Author Bio:
I have loved to write ever since I could walk and talk. I had three specific dreams as a child; To be a Nurse, A Missionary, and A Writer. (In addition to wife and mother). By the grace of God and perseverance, all these dreams have come true. I love to travel and have been blessed to travel the globe extensively through missions work.
My writing consists primarily of Christian Fiction, Poetry, Non-Fiction, and for a period of perhaps five years as a contributor for a newspaper in Sheridan, Wyoming, called The Country Journal.
What inspires you to write?
I am so in love with the Bible, Nursing, Missions, and Family, that I find that, to me, everything is a potential story. God created us in His image and I believe that creativity is deeply ingrained in us. He is the Master creator and with an infinite imagination….I believe we inherited that imagination from Him!
My daughter has labeled me “An Information Junkie” and I truly love that identification with my love for researching anything and everything!
Tell us about your writing process.
Usually I just begin imagining a story as I go about my daily activities. The story begins to take form and I sit down at the computer and start writing. I normally save my research sites, and as I think of my story-line, I stop to take notes and do more research. I try to ‘tuck it away’ in my memory if I’m not at home or otherwise busy. I often find myself waking in the wee hours of the morning with ideas. (I once wrote an entire poem and got out of bed to write it all down…several stanzas!).
I try to research details carefully and check them with Biblical facts and work them into the story for a blend of fact and fiction. I do my best thinking very early….about four or five in the morning and work until about eight in the morning. I sometimes do an outline, but primarily, I am what most refer to as ‘seat of my pants’ because it all just comes to me as I type. The last time I tried a character sketch…it was forgotten in the zeal of typing!
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I seem to be ‘one’ with my characters. I love the characters of ” Rhoda’s Lost Journal” and three other books I have recently written. I found myself thinking about Huldah (From another book I’ve written) during church. When I heard the names of King Josiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, etc., Huldah, my protagonist, would instantly come to mind.
Hopefully, I am instilling personalities that are unique to each of my characters.
What advice would you give other writers?
I would suggest that you continue to develop your characters, story-lines, and research in the way that you feel works best for you. Too often we try to emulate someone else. In my opinion we end of with what I call ‘dime novels’ that were so popular years ago.
Be yourself and allow your characters to be themselves. Don’t try to fit into anyone’s mold of what they say an author should be or do.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I have wanted to write and publish for years, but I decided that, at my age (I won’t tell you that just now), I found that writing and publishing e-books works for me. The most difficult thing is promoting the books. There can be no book signings, etc. However, I am not publishing nor writing for a living, as many do. I write because I love it and hope that whomever reads my books will love them too. It’s a lot of long hours, yet this is what I choose to do with my time.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I honestly had a very difficult time even thinking about letting go of my hand held hard copies! However, when I published my first e-book, I got a Kindle right away and it was actually fun! Technology today is so advanced and so much less expensive to produce books, that I can see the future of publishing going so completely in that direction, and just think of the trees we will save!
On the other hand, for this very reason, books will literally flood the market to the point that it’ll be extremely difficult to sell books. Progress always has two sides of its story!
What genres do you write?
Christian Fiction, Christian Non-Fiction, Poetry
What formats are your books in?
eBook
