When I was a teenager, I fell in love with Westerns, especially ones with romance in them. The Library Commission for the Blind here in my home state would mail me green boxes of tapes, and I would listen all day and sometimes all night. The trouble was that most of them were meant for a much older audience. Larry McMurtry's "Lonesome Dove" and Janet Daily's "This Calder Sky" are not the cleanest books on the market.
It was also about this time that God began dealing with me about the types of entertainment I was allowing myself to listen to. Surrounding myself in country music and secular books leaves little time for Bible and songs of praise. I searched for Christian books with a Western romance theme, but at the time most of them were only available in print. So, was I supposed to give up my love of Westerns for God? The obvious answer here is yes.
Then, one evening in the summer of 1994, I got out my trusty, old braille writer, put in a sheet of paper and decided to try to write my own Christian Western romance book. I banged away that summer, probably keeping my parents awake at night with all the noise. If you've ever been around someone using a braille writer, you'll understand. If you haven't, well, think old style typewriters and you'll be close.
I finished the story when I was 18, but by that time I was graduating high school and getting ready to go off to college in Pennsylvania. By Christmas, though, I was ready to come home and stay. In the summer of 1998, I went to Morristown, NJ and trained with a Seeing Eye dog. A month later, I moved out into my own apartment. Over the next year I worked on the story, but in October of ;99, I began dating the man I would marry. I didn't pick the book up again, seriously, until after my second daughter was born in 2007.
How I found time to write with a newborn and a toddler crawling all over me, I don't know. Yet, something about the stress of being a new mom brought out the writer in me. Nights walking the floor, changing diapers on one while potty training the other, the constant feedings and constant crying brought me to a place in life I'd never been. Learned a lot of lessons those few years, I'll tell you.
Today, my very first book, "Wild Heart" is available as a kindle book. You can download it from Amazon.
If you are like me and love audio books, there is an audio version on Audible. W. B. Ward does a fabulous job of making the characters come alive. I believe you will enjoy it as much as I do.
So, now you know how I got started as a writer. My favorite genres have changed over the years. I seldom ever read Westerns anymore, but I love to watch them on TV. However, romance, the clean kind is still my favorite. Authors i now read include: Rachel Hauck and Susan May Warren. First and foremost, however, God's Word comes first in my life. I read it every day, and I'm trying to teach my children to love it, too.
My prayer for you, dear reader is that you are reading God's Word every day, too. I also hope you enjoy my first attempt at Christian fiction. May God lead you always toward a closer relationship with Him.
It was also about this time that God began dealing with me about the types of entertainment I was allowing myself to listen to. Surrounding myself in country music and secular books leaves little time for Bible and songs of praise. I searched for Christian books with a Western romance theme, but at the time most of them were only available in print. So, was I supposed to give up my love of Westerns for God? The obvious answer here is yes.
Then, one evening in the summer of 1994, I got out my trusty, old braille writer, put in a sheet of paper and decided to try to write my own Christian Western romance book. I banged away that summer, probably keeping my parents awake at night with all the noise. If you've ever been around someone using a braille writer, you'll understand. If you haven't, well, think old style typewriters and you'll be close.
I finished the story when I was 18, but by that time I was graduating high school and getting ready to go off to college in Pennsylvania. By Christmas, though, I was ready to come home and stay. In the summer of 1998, I went to Morristown, NJ and trained with a Seeing Eye dog. A month later, I moved out into my own apartment. Over the next year I worked on the story, but in October of ;99, I began dating the man I would marry. I didn't pick the book up again, seriously, until after my second daughter was born in 2007.
How I found time to write with a newborn and a toddler crawling all over me, I don't know. Yet, something about the stress of being a new mom brought out the writer in me. Nights walking the floor, changing diapers on one while potty training the other, the constant feedings and constant crying brought me to a place in life I'd never been. Learned a lot of lessons those few years, I'll tell you.
Today, my very first book, "Wild Heart" is available as a kindle book. You can download it from Amazon.
If you are like me and love audio books, there is an audio version on Audible. W. B. Ward does a fabulous job of making the characters come alive. I believe you will enjoy it as much as I do.
So, now you know how I got started as a writer. My favorite genres have changed over the years. I seldom ever read Westerns anymore, but I love to watch them on TV. However, romance, the clean kind is still my favorite. Authors i now read include: Rachel Hauck and Susan May Warren. First and foremost, however, God's Word comes first in my life. I read it every day, and I'm trying to teach my children to love it, too.
My prayer for you, dear reader is that you are reading God's Word every day, too. I also hope you enjoy my first attempt at Christian fiction. May God lead you always toward a closer relationship with Him.
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