Anne Baxter Campbell
Why I Started Writing:
There are two―no, make that three―times I started writing.
- When I was in elementary school, I was blessed with teachers who liked to have the students write stories. You might say I wrote because it was an assignment, but I say I wrote because I loved writing. I wish I’d kept the stories but didn’t. I remember most of them, or the gist of them, fairly well.
- When I was in my early thirties, I began again. I had a twelve-year-old daughter going on sixteen with all the hormones that tend to get a teenager in deeper than they should. She needed something to do with her spare time, and I hoped to provide a romance that would be clean and lead her closer to God. So began a romance of ancient Biblical times―I wrote and she typed. I didn’t have much experience (well, except for during the school years), but she liked it anyway. Shortly after I began that story, we moved to a different town. I put the manuscript (about five chapters) away in a drawer and forgot about it until almost thirty years later.
- Shortly before I retired from the Bureau of Reclamation, I gave a speech at the Toastmasters Club I belonged to about a kitten we adopted. The club liked it. Not sure why, but I wrote out this speech (I didn’t usually). When my family arrived for our annual pre-Thanksgiving get together, I let them read the story. One of them suggested the story would make a cute children’s book. And so it has. Three of them so far, to be precise.
After the first two of the children's books, I began writing a manuscript about a family torn apart by the death of a child. When I finished, I began submitting the manuscript to agents and publishers. None of them were interested. So I dug out the old manuscript begun thirty years before and finished that one. And another—a sequel. Once started, I couldn’t seem to quit.
Authors Who Have Influenced Me:
The first authors who influenced me I read long before I gave my life to the Lord. Oddly enough, I was always attracted to biblical fiction even then. Taylor Caldwell, Frank Slaughter, and Thomas B. Costain were my earliest mentors, even though I never met them. Many years passed after I became a Christian before I re-began writing, and when I joined ACFW, I had the joy of meeting some of my favorite writers. One that I haven’t met but whose writing style I’d love to be able to emulate is Francine Rivers. Another (and one I’ve had the joy of knowing) is Kathi Macias. Thanks to her some of my stories were published, so she is truly my mentor. I also greatly admire the books written by Jordyn Redwood, Ginny Yttrup, and Dan Walsh. All of the mentioned authors have a knack for the perfect phrase, a grasp on how to pull the reader to the next paragraph or chapter, and the ability to teach people more about God.
Books I Have Written:
Self-Published children’s books under the name of Anne M Baxter:
Everybody Needs a Name
Maybe Wins!
Fiction published by Helping Hands Press under the name of Anne Baxter Campbell (as are all the remaining books):
The Roman’s Quest
Marcus Varitor, Centurion
The Truth Doesn’t Die
Once Upon Some Holidays (compilation of my short stories about a family)
Maybe Meets Tillie Again (two books―the complete story and an accompanying coloring book)
Fiction short story compilations (multiple authors) published by Helping Hands Press:
Summer in Sweetland
‘Tis the Season in Sweetland
Sonrise in Sweetland
Christmases Past
Published by Elk Lake Publishing:
Fear Not, a devotional.
What I'm Working On Now:
I’ve just begun writing and compiling a new devotional, working title Neither Be Afraid. I will write some of the short articles, but most will be written by others who have been helped by God through harrowing circumstances.
Another one that has been in slow progress for over a year is the story of Luke the Physician and his companions. When I got bogged down in that one, I began revising and hopefully improving the one that is now being considered by two publishers.