Why I Started Writing:

While I’ve always loved to read, and I wrote poetry, songs, and some stories as a girl, I didn’t originally dream of becoming an author. Actually, I wanted to be an astronaut! My oldest cousin was involved in the space program, and I watched every rocket launch I could. I even knew the names of all the astronauts. That dream, however, died when I started discussing high school and future plans with a counselor in the eighth grade. I realized during that conversation I didn’t have “the right stuff”—I’m mildly claustrophobic, get sick on amusement park rides, and am not especially sturdy. However, she pointed out I did have “the write stuff”—I got good grades in writing and knew how to tell a story. To test her theory, I entered a few local writing contests and won them all. At the age of fourteen, I started writing for the school paper and also landed a gig covering my school for a big city youth tabloid. By the following year, I was covering the Philadelphia Phillies for my local weekly. In college and graduate school, I continued writing for newspapers and magazines, and then I began having books published. I write "encouraging history," about people and events who've shaped our nation's past and present. My readers mean so much to me, and my goal is to provide uplifting and encouraging stories to bless their lives while imparting a faith-based, historical perspective. 

Authors Who Have Influenced Me:

When I was a girl, I loved all the Nancy Drew books, which were written by various authors, and I adored Charles Schulz of “Peanuts” fame. I also enjoyed weightier books, especially biographies of famous Americans. As a teenager and young adult, I loved Catherine Marshall and C.S. Lewis. The authors having the most influence on my life and writing now include Jan Karon, Craig Von Buseck, David Barton, John Ferling, James Herriot, Robin Jones Gunn, and as always, C.S. Lewis! 

Books I Have Written:

I wrote my first book in high school, but it wasn’t until many years later I actually had one published—my Heather Reed Mystery Series—Nancy Drew for the 90s! Eight books later, I wrote The Impossible Dreamers Series for Multnomah. I started writing exclusively about Americana after that for an adult audience, including Great Women in American History, Great Stories in American History, Great Letters in American History, Harriet Tubman, Great Events in American History, Who Goes There: A Cultural History of Heaven and Hell, and Then Comes Marriage: A Cultural History of the American Family. I have loved doing my six-book Easton Series with Elk Lake Publishing, including award-winning Easton at the Crossroads, Easton at Sunset, Easton at the Pass, and Easton at Christmastide. The final novel in the series is Easton at Sunset, which brings the stories of Colonel Peter Kichline and Erin Miles to a close. I also wrote the two-book Morning in America Series: award-winning Morning Glory and Sweet, Sweet Spirit. Both of them take place during pivotal American revivals. 

What I'm Working On Now:

I'm jazzed about my upcoming novel, East of the Sun! The Lord just "gave" this story to me through a dream, and I ran with the inspiration. It's book one in my new Heirs of Freedom Series, in which descendants of Colonel Peter Kichline carry his vision for America into the future. East of the Sun is a winsome, uplifting story about a Korean War MASH nurse and a wounded North Korean officer who doesn't seem to be who his paperwork says he is. This novel is about the way God blesses families generationally, about love in a way we seldom see modeled, about hope between a rock and a hard place. Be looking for it in early 2025!