I started writing this series in May 2013… after I had been out of college looking for a job since May of 2011 and things weren’t going well. Not able to find a job in my field, constantly told I had too much education with two bachelor degrees in Studio Art/ Interior Design to be hired for a retail, or hourly wage job. I was frustrated, confused, and worried. God had a purpose, I knew He did, but all I could see was my mother supporting the whole family on her retirement check, while I had all this education and no job.
In April of 2013, I started taking a girl to school and picking her up in the afternoons. It didn’t pay anything, but gas money, but it gave me a purpose and a structured day. It was during this time, God started dropping little things into my spirit.
Walking into the kitchen at the end of April, I said to my Mom, I think I want to write a book in the month of May. My mother, being the supportive woman she is, didn’t blink but said, “okay, what do you want me to do?”
I spent those weeks, dropping off my little student, and during the day going to write- at the library, McDonald’s, where ever I could set up my computer and spend a few hours uninterrupted. Over that month, the story just poured out of me. It came in large spurts that left me amazed and shocked.
Having always wanted to write at the age of thirty-one it was happening- quickly. I finished Restoring Grace by mid-June of 2013 and started editing and revising… it was a LONG novel, over 100,000 words. That August, I began a dream job as a designer for a carpet company- it was a job I loved. I kept editing my long novel as I could, but work life began to slow my progress.
By February of 2015, I had started a second novel with about sixty pages completed. I was excited about the new characters and discovering their journey when I had a bad accident. I fell on some ice and hurt my wrist. LONG story short, I was out of work for four months, couldn’t bathe or dress myself. Angry at God, I felt scared and unsure what was going on.
It took months for them to discover what was wrong, and even longer for me to heal enough to work eight hours straight. Over a year, before I could work all day on the computer and then come home to type on my book.
But the GRACE in that story, (one of them anyway) was while I was immobile, God gave me more stories!
Not just for the Grace series either, but also a mystery novel that I’ve put on the back burner for now.
I also learned my books come from God, and I’m just the hands to do the busy work. I couldn’t tell someone what to type, or even speak the words out loud, the writing comes from above to my hands. Even I’m surprised by my characters at times.
In April 2017, my mother and I went on vacation to St. Augustine, Florida. A beautiful, coastal town that I highly recommend visiting. My mother had been bitten by a spider and got tired easily, and I had afternoons where I needed to kill some time. I found a little coffee shop and took my pink computer to see if I could write.
AND I DID… Continuing the Series
I started on a new character’s story, Hillary Blake, Accepting Grace. The words poured out and it was like a rushing river I could not stop. In the next year, I finished editing, Restoring Grace- cutting it down by over 40,000 words. I also wrote Hillary’s story and finished off the rest of Bailey’s story, Trusting Grace. By April of 2018, I was looking into publishing my three novels. I’m working on another one with plans for at least two more in the Grace series.
I hope you enjoy this series as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them. The characters are very dear to my heart with little pieces of me sprinkled throughout. I cannot wait to dive back in to write more stories that feature my little hometown and tell more stories of God’s amazing GRACE.
Until next time, may God’s grace surround you,
