Faith
Who am I? First and foremost, I am a daughter of the King of Kings. I long to bring honor and glory to God with every breath I take and every word I write. Starting the day in my prayer chair always helps. I stumble, slip up, mess up, and generally miss the mark on a regular basis, but that goal is always before me. One of my favorite verses is 2 Corinthians 5:17 — Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. I am so grateful that our God gives us fresh starts and second chances…over and over and over again.
I’m blessed to be part of an amazing group of women who meet twice a month to study the Bible, and to host and facilitate a monthy Christian writers meeting. I think back to my early days as a Christ-follower, back when I knew only a few believers, and compare it to my life now. I am humbled and so thankful.
Family
Yes, there are those regrets, those wish-I-had-a-do-over moments, but in the midst of those are moments of pure joy. After 50+ years of marriage, I’m still crazy in love with my high school sweetheart. Bill and I have been blessed with four sons, four daughters-in-love, and 15 amazing grandchildren. Our two oldest granddaughters are married now, so the grandsons-in-law bring that total to 17. Spending time with family tops my list of fun things to do. Bill and I also love camping and seeing the country with our camping group.
Writing
My writing career began at the age of eight when I started writing stories on anything I could get my hands on. In fifth grade, when my teacher put my bunny poem (with a red “A+ Very Good!” on it), on the bulletin board, I knew I wanted to grow up to be an author. In high school I had a poem published in the local newspaper. That was a huge moment. I was married with three kids by the time my first short story was published. I still remember dancing around my kitchen like a crazy lady with the acceptance letter in my hand.
Thirty-some years ago I was a stay-at-home homeschooling mom. In the midst of the busyness of raising four boys, my writing dream was a fuzzy, distant memory. Then one day my friend Cathy Wienke called and told me she’d just literally thrown a book at the wall because of its trite dialogue and predictable plot. “We should write our own,” she said. And so we did. Nine months from that conversation, we had a finished manuscript that was accepted for publication by Barbour Publishing. Cathy and I wrote eight more Heartsong titles and a novella together. Since then I’ve written three full-length novels for Barbour, eleven cozy mysteries for Guideposts, two self-published books, and co-authored a non-fiction book, Spouse in the House, with Cynthia Ruchti. I’m excited to see what the Lord has in store next!
Thanks for spending time with me. Leave a comment and tell me a bit about yourself.