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The Beginning: My parents named me after a character in a novel. It was destiny. First Grade: I wrote and illustrated The Three Little Bears With A Surprise Twist for a contest in first grade…and lost to a story about a monkey saving a duck. Third Grade: I got caught at two a.m. pretending to be a knight saving a damsel in distress-using an unopened box of blinds as my broadsword. Fifth Grade: I wrote a thirty-page short-story called The Arcade. It was supposed to be a romantic suspense. It was very melodramatic and incredibly lame, but it has the distinction, as far as I can remember, of being my first complete story. Sixth Grade: I felt the first sting of rejection as I let a friend read a new story. It wasn’t supposed to be funny. She thought it was; I think she actually snorted. Junior High: I was the grammar star of my class, although I still couldn’t spell. I wrote the first half of a short-story called Trapped on Cave Mountain. It had a little bit of Indiana Jones influence. I declared in my 8th grade yearbook that I would be an author when I grew up, and wrote my first co-authored story-a novella. This one included my very first fight scene. I busted out a Louis L’Amour book to get the ideas flowing. High School: I was accepted into a correspondence course by the Institute of Children’s Literature. I sent out a few short stories and began collecting rejection letters and developing that thick skin I’d begun to grow in sixth grade. Along with assignments for the course, I continued to write snippets of scenes, dream up plots, and wonder if God gave me these romance story ideas to make up for the fact that I’d never get married. I guess I leaned toward melodrama in real life, too. College: I looked into creative writing programs but ended up staying home to pursue a B.A. in secondary education, social studies-just in case the writing thing didn’t work out. I started my first novel to see if I could even do this thing I’d dreamed of for so long. Oh, and I also got married. Imagine that. I finally finished my Institute of Children’s Lit course, adding it to other credits to earn a minor in creative writing. Yes, the Institute program is supposed to take two years. Fortunately or unfortunately, they’re very flexible, and my wonderful instructor, Daphne Hogstrom, was incredibly patient with this busy procrastinator. Post-College: I had a couple short works published in magazines, and I actually managed to type “The End” a little over a year after I started writing Forsaken, although I didn’t go about the process in a traditional way. A scene here, a scene there, piecing together the story as it came to me, then rewriting it to improve the flow. I gave it to friends for feedback, edited again, and set out to find an agent. My stack of rejections was growing, but that was okay. I started posting them all on a Wall of Shame. When enough of them came back, I decided to get some professional help. No, not a shrink. Donna Fleisher, author and freelance editor. My manuscript came back with so many pencil marks that if I found a page without any, I figured she hadn’t read it. Along with her written comments, I had four tapes of her reactions, suggestions, and tips on how to improve my writing and the story. I got a huge crash course in writing and found a friend and mentor who knew the writing biz. I rewrote the novel again and sent out more queries and proposals. Also had a short story and a marriage article published in a couple magazines. I found the American Christian Fiction Writers and joined, and got another, ongoing, crash course in writing. I joined a critique group and found some writing buddies, then went to my first writers’ workshop and the ACFW conference. There, I met some of my favorite authors and had appointments with an editor and an agent-one of the most nerve-wracking experiences of my life…but it was worth it. I was invited to submit Forsaken to Hartline Literary Agency, where it circulated for a while until I received a phone call from agent Tamela Hancock Murray. Was I interested in working with her? Um…that would be a yes. By this time I’d written another book and also started writing light-hearted stuff with Tracy Bowen. In 2007, Tracy and I placed third in our category in the ACFW contest for unpublished writers with our entry, Bliss. In 2008, I placed first in the romantic suspense category. And I got THE CALL from Tamela to let me know Steeple Hill was interested in my newest romantic suspense, Déjà Vu (renamed Double Take). Though rejections don’t stop just because of one book contract, I did decide to take down the Wall of Shame. Now it’s the Wall of Fame. True, it’s relatively empty at this point. But that’s okay… It marks the beginning of a new journey.
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