Writing is something I always knew I could do. When I was at school, some of my friends could sing, some could draw… I could write. I was the editor in chief of the school paper so I edited and wrote news articles, I wrote many of the school plays I performed in, I entered…
It started with a dream. That sounds so trite but it’s true. Six years ago, I dreamed of a red haired girl trudging through the snow. She walked with a group of friends while a boy only she could see and hear made snarky comments to her. I don’t know why it resonated with me,…
I began my journey as an author in childhood, though I wasn’t aware of it at the time. I’d always been an avid reader, especially of fantasy, and I wrote stories constantly, jotting them down in notebooks, journals, and even using my grandmother’s old typewriter. But I never finished anything I wrote. Looking back, I…
What was the inspiration for this story? What a great question! The short answer is that this story came from my habit of asking, What if…? and dreaming up answers. What if there was a land where… What if there was a young trickster who… And what if his lover… Stephen King talks about stories…
Growing up, I was the oldest of three kids. My brothers and I made up stories all the time. Our ideas were all over the place. Most of them barely made sense, but they had one common thread- action. We were always running, always fighting the bad guys. Someone always needed to be rescued. Hiding…
I have been teaching teens and young adults for over twenty five years, and I have discovered how vulnerable adolescent girls feel when they are in their early teens. I have also spoken to a few teens in my church and in other communities too, and they all expressed a very raw vulnerability, one that…
I believe the best stories result from characters who come to me when I’m not looking for them. That was the case with Hunter Carlisle and Between These Walls. In 2011, a novel concept came to mind: a Christian middle-school student who harbored an attraction to the same gender. Facets of his struggle tugged at…
P.O.W.ER comes from watching a world which seems determined to undervalue half of its population—the female half. It also comes from a basic question that has always confused me: why are people in power so afraid of educated women? There’s evidence of this in many countries, where one of the first things they do to…
We love the story behind the story. Superhero tales, for example. Superman wouldn’t be the same without knowing Krypton blew up just after his parents made him an orphan. In the same way, who thought up the alien-orphan idea and why? What was the inspiration? Inspiration is taking a breath, getting ready to fight or…
Keepers of Runes is a coming of age fantasy series for teens and adults. Driven by separate ideals, young mercenaries unravel the chilling secrets of Terranesit, a world ravaged by darkness. After unveiling the fiend spurned from a vain society, the band of heroes is snared by the ensuing holy war. Their noble deeds are…
The Story Behind the Book 