About the Author and “The Heart at Home” series

The idea for my first novel originated twenty years ago. Through my writing, I hoped to walk a group of characters through some of the same hurt and healing I experienced. I selected the name “The Heart at Home” for the first draft based on the scripture verse in II Thessalonians 3:5:

“And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.”

After I took early retirement in late 2021 from a large financial institution where I enjoyed a highly successful career for thirty-eight years, I focused full time on completing my debut novel. I started with a draft of 25,000 words. Ultimately, I used only 10,000 of those words in the final manuscript.

I renamed the novel to “Grounded” to reflect the main character’s desire to keep her only son from flying. And the scripture verse for this book became Ephesians 3:17-19:

“… that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge…”

After my beta readers read “Grounded”, each one expressed a desire to read more of the characters’ stories. Thus, “The Heart at Home” series was born. This series aligns with the theme of being a heart waiting on the home front during World War II, and a heart learning to be at home with God. The scripture verse for the series is II Thessalonians 3:5:

“And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.”

Writing has always been my first love. In high school, I was Editor-In-Chief of the school yearbook and wrote for the school newspaper. I was a member of a journalism honor society and pursued a journalism degree with a full tuition waiver at a local community college. When my life circumstances changed, I went to work full time in banking.

I am a native Floridian and have been married for thirty-five years. We have two adult children–a son, who, by the grace of God, is a cancer survivor and a daughter whose husband recently separated from the Air Force with the rank of Major.

My husband and I recently purchased a home in Arkansas to be closer to our granddaughter and grandson in Oklahoma, but for now, my husband and I spend time between Florida and Arkansas.