Why I Started Writing:

One day, I realized I was narrating my run in my head. Crisp air stung her cheeks and bit at her fingertips through her stretch gloves. She quickened her pace to warm up, her footfalls crunching fallen leaves strewn about the path. Something to that effect.

At home, I asked my husband if her finds himself narrating his day or creating dialogue between fiction characters in his head. He said no. Huh. Better to keep this peculiar habit to myself.

Or … perhaps I was a writer.

Immediately, I sat at my computer and jotted the words that had flitted through my mind on the run. It almost seemed like a story. One thing led to another, and soon I had a full-length novel. And I was hooked on writing. After several years studying the craft, I self-published that first novel to share with family and friends. Passion had been sparked.

For me, fiction—both reading and even more so writing—has a way of enabling me to consider life through different points of view by entering into characters uncensored thoughts and experiencing their journeys alongside them.

Authors Who Have Influenced Me:

Karen Kingsbury was the first Christian author I read. The Baxter family characters soon felt like family to me, and I’d find myself praying for them, forgetting they were fictional.

Becky Wade’s books opened my eyes to contemporary Christian romance—my favorite genre. Her stories go beyond the romance, involving complicated, true-to-life characters. She’s also highly relatable on social media and inspires me that if she can do this author gig while raising a family, then so can I.

Currently, I’m devouring all of Denise Hunter’s books I can get my hands on. And there are so many!

Books I Have Written:

What Love Looks Like, a Lake Diamond novel—Elk Lake Publishing, Inc.

Simone Clare’s favorite student, Hannah, seems to have a deadbeat dad. He brings her to school late, forgets to feed her breakfast, and overlooks homework assignments. Simone is not pleased. As a foster child who suffered at the hands of self-absorbed adults, she has a very low tolerance of inattentive parents and berates him for neglect.

Then Simone discovers she’s had it all wrong. Hannah’s father, Mica Stark, is a widower, struggling to manage life as a single parent—and she is overcome with guilt. Her next-door neighbor saves her from spiraling into a self-loathing pity party, and counsels her to seek him out to apologize. When she does, it sparks a growing relationship and affection. But when Simone’s troubled past as a foster child enters the picture, it threatens to take away everything she holds dear, including her teaching job.

Bittersweet Goodbye—March 2018 BookBaby

In an attempt to hide the secret of her assault, Audrey Chapman avoids her friends and family, including Trevor Hayes—her best friend since forever, who just confessed he sees her as more that just a friend. She can’t hide her secret for long because this secret comes with a choice. No matter what decision she makes, someone will get hurt. Bittersweet Goodbye is a story of love and friendship, tragedy and hope, and God’s grace.

“Sewing a Legacy” featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Miracles and Divine Intervention 2021

What I'm Working On Now:

Lake Diamond series, book two