Ann Cavera

Why I Started Writing:

Our family moved often while I was a child. At age seven, I thought of some rhyming words, wrote them down, and created a poem. Okay, I had created a really bad poem. Still, it was mine, all mine, and I felt a huge surge of joy. I still remember all nineteen words of that poem. Those words were a revelation. Wherever we lived, I could create my own reality, write it down, and take it with me. Books and writing became my faithful companions.   

As a young mother, I drafted a novel for middle-grade children. In between bringing up four children, teaching middle school, caring for elderly parents, and writing a weekly family life column, my first novel gathered dust.  

After retirement, I began asking what my “third act” would be. I really wanted to write books to share the love, joy, and hope of Christ with my children and grandchildren. I dusted off the novel, attended conferences for writers, took classes, and began submitting my work. I am grateful my middle-grade novel, Ride A Summer Wind, has found a home at Elk Lake Publishing.   

Authors Who Have Influenced Me:

Walter Farley and his Black Stallion books were my first favorites along with The Borrowers by Mary Norton. C.S. Lewis, Madeleine L’Engle, the Gospel of John, Henri Nouwen, and my faithful friend and critique partner Bettie Boswell have also helped shape me as a writer.  

Books I Have Written:

From 1997-2011, my husband Jim and I coauthored "The Second Half," a family life column for The Message, a weekly paper for the Catholic diocese of Evansville, Indiana. The column won two first-place awards from the Catholic Press Association (now The Catholic Media Association).  Some years ago, Liguori Press published Grounded in God; a book based on our columns.

Elk Lake published my first middle grade novel Ride a Summer Wind (March 2024). In September 2024. This novel received an award from the Christian Independent Publishers Association.

What I'm Working On Now:

Seeds of Darkness Elk Lake has scheduled release of this middle-grade novel in 2026. Seeds of Darkness offers a hopeful, faith-focused view of a future world after the fall of technology.

Podcast: Speeding Past 80--Brief stories of faith, hope, love, and laughter. After more than 135 episodes, I am still having a great time offering stories from the second half of life along with occasional author interviews.

Listen Here

Verbena Watkins Has Had Enough! Elderly, widowed Verbena is fed up with her three lazy adult daughters. After washing all of the Thanksgiving (1968) dishes alone, Verbena points her Nash Rambler north and leaves her old life behind for a year of adventure on the road.