything!) I have made garments that incorporate both fabric and food packaging. I’ve made jewelry from a pair of glasses that I accidentally sat on and broke. I make garments and jewelry out of window screen material. The whole movement is a form of artistic expression that centers joy and creativity and is free.

Most artistic endeavors have a cost, but we all have trash that we can use instead of throwing it away. I actually created an organization this year that produces events and online media that teach people how to turn trash into fashion to reduce pollution. (https://trashtofashion.substack.com) We had a trash fashion exhibit featuring the work of nine designers this past summer. We had a workshop called “Think Like a Trashionista,” and in October we had a Trash Fashion workshop and ball where people learned from fashion designers, and Trashion artists and a Saks stylist, made a garment. Then we put on the crazy things that we made and celebrated with a DJ and a photographer, delicious food from local vendors. It was a lot of fun. Data is still coming in about how people perceived the event and what they learned from it.

Wow, that is fascinating. One of my daughter’s friends back in high school used to make the most amazing purses from bottle caps. I had no idea it became a thing. I would love to be part of Trashion Fashion if only to watch the fashion show.

So, completing a book is an enormous challenge. What was your biggest obstacle and how did you overcome it? What do you think drove you to complete this enormous project?

My biggest obstacle was and remains the need to support myself in other ways while writing. I have come to recognize that the most successful writers, whether independent or traditionally published, have a strong support system behind them, whether parents or spouse. I have a loving family, but I am my own support network. That’s tough.

The desire to write and complete the story is always what drives me to finish a book. In this instance, I was so worried that I wouldn’t be able to meet the goal of writing 30 pages a month that I set an ambitious goal of writing 1000 words per day. I ended up writing more than 300 pages and finishing the book in the first month of my second semester in grad school. It was great because then I had almost 2 years to revise the manuscript.

How do you think your life experiences have prepared you for a writing career?

Great question. Growing up as a latchkey kid in the 70s and 80s with a b/w television that had poor reception and adults who routinely told me “If you’re bored, you’re boring,” I learned to entertain myself. So I made up stories and recorded them on my tape recorder.

What moment in this journey are you most proud of?

Every moment that I give myself permission to write and then actually focus is a triumph. Honestly, I don’t know that I have a tremendous sense of pride in the journey so much as appreciation for it. I love what I do and would be in heaven if it was the only job I needed to have.

Well said! What is up next for you?

This is the first book in a series. In 2026, I will be publishing the second book and writing the third book.

Where can readers find out more about your book and yourself?

This site, https://linktr.ee/TaraLRoi leads to all my online spaces, including all the places where you can order books. Or on my website at TaraLRoí.com.

I wish you the very best life can offer, Tara. Thank you so much for the wonderful interview. I hope you will come back again next year to celebrate your next release.

Until then, I wish all my readers to stay healthy, safe, and take a moment to sit back and read a great book. Again, you can find Tara Here!