I write enough as it is! So I thought I’d “show” you my biography in a picture scrapbook format, instead….
My mom bringing me home from the hospital to our house in Riverside, California. You’ll notice this house as the backdrop in a few other photos. My parents still live there to this day!
Me at 3. Check out the puffy yarn bows. So retro!
I’d characterize my kid self as shy, imaginative, easy going, and eager to follow rules. I’m the first born, though, so there’s also some leadership and determination in the mix.
I loved horses! I asked for one every Christmas, but alas, we lived in a neighborhood. Not on a ranch.
Back in the day, I was also crazy about ballet.
That’s me on the right. My father was an art teacher and our whole family moved to Germany for four years (5th-8th grade for me) so that he could teach at Frankfurt International School. During those years we were able to travel all over Europe. We stayed in so many campgrounds that my mom, sisters, and I overdosed on them and have refused to “rough it” ever since.
My sister and me (on the right at 13) on a trip to Japan. You can bet I didn’t include this photo to call attention to my hairstyle. I like it because, if you look closely, you’ll see that I’d stopped reading my novel just long enough to do my mom’s bidding and pose for a picture. I have always loved books.
My family returned to Riverside in time for me to enter high school. Maybe some of you can relate: 9th grade is not an easy time for a kid to assimilate into a new school. Somehow, I managed to squeak onto the cheerleading squad, which helped matters a little. Hope you’re getting as much entertainment at my expense over the hair, make-up, and outfit in this photo as I am.
In addition to cheerleading, I was passionate about Mock Trial during my high school years. The two were strange bedfellows… but there you have it.
After high school I left southern California for Waco, Texas to attend Baylor University. I received a degree in business, but have never worked for a company for so much as a single day.
Note to mothers: don’t send your kids out of state for college unless you don’t mind them meeting and marrying someone from that state and never living in the state of their birth again. I met my husband at Baylor and haven’t resided in California since our wedding day.
During the early years of our marriage, my husband worked for an international tennis management company. They sent us first to the Caribbean island of Anguilla, where we lived for 3 years. I’d always been a bookworm, but had never considered writing as a profession until I found myself on a remote island with time on my hands, an imagination, a love of romance novels, and a computer. I thought, “Huh. Maybe I could do this?” and started work on my first manuscript.
After Anguilla, we were sent to Australia, where we lived for a year. I continued, doggedly, to write.
When my husband accepted a job offer in Dallas, we returned to the USA. Four years and four manuscripts after I started writing, I sold my first book. It was a western-set historical romance for the general market. That’s me in the middle, with my parents and sisters. I published two more before…..
Baby #1!
Baby #2!
Baby #3!
Here’s what we look like now!
God, it turns out, had different plans.
In His time, He began to nudge me to write again. Still romances, but romances written for Him and for the Christian market. I started fleshing out a story idea. Then eventually, I carved out the time to sit down in front of my computer. Slowly but surely, I wrote My Stubborn Heart.
The fact that I was able to complete it while simultaneously mothering my 3 kids is a flat-out miracle. I can’t attribute it to anything except His greatness. I would have failed unless He helped me. But, He’s full of mercy and sufficiency and He did help me. Anything good, entertaining, or moving about my books comes from Him and is due strictly to His ability.
So here I am – amazed, humbled, and thankful beyond words that God has given me a second chance to be an author at this particular phase and stage of my life.
I’m grateful for the journey He’s led me on so far and excited and expectant about the journey ahead.