My Writing Journey

I think I've loved writing ever since I penned a short story in elementary school about an alien from Venus that came to visit earth. But my journey with writing was a little rocky after that. I had some great teachers in my early high school years that encouraged my writing. I even remember writing a class play that we produced for chapel. Then in eleventh and twelfth grade I had a teacher who discouraged me at every turn. I guess I'll never know if her motives were vindictive or if she just really didn't get my creative approach to writing. But when I scored a perfect "5" on the AP Exam she kept telling me I was going to fail, I realized that I shouldn't base my life choices on her opinions.

My first rejection - maybe 1991 or 1992

As I entered college, I kept thinking in the back of my mind that I wanted to minor in English, but it took two years before I found the courage to take an English class again. And of course, I did fine and loved it, especially the creative writing classes. During my senior year I was offered the opportunity to help a professor write his memoirs in place of my senior paper, and thus I finished my first book. By the time my college years drew to a close, I still didn't have a lot of direction for my life, except that I knew that I loved creative writing, and so I decided to go to graduate school for writing.

While I worked on my Master's degree in Professional Writing, I started acquiring a few publishing credits in poetry and script writing. And I worked on my first novel, a YA inspirational romance, which I sent out as a proposal but never ended up finishing. But honestly, I didn't feel like I had much to say about life yet. And I hated sitting still at a desk behind a computer all day. When one of my professors told me I needed a backup plan to support myself as a writer, I informed him I intended to marry and have children and write on the side. He seemed to think that was a perfectly reasonable. Except that neither of us realized how all consuming those early years of marriage and family would be.

As my family grew, I continued writing poetry and some short scripts. I took a few more poetry and literature classes. But it wasn't until 2006 when my youngest was almost four that I finally felt like I had done enough living and learned a few things and decided to work on my first novel (Oh, and I got my first laptop too, so no desk sitting). Then came five more years of studying, developing as a writer, and learning the industry. In 2011 my first novel was published with small press WhiteFire Publishing. Even then I had years and several more novels to go before landing my first "big" contract with Bethany House Publishers. In March of this year, the Valiant Hearts series will release, and a lifelong dream will be fulfilled.

Writing can be a long and twisting path, but if you love it like I do, it's worth it.