I thought I might try doing some writing on Substack, but I don’t have the time for another outlet right now. I did publish a few over there, but I thought I’d bring them to my own blog. Here’s one:

I don’t remember a lot in-depth until we moved to Japan. I was nine years old and about to start 4^th grade. My teacher had us journal every day. Some days she would give us a topic and other days she would let us write anything we wanted. 

I started writing stories.

I started writing poems.

I started writing about my day.

I started writing letters to my friend from Utah and my grandparents. 

She saw something in me and my writing. She showed me the class typewriter and let me type up a story I had journaled. 

Then, she encouraged me to enter two poems into a compilation for military brats in Asia. One of my poems was chosen, and, at the age of 10, I saw something I had written published.

Over the next few years, I wrote stories for school and at home. We made books in class and I started co-writing a mystery book with a friend. I joined the newspaper club in 6^th grade.

I’ve never stopped writing.

At first, I wanted to be a teacher. Then, a high school teacher really wanted me to pursue chemistry since I was really good at it. But, during my junior year in high school, I thought about journalism. It involved a writing style I hadn’t done much with and it would be writing something new every time. 

I found as I studied journalism that everyone has a story. I loved being able to listen to the stories and then write them up in a way that engaged the reader. My favorite series of articles I’ve ever written were about World War II veterans in Alaska. Each one’s story was unique and worth exploring.

I write to share ideas, tell stories, spread truth and connection. My books have messages tucked into the stories.

I write because God made me a writer. I can’t picture myself doing much else.

I’ve been around the military my entire life, so it’s no surprise that my first novel is tied to that world. I started mulling around the idea for my first novel while we lived in Alaska. 

We had been fighting the War on Terror for years now and it seemed the families of the fallen were being forgotten and overlooked.

A college friend’s brother was stationed up in Alaska and stayed with us for a while. His Army friend had left behind a widow and daughter after being killed in action and he made it his mission to check in on her and make sure they were doing as well as they could be doing.

So, I thought and thought and brainstormed and finally got an idea for a storyline … 

It wasn’t until we moved and I had some alone time flying from New Mexico to California to pick up our van from the ship that I was able to start writing. I got a few pages done that weekend and then didn’t look at it again until a few months later when we were getting settled into our house in Missouri.

I couldn’t find the file. 

It was gone. 

And, then life got busy and I started back on my classes for my masters degree. 

And, we moved again to Ohio.

And, then I started guest blogging and working for the local newspaper.

And then a different book idea came to me that would go well with the type of blogging I was doing. So, I started writing a different book. I rewrote it three times. 

Then, I went back to writing the first book I wanted to write during NaNoWriMo. I worked on editing it and then that’s the first one that was published. Technically, the second book I wrote was the first one published, but it was the first book I ever started writing.

To read the stories behind my books, visit the Books page.