All About Me
I kind of grew up all over the place. Born in Provo Utah while parents were at BYU, then off to Texas, then back to Utah, then to Washington State, then Virginia and even Idaho. I finally ended up back at Provo when I went to BYU my Sophmore year of college. That's when I met my husband, Matt, on a blind date. My good friend Mikalene set me up with her boyfriend's good friend and the rest is history. We both knew on our third date that we would end up getting married. If you're wondering if I was majoring in English, well, you'd be wrong. I majored in Art History and loved it. I tended to find my English classes slightly irritating. My English teachers always wanted me to write about boring stuff. I can't remember one of them asking me to write a romance novel. If they had, my grade point average might have been higher.
Well, I got married and dropped out of school to support Matt. I worked for a few years before having our first son. Still no writing on the horizon. I was too busy being exhausted by this beautiful child who didn't want to sleep at night and had the bad habit of wanting to throw up constantly. On me. On everything. So it came as a surprise when after seven months of sleepless thrown up filled nights that I realized that I was pregnant again. At that time in my life I was certain that one child was more than enough. Nine months later we had the most beautiful girl in the world. Who didn't like to sleep and who had what some people might call collic but which I called a term more biblical. Still no writing. Sorry, I was too exhausted, covered in throw up and needing an ear drum replacement.
So Matt and I decided to build a home in Alpine because I really needed more stress in my life. We moved into my grandmother-in-law's home to wait out construction. It was here that I had my first taste of LDS fiction. Grandma Melba had shelves of novels and during nap times, I'd grab a book for 30 minutes and escape into the world of clean romance and happy endings. I remember looking at my husband one night and disccusing the plot of one of these books with him and he looked over at me and said, "Why don't you write one?"
I was stunned by this thought. Me? Write a book? How insane! Real people don't write books and I was as real as you could get. But the next day I bought a notebook and with a ball point pen I started writing. AND LOVED IT! I had never realized before how much fun writing could be. I wrote 'Forever Friends', a story about three girls in highschool. I based it loosely around some events that happened to me in Jr. High and Highschool. That part about Brianna being dumped by her bestfriend for not being cool enough. Non-fiction people. Really. Getting into fights with best friends over boys and everything else in between. Yep. Me again.
When I finished this amazing book, I just knew in my heart my whole life was going to change. It was going to be a huge best seller. My husband would be able to retire and we would move to Hawaii where I would get an amazing cancer free tan and my kids would have so much fun surfing they would never get on my nerves. So, I sent it off to a few local LDS publishers and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited.
I thought at this point, maybe they were just working out the movie rights or something. Finally, I got a letter in the mail from the giant of LDS publishing. I still remembering my hands shaking as I tore the envelope open. My eyes focused enough to read the words. We regret to inform you that we have decided not to publish your book, Forever Friends. Good Luck!
I was heartbroken. With every rejection letter I received, the dream of Hawaii slipped further and further away. So right then, I decided to forget it. Writing was not for me. Obviously. So I focused on my new home in Alpine, and being pregnant with my third child. After my daughter was born, things just clicked into place. My two older kids figured out the sleeping thing. My new baby didn't want to do anything but sleep, and I discovered gardening and flowers. I was really happy and I didn't need anything crazy like writing in my life.
But one day,as I was walking down to get the mail, a few sentences of a conversation slipped into my mind. In my mind, two people were having a very heated discussion about the merits of adopting a child from a different race. I remember standing there, my hand on the mailbox and staring off into space. I must have looked a little strange to my neighbors. Well, I pushed the words away and grabbed my mail. I was a little irritated to be honest. Because I knew right off the bat, that these words didn't come from me, and that they were coming from someone else. I had a long discussion that night with Heavenly Father and went through all the rejection letters and all the pain and effort and angst that I had already gone through for nothing. Heavenly Father's answer was to just send me more of the story. And it was starting to get interesting.
I tried to ignore it for as long as I could, but I caved. I figured I'd just get it all out and then it would go away. So I sat down at my computer and typed away for a few months. And yeah, I loved writing again, and yeah, it was fun and a wonderful escape. But I just knew that I'd put my heart and soul into this book and it would be turned down just like Forever Friends had been.
