My life began on a small dairy farm in South Georgia. The fish pond in the picture is where I learned to swim and play at the end of a hot summer day. I spent many hours walking through the woods with my head full of adventures and romance.

After graduating from Odum High School, I attended Lee College (now University) where a fellow student, Charles, began to play a major role in my life. Although our marriage interrupted my dream of being a high school math teacher, my education continued in the workforce.  My husband took me from a quiet country life to the fast-paced suburban life of Northern Virginia. It included a daily commute to the Pentagon where I worked as a personnel assistant.

When I became a mother for the second time, my status changed to stay-at-home mom, housewife and Christian education volunteer. In 1984, I accepted a full-time position as Director of Children’s Ministry at Church of the Apostles in Fairfax, Virginia. My work experiences, both volunteer and paid, required writing skills for short stories, newsletter articles, curriculum and written communication. When the ideas dried up for camps, retreats, intern discipleship, Hallelujah Parties, Junior Warriors and teacher recruitment, I retired to enjoy my grandchildren, travel with my husband and read the new surge of Christian fiction available. My desire to write surfaced while helping my sister compile my mother’s biography. Ideas taking shape in my imagination soon became the outline of my first novel.

Learning to write has been a challenge, but with the help of my fellow writers at the Northern Virginia Christian Writer’s Fellowship (now Capital Christian Writers) and the encouragement of friends and family, my debut novel, By the Sea, was published on February 18, 2019. The book was a finalist for the 2020 Selah Awards. Journey to Hope: The Legacy of a Mail-Order Bride released in 2020 and Jonah’s War was published in August 2021.

Previous writings are included in compilations published by Capital Christian Writer’s Fellowship (the former Northern Virginia Christian Writer’s Fellowship): A devotional, entitled “Treasures of the Sea,” published in Whispers, 2015; “My Proverbs 31 Mother,” in Characters We Know and Love, 2016; “A Touch of Regency,” published in Short Story Revival in 2017; “Legacy of Prayer” published in Legacy, Heartprints that Linger, 2018; a prayer published in Prayers for Writers in 2020