I come from a family of story tellers. As long as I can remember, we’ve been laughing and crying at stories that we tell each other. These have been the way that we remember our history and the way we deal with our present. The future? It’s simply a story waiting to happen.

My father was a pastor and his sermons were filled with illustrations and stories. My grandparents and my parents were always using tales of their lives to keep others entertained and my siblings and I continue to do the same thing.

Mom’s creativity was limitless. She painted, worked with clay – both sculpting and throwing pots, sketched, wrote poetry and stories, sewed, crocheted, and knitted. There was nothing she couldn’t do. She encouraged her children to be creative. The first story I remember writing was during the summer between first and second grade – about a prince whose magical power was in his toenails. I wish I could remember the whole story. I have scores of story beginnings, story ideas, and half-written tales. To complete them all would require several more lifetimes. I will never be bored.

My college degree is in Music Education and I have been a pianist and singer as long as I can remember. When I was very young, Dad asked a high school girl (who played in our church) to give me piano lessons. She was terrified, but he told her that all he wanted her to do was make sure I loved the piano. I loved playing and music defined the rest of my life. Dad wanted me to be a concert pianist. I didn’t want to live in a practice room, but the discipline of practice, memorization, and performance taught me strength, determination, and perseverance. I’ve accompanied soloists and ensembles, directed choirs - both large and small, led worship for thousands as well as intimate gatherings.

Two years into my first job as a Christian Ed and Music Director in a church, my mother asked me to go into business with her- running a quick printing shop in Omaha, Nebraska. She died three years later and for the next twenty years, my sister and I were print shop owners. When the business closed, I went back into the church and worked as a Communication Director, then decided it was finally time to complete my master’s degree.

The year before completing my degree, I began planning a future. There were so many options, but only a few allowed me the freedom to work for myself. For six months I tried to wrap my head around the possibility of becoming an author. The world had changed, and independent publishing was real. I could do this. In one month, I had the first book in the Bellingwood series written – even while writing papers for my degree. This was going to happen. Several months later, the book was published, and I was writing the second … then the third.

Let’s see what comes next.