I feel I should preface this with an apology because while I love creating pretend characters and the trademark for my novels is likely to be a gripping introductory first-person prologue from my lead, I find describing myself quite tedious. I’m just not all that interesting. So, (big breath) here goes . . .

An avid lifelong reader, I consume at least a book or two a week, and on a great vacation, five to seven. When I’m not working, reading, or writing, I spend my free time enjoying the outdoors with my family, mostly at our home on a small lake in Southwest Michigan, occasionally visiting a tiny rustic hunting cabin in Colorado and every once in a while, when we’re blessed with means, a vacation in the Caribbean.

I must admit, when I began writing in 2012, I was very much a newbie. But… as a goal-oriented positive thinker and self-learner, I devoured twenty-some non-fiction books on the craft that year and gave it a go. As a marketing operations manager, a big part of my job is written communications: business process documentation, internal and external professional correspondence, and of course, the inevitable and incessant email. I have a couple of published magazine articles to my credit and a B.S. from Purdue University where I studied IT, engineering, and chemistry.

That’s right, I majored in science.

But oh, this is good. When I was in college, I had a freshman English class where just about every paper I turned in came back with an A- and a comment like, “Did you write this?” After several of these—and because there was very little red ink elsewhere—I asked what the minus was for. The professor’s only response, after I assured him I wrote it, was to change it to an A. Maybe I should have listened to what he didn’t say.

From my earliest memories I never really knew what I wanted to do. I changed majors five times in college. But after sitting down and writing my first story in the summer of 2012—between a full-time job and two young children—now I know. I want to write. That first story will never be published. It has way too many speaker attributions and adverbs. And story structure? What’s that? Now I know better. But it touched my heart and that’s something.

My stories are contemporary character-driven tales of everyday people and the challenges we all face in life: love, friendship, parenthood, morality, mortality, compassion, and faith. My favorite novels are those that reach down deep, wrap up my whole heart and soul, and make me laugh, and cry. And those are the types of stories I want to write. I want to touch people’s lives. I want my readers to feel better, be better, and love better because they read my words and take them to heart.

I want to inspire, to comfort, and to breathe faith and hope . . .

into anyone who may despair that they’re alone in this world.

I expected it to take more than a couple of tries to get it right, but my beta readers encouraged me to submit Angel Beneath My Wheels, assuring me it’s a great story and well-written. Six months and forty-nine query letters later, I landed an agent who then helped me find a publisher and my first book was released in February 2016!

If reviews are any indication, I've accomplished at least some of what I set out to do with Angel Beneath My Wheels, and my newest release, The Bravest Among Us. I hope you enjoy them too. If you'd like to receive an occasional short story about real people who touch the lives of others, and announcements of future releases, please join my email list below.

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