Miss Rogers works at Paper Plus, in Alexandra, and her second novel was front and centre in the store as it launched this week.
Orchids and Camellias tells the story of Ginny Yang, a young widow with a half-Chinese son struggling to survive as they move around the South Island from 1866 to 1890.
A University of Otago history graduate, Miss Rogers said her fascination with history began at high school, in Alexandra.
She had spent years researching for her first book Nightshades and Paperwhites and her latest one.
"Some of the stuff I found, I was really gobsmacked and thought, ‘I have to do something with this.’
"I wanted to tell a story people will enjoy.
"I really hate when people say history is boring — it’s not.
"One of my desires in life is to help people love history."
While her first book focused on the harsh treatment of the Chinese miners and imagined their relationships with local women, her latest examines the life of the mothers and mixed-heritage children that resulted.
Along the way the book touches on the women’s suffrage movement in New Zealand and prohibition as well as the reality of life for a woman raising a child alone.
Her first book was self-published but Orchids and Camellias was published by Flying Kiwi Publishing.
"Picking up a publisher is really exciting.
"It’s really cool to make that leap.
"It makes a huge difference to my side of things and it means I can focus on writing more than anything else so it’s fantastic."
Writing had to be fit in around her nine-to-five job meaning early morning writing starts.
"I like to be at my desk, by 6am, with a coffee, ready to go.
"If I miss that opportunity, like on a weekday, I don’t get it back.
"But then if I have a good session in the morning, quite often I can pick it back up at the end of the day and keep going ... it’s like it ticks in my brain all day.
"But if I haven’t had my morning session, it’s not happening that night."
A post-graduate creative writing course through Massey University helped develop her skills while writing her first book.
In total, that one took eight years, although she did not write for one year and was completing the creative writing course for another year during that period.
However, the latest book came together much more quickly, Miss Rogers said.
"Having a publisher’s helped because I’m not having to try and hire editors and cover designers.
"[They say] you have it ready by this date and we’ll take care of the rest and we’ll come back to you.
"So it’s been good not having to do all that stuff.
"But I think because I’ve been self-published, I have that appreciation. So you understand what it is that they’re actually giving you."
And yes, book three was in the works, she said.
