I’ve been a Midwest girl all my life. Oh, there were those 5 years when my one true love married me and whisked me off to live in New York – but I’ll get to that in a minute.

Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, by wonderful parents my childhood was as normal as normal can be. My family was so great, they were kind enough to endure all my attempts at writing which started when I was a little girl.  I was always busy penning sentimental cards (one, I recall, compared my love for my parents to that of a puppy for its master!?), bookmarks with supposedly pithy sayings, and short stories that didn’t always make much sense.  Except for there were a few stories during junior high that had some of the girls in class crying, branding me as the person who writes “those tearjerkers.”  I also had notebooks full of prose and poems in high school, but lucky for my family, those were secretly tucked away. I didn’t subject them to all the ecstasy and mostly angst of those teen ponderings.

The desire to write led me to a degree in Communications which then led to advertising copywriting.  And, after years of slaving away writing about Wendy’s hamburgers, Stihl chainsaws and Senco’s pneumatic tools, my prince showed up.  At our ten-year high school reunion, no less! One kiss, and the next thing I know, I woke up married and living in Queens, New York.

While up East, we published a non-fiction book with New American Library.  We also gave birth to something incomparably better – our daughter.  Shortly after she turned two, wanting to raise her near family, we returned to Cincinnati.  Shortly after, our always smiling son was born.

For many years while the kids were growing up, I wrote and edited copy for gift ware products.  But then, I started telling friends I wanted to write sweet romances, which was a strange and scary thing for me.  That’s because I told enough of them that they started asking about it – meaning I really had to attempt it.  I’m still not sure why I did that.

For me, the writing journey, the nearly forty-year marriage to my husband, and the blessing of our children, son-in-law and grandkids-plus, our dog Chaz-does all seem like a fairy tale.  But honestly, I know better. God’s always pursuing us, isn’t He?  And coming up with plans for our lives that are so much greater and more creative than the ones we often imagine for ourselves.

I’m not sure exactly what’s next. But I do know, studying more about God’s word and practicing at writing have seemed to blend together more and more in the past years.  Both have given me the opportunity to meet some incredibly talented people.  To make some wonderful life-long friends.  To go places I never thought I’d see.  And to witness the gifts of God’s remarkable timing and love.  So at this point, as I move ahead, I plan to leave the future in His masterful, capable hands.