Why I Started Writing:

I was nine years old when my parents took me to a dairy. It was a grand adventure, and to remember the experience, I wrote a few facts about cows and drew a detailed picture of one. My mother framed it, and to this day, I still have it in my office.

As I got older, journaling became a way to record ideas, clarify plans, and debrief after a hard day. To earn credit for graduate school, I signed up to write a master’s thesis for my degree in Speech Communication. My goal was to finish it in a semester, but it took over a year. My advisor was patient, and he taught me how to edit, revise, and refine my work.

As a community college professor, one goal was to keep my writing sharp by attending a series of Christian writers’ conferences.

In May 2017, I heard God say, “Write for me.” Now, I write for Him.

Authors Who Have Influenced Me:

Jerry Jenkins’s Left Behind Series is one of my all-time favorites. In 2019, I signed up for Jerry Jenkins’s “Dreamer to Author” program. Watching this prerecorded program was like having a personal writing coach.

R. Kent Hughes (Disciplines of a Godly Man) deepened my walk with Christ.

Dr. Seuss makes me smile.

Jacqueline Woodson (Show Way) affected my perspective of children’s literature when I heard her give a keynote address to a writers’ conference at UCLA. I still remember my positive reaction as she read excerpts from her book.

Cecil Murphey (Unleash the Writer Within and together with Ben Carson he wrote Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story) is a wonderful writer. He offered sound advice to help me on my writing journey.

Frederick Forsyth (The Day of the Jackal) and Irving Stone (The Agony and the Ecstasy) wrote vivid descriptions of historical places in Europe and made their characters come alive.

Spencer Johnson, M.D. and Kenneth Blanchard (Who Moved My Cheese) motivated me to make their book required reading for college students in my interpersonal communication classes.

Dave Ramsey (The Total Money Makeover) inspired me to live debt free.

Gary Keller, with Jay Papasan (The One Thing) and Brain P. Moran and Michael Lennington (The 12-Week Year) helped improve my prioritization, goal setting, and time management skills.

Books I Have Written:

As a former coin collector for over fifty years, I combine my love for the Bible, children’s literature, and sharing stories about the history behind coins. There are two books in the In God We Trust series.

The Two-Cent Piece: Anne discovers her brother’s hidden secret. They’re enlisting in the Union Army. In a heartfelt gesture, she gives each of them one of her cherished two-cent coins bearing the phrase “In God We Trust,” along with a verse from Psalm 91:2, hoping to bolster their faith as they head off to war.

Marcus and the Emperor’s Coin is a thrilling tale set in ancient Rome during Christ’s era. Eight-year-old Marcus and his father embark on an imperial mission, exploring a mine and mint where coins are crafted. Witnessing Jesus holding a denarius in Jerusalem leaves Marcus pondering its significance.

Marcus’s story won First Place in Children’s Book Category, Kudos Awards, at the 2024 Carolina Christian Writers Conference. When the book was first released, it became an Amazon bestseller in two categories: Children’s Christian Historical Fiction and Children’s Christian Learning Concepts Fiction.

Find short video trailers of both books at https://dennisconradauthor.com/book-collection/.

Free Resources:

Visit Dennis’s website, https://dennisconradauthor.com. There he offers access to free monthly Activity Sheets (like a crossword puzzle), and where family members can encourage their children to become Junior Coin Collectors. The Activity Sheets also include a “Coin Hunt” section that encourages young people to search for and find coins in change, and a “Vocabulary Builder” that teaches words related to coin collecting.