My first novel is available for purchase as of Tuesday! If you aren’t able to see me live and in person- just know I looked like this. 
Having my first full novel available for people to buy and read has been scary and thrilling all at the same time. A lot of people ask me when did I start writing and the truth is I wrote my first novels in elementary school. My very first was titled, The Boy with No Toys. 
The Boy with No Toys, Written in the 3rd Grade
Classy, right? For a small kid with terrible handwriting (I have the letter from my mother to prove it), I’ve certainly come a long way. THANK GOD FOR SPELL CHECK!
My sweet mother has been saving my books, writings, letters, cards, drawings, etc. for many years. She has lovingly kept several of my first attempts at writing. They are by no means great, riveting, or even a good read, but they are reminders of humble beginnings.
In the seventh grade, our yearbook included what we wanted to be when we grew up and I said, writer. My plan was to be a third-grade teacher and write in my spare time, especially during the summer. Well, I can tell you I’m not a teacher.
Looking back at that plan, I’m glad God did not let it happen that way. I would have been miserable as a teacher because it’s not my personality to do the same thing over and over. I need more change and variety in my career. It wasn’t until my senior year of high school that I told my best friend I didn’t know what I wanted to do. She looked at me with shock and said, “You’re meant to be a designer.”
From that moment on, I set out to get my degree in interior design. Every step was toward that goal and writing became a distant memory.
Throughout my college years earning two bachelor’s degrees, one in Studio Art and the other in Interior Design, I never thought of writing. I wrote papers for classes, but never anything fun or creative.
It seems strange to think about since I have tons of short stories I’ve saved from elementary age until high school. But when I started college I just stopped. Feeling like I couldn’t do both, design and write, I never took any classes for creative writing. My only English class was on Elizabethan literature, which I hated.
What changed?
It was 2013, I had no job, and a lot of free time on my hands. I started getting little pieces of Viviane’s story running through my head. Before I knew it, I had huge chunks of the story and I was itching to write it. I go into more detail here.
School was over, I had graduated, and suddenly I wanted to write, I had a story to tell.
I was inspired.
Felt the tug.
And I’ve never looked back.
Nothing had been keeping me from writing. But all of those years in college gave me experiences and lessons to write about. I wished I had taken writing classes during school, I also know it wouldn’t have changed when I wrote that first story.
Everything I’ve written was leading to my first novel, Restoring Grace.
I’ve always been a writer, but now I’m a published author!
Thank you for taking this journey with me. Be sure to check out my first novel, available now in stores. Also check out my second novel, Accepting Grace available September 25, 2018.
Until next time, may God’s grace surround you,
