I was a teacher for 22 years, retiring in June of 2012. Coming from a family of teachers, it seemed a natural fit for me after my children were in school. I grew up in the small lakeside town of Harrisville in the northern part of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, the youngest of four children. Following college, Michigan State University, I worked as an announcer at a Christian Radio Station near Lansing. Lee and I married in 1975 and lived in the Detroit suburbs of Berkley and Royal Oak until moving to Wisconsin’s beautiful Door Peninsula in early 1984 with Bethany, age 5, and Christopher, age 3. It was a year or two later that I went back to school to obtain my teaching degree. I taught 5th grade my whole teaching career and loved it. Science was my area of specialty, teaching two or three 5th grade classes of science each day. Of course, reading, language, spelling, social studies, and math were part of my teaching as well.
All the while I was growing up I enjoyed writing short stories and poems. As an adult I put together my own Bible Studies and taught other adults in small groups or Sunday School classes. The desire to write was always in me, but the time commitment never quite seemed feasible. Several years ago the desire grew stronger, and I felt it was a calling from the Lord.
Somehow, I began to find more time to write, but more importantly ideas seemed to well up within me, scenes seemed to form in my mind and spirit. Besides devotionals, I found novels beginning in me. I completed my first short novel, edited it as best I could, then set out to see if I could get published. The publishing process overwhelmed me. I had had no idea that it could be as much or more work than the actual writing. A friend of a friend who was an author gave me the best advice: go to a writer’s conference. There, I began to learn how to write better, find markets, meet editors and publishers, and learn what needs to be done. I still found it daunting, and there's always a great deal of rewriting to do, but now it is exciting and inspiring as well.
At my first conference, I met Eddie Jones of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. He was the one who suggested the Cheesehead Devotional. Anyone who knows me knows what a crazy Packer fan I am. It was quite a suggestion, combining two great loves: first and foremost my love for the Lord and secondly my love for the Packers. Several months later, The Cheesehead Devotional Kickoff Edition became a reality, and I was awarded Best New Writer 2013 at the prestigious Write to Publish Conference. The book combines action from games I’ve attended or watched, experiences with the players, and simply the love of the game with insights from the Word of God. My hope is that it is fun, inspirational, and memorable.
The Hall of Fame Edition of The Cheesehead Devotional launched in September 2017. A similar format of the Kickoff Edition, this one focuses on those inducted into the Green Bay Packer Hall of Fame. It also boasts a Vince Lombardi quote on every page. It has won Second Place Non-fiction in the Serious Writer Awards 2018 and Third Place Non-fiction in the 2018 Wright Awards. Also in 2018, it placed as a Finalist in Sports in the National Indie Excellence Awards, and in 2019 it won Finalist status for Christian Non-fiction in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards.
Society of the L.A.M.B., published by Prism/Pelican Book Group, was my first novel. Set in the woods of Door County, where I live, it is about a band of young people under high persecution for having life within and how they survive and thrive. It's purpose is to make you strong within. It soon will have an audio version.
Run With the Wind, a Christmas novella, released in November 2016 by Prism/Pelican Book Group is part of a Christmas Cowboy collection and as a stand alone ebook. It's an inspirational romance about the Florida Cracker cowboys. Join them on the cattle drive and watch the uncertainty of love corral Linney and Cyrus.
Also in November 2016, Prism published Christmas Ivy about a young woman who has an uncanny visit from her grandparents on Christmas morning. She learns valuable lessons about life and an amazing secret to great provision. She was sure it must have been a dream. It received first place in Short Story at the 2016 Florida Christian Writers Conference. It placed as Winner in the 2018 National Indie Excellence Awards. It also is an ebook.
In 2014 I was one of 12 winners of the Guideposts Workshop Contest and awarded a week of training in New York. Since then I've had several pieces published in the Guideposts family of magazines. Two more have been placed in their 2019 book Miracles DO Happen.
My latest novel, Blood Moon Redemption, launched October 31, 2018. A political thriller, it won Honorable Mention in Mystery/Suspense at the 2018 Florida Christian Writers Conference. The publisher, Ambassador International, called it 'gripping and memorable from start to finish'. A young woman named for an ancient relic finds herself embroiled in an international terrorist plot while those around her grapple with the history of Israel and truth that is being revealed through prophecy and current news events. Blood Moon Redemption won Third Place in Mystery and Suspense in the 2019 prestigious Selah Awards. It placed twice as a Finalist in the 2019 National Indie Excellence Awards for Religious Fiction and Book Cover Design. The 2019 Next Generation Indie Book Awards gave Blood Moon Redemption a Finalist award in Christian Fiction. And in the IBPA Ben Franklin Awards it placed 7 out of 71 in Mystery and Suspense.
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