“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”

1 Peter 4:10 NIV

 

A Creative Life

 

I’ve written stories for as long as I can remember. Not for publication, mind you. I never intended to become a published author. I wrote purely for myself. I needed to escape and process the world around me. If the characters I read and wrote could endure dangerous adventures and hair-raising rescues, I could survive another day. My source of escape grew into a secret passion as I delved into history and crafted stories of hope through danger.

Even after I married and had two wonderful boys, stories flowed from my fingertips. Writing remained my sanity, but more than that, it became the tool through which God taught and spoke to me. The stories came through my fingertips, but they were marked with His fingerprints.

I never dreamed it would lead to something more.

 

Answering the Call to Write

 

In June 2015, my husband treated me to the Kentucky Christian Writers Conference. I was excited to improve my writing, but I never had any intention beyond personal gratification. God’s plan ended up being slightly bigger.

From the very first moment of the conference, God made it clear I needed to pursue writing as a career. Over and over He put publishing in my face. All the classes except publishing topics were canceled. I did not jump up and down in excitement for this call. Hope-filled terror made me question, God would You really use something so important to me to serve You?

Yes, and He continues to prove faithful in my writing. Although not easy, I obediently write. My stories are still filled with danger, struggle, and history, but they are also permeated with the hope and love of Christ. I hope they are dangerously good. Good for the heart and for the soul.

 

Why the Gilded Age

 

Y’all, I am a history nerd. I have been since my parents took us to museums and historical sights throughout my childhood. I processed the present through looking through a lens to the past. I’ve always been drawn to the American seasons of life when the country was pitted against itself–the American Revolution, the Civil War, and the Gilded Age. There is just something fascinating and poignant to me about the times in history when members in a household and society could be so fiercely divided.

 

I’ve written book in all three eras, but don’t get your hopes. Those early stories will never see the light of day. Settling into the Gilded Age partly had to do with atmosphere of the publishing industry when I entered it. Initially I was writing Civil War stories. However, when one piece of research led me to the discovery of the Secret Service origin story, I decided to shift to writing a series focused on them. Due to the timeline of their history and my needs for a story, it was necessary for me to set my stories in the Gilded Age. Counterfeit Love was the first story I put out for submission . . . and it was accepted. Which ended up being a blessing.

 

Due to the challenges and uprisings surrounding COVID, publishers became terrified to publish Civil War stories. As of the date of updating this page, most of the new Civil War stories are self-published. The series I had started writing when I thought Counterfeit Love wasn’t going to find a home, has been set aside for the foreseeable future. But who knows, maybe one day I will pick it up again.

 

Now that I have found a home in the Gilded Age, this is where I plan to stay for a while. I love the complexities of the era, the juxtoposition of the uber rich and poor working man, and the development of the middle class. Technology development was at an all-time high, and there are so many historical social, political, and personal issues that I can play with. It really is such a rich era that I feel is under-explored. I have a notebook of nearly a dozen series ideas, all based out of research just for the Gilded Age.

 

Will I always write Gilded Age? Probably not. But I’m content to stay here for a good long time.

 

Why are so many stories set in Cincinnati?

 

While I grew up in Central Kentucky, I married a Northern Kentucky boy . . . which meant I joined him living twenty minutes from downtown Cincinnati. Since I’m such a history nerd, I decided the best way to get to know my new home was to use it as a setting for a story.

Cincinnati is a fascinating place with an interesting history. With Written in Secret stepping back in time from Counterfeit Love, it was necessary that I set my story there again. And since the series features four friends, I’m firmly anchored in the Cincinnati settings for the next while. Honestly, it’s a bit of a blessing as caregiving for my MIL make traveling for research really difficult. But I do hope to move forward and explore some other locations for future series.

 

The Quick Bio & Favorites

Grew up: Georgetown, KY 

Colleges: B.A. of Elementary Education, Easter & Northern Kentucky Universities, M.A. of Elementary Education, University of the Cumberlands

Family: (From left to right in the picture below) Ramey, Matt, Nehemiah, Dad, Mom, Linda, Travis, and Malaki

Pets: Corky – Chihuahua (super old), Harold – Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (youngling)

Fun Fact #1: Each family member has a personality just like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. My husband is Donatello, my oldest son is Raphael, the youngest is Leonardo, and I’m the goofy Michelangelo.

Fun Fact #2: I’ve traveled to all 48 contiguous United States. All that remain are Alaska and Hawaii.

Favorite Job: Working under the table at the Kentucky Horse Park, which mostly consisted of mucking stables. But I met my sweet Romeo there, an old strawberry roan who never stepped on my toes.

Hobbies: Board Games with the family, traveling in our RV, High Tea whenever and wherever I can get it.

Movies: North and South (BBC), Argyle (just stupid and fun), Mulan (cartoon version), Brave, Beauty and the Beast, Pride and Prejudice (BBC)

TV Shows: Miss Scarlet and the Duke (Seasons 1-3), Hogan’s Heroes, Diagnosis Murder, Murder She Wrote

Books: A Rumored Fortune by Joanna Davidson Politano, The Noble Guardian & Man of Shadows and Mist by Michelle Griep, Where Dandelions Bloom by Tara Johnson, To Catch a Coronet by Grace Hitchcock, The Debutante’s Code by Erica Vetsch

Music: Wonder Woman Soundtrack, Dream Cave, Rend Collective, Celtic Worship

Drinks: Water, hot loose leaf tea (all varieties without flowers), ice cold Ale-8-One (a local fav), Stewarts Orange Cream Soda, Henry Weinhard’s Rootbeer

Food/Snack: Dark Chocolate, frozen fruit mix, eggplant parmigiana, Strawberry-Rhubarb pie, shrimp and grits

Collects: Tea cups, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Baby Yoda, Groot, Rocket

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The Art of Love & Danger: Book 2
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