Well, when I was done, I sent it off to a few publishers this time. I did get one rejection note. But then I got TWO acceptance letters! I picked the first publisher, Cedar Fort and signed the contract. I could describe the jumping up and down, the screaming, the yelling, the utter joy and glee. But I won't bore you. Needless to say, the day I walked into a real live book store and saw my book, Never Letting Go of Hope, right there on the shelf, it was one of the happiest days of my life. My husband even took me to dinner to celebrate. Thank you Matt.
A Trusting Heart soon followed along with Justifiable Means. After that book though, Matt and I lost our little boy. I was at nine months when my water broke and so we rushed to the hospital to find that our son did not have a heartbeat. We were so heartbroken. The next year was extremely hard for our whole family. Needless to say, I had nothing in me to give. I had no conversations happily rolling through my mind. I couldn't picture any romantic scene between two beautiful people. I talked to my husband about it, and he suggested I submit Forever Friends, the first book I wrote, to Cedar Fort. Cedar Fort hadn't been on my original list of publishers that first time, so I figured if I couldn't write, I could still type. So I spent the next four months re-typing and fixing up Forever Friends. Cedar Fort sent me a contract and I was glad that my first book finally made it on the shelf.
Life slowly returned to normal and our hearts started to heal. We adopted a beautiful little black boy and happiness returned. And surprise surprise, I even got pregnant again. Crazy I know, and we had another little boy. It was then that words started flowing through my mind once again. Soul Searching came next and is still one of my favorites. But Makeover was the funnest book I ever wrote. Makeover was the book where I just let it all hang out. I felt like I had finally found my true 'voice' in my writing. Usually by the end of a book, I'm glad and relieved. But when Makeover came to an end, I was kind of sad. I missed not waking up and hanging out with Sophie and Jacie. That's probably why they ended up in my new book Taking Chances. I just couldn't say goodbye to them.
My newest book, is something special though. When the words started flowing through my head, I said, uh uh, no way. Now is not a good time for me. We had just adopted a beautiful little black baby girl and we were up to six kids. Writing a book on top of everything I had going on just didn't seem like a good idea. But the words wouldn't go away, and I knew the only way I could get them to leave was to write them down. So I caved again and started writing. I sat down and started and for some reason I couldn't stop. Nap time, bed time, anytime I could find a few minutes I was glued to my computer. It usually takes me 4-6 months to write a book. A Trusting Heart was my fastest book at three months. But I wrote Taking Chances in ONE month. No joke. This story had to be written and it had to be written now. The subject matter is very sensitve and will be tender for many of my readers. I just couldn't help wondering if it was meant for a special girl or woman out there who has gone through what Lisa and Gwen went through. It's my prayer and hope that Taking Chances will be of help and comfort to those who need it. And for those who don't need it, I hope they'll still enjoy a good story with a good message.
Latest Update:
Okay, a lot of time has passed since I wrote Taking Chances, and words are flowing through my cranium again! Yay! So you probably noticed on the home page my newst book Child of Many Colors, Stories of Transracial Adoption, my first (so far) non-fiction book. I wrote it because one day after giving a talk in Church and telling people a little about our family and how we came to adopt two beautiful black children, Cindy Savage, an amazing woman from my ward, came up to me and said, "That's the book you need to write." So I did! And I'm so glad I did. It will always hold a very special place in my heart for sure.
But in the mean time, my newest novel The Broken Road, (Yes, inspiration for the title did come from an amazing song from Rascal Flatts), is going to hit the book stores this November. This book is close to my heart as well, because many parts of it are autobiographical. One woman after reading it, very kindly told me that it was way too implausible. I just smiled and thanked her for her honest opinion. The truth really is stranger than fiction. So I can't wait to hear your opinion after you get a chance to read it.
My next project? I'm kind of torn to be honest. Trey's story (Sam's brother from Makeover) keeps running through my head, but yet I feel pulled towards a historical novel based on my own family history. I guess we'll just have see who wins the tug of war!
