1. "Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers. It opened my eyes to what Christian fiction could be and the potential in the genre.
2. "The Handmaid’s Tale" by Margaret Atwood. I read it in high school and it showed me the power of a strong female lead and pieces of the book still come to mind at random times.
3. "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I love the descriptions and the depth and development in the characters.
4. "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" C.S. Lewis. It was the first full length book I ever read and it inspired me to write my first short story at the age of 8.
5. "The Last of the Mohicans" by James Fenimore Cooper. I loved the amazing landscape and the emotional range of the characters. Even though the book had several sad parts in it, including parts of the end, I still fell in love with it.

I looked at covers of other authors I admired in similar genres. I knew I wanted all of my main graphics like my title and author aspects to be the same across all of my books so you immediately knew it was one of my books, but different enough in the other graphic elements (such as photo choices) to speak to each individual story being told.

I grew up on a farm for my first six years and then a big town/small city in the Central Valley of California. I also lived in Hawaii for a half a year as well as Las Vegas for 12 years. This has helped me be able to write about rural life as well as city life because of all the types of landscapes I have lived in through my life.

I read romance, both Christian and non-Christian, as well as some futurist fantasy and paranormal fiction. However, if a cover or description really pulls me to a book in a different genre, I will read it.

I read the entire C.S. Lewis "Chronicles of Narnia" series when I was in elementary school. I loved how the author weaved such a magnificent world together and how each character was unique yet relatable. I knew I wanted to write stories like that and have people feel every moment along with the characters in my books.

It follows a young girl in the Victorian Era, starting in England in Book 1, France in Book 2 and concludes in America by Book 3. Her journey has many twists and turns, but she relies on her faith to help her through each obstacle and challenge. She becomes a strong woman of God. She learns the power of love, family and friends along the way.

I love when a reader tells me how much they love the story I created or how the words I put to “paper” helped them or changed them in some way. I lost my son to SIDS three years ago and I write in my blog about that loss and my experiences from it. The impact has been larger than I could have imagined. It has changed my writing profoundly and I have been able to enrich my heroine by accessing those feelings in the Window to the Heart Saga, creating a deeper context for my work.

I had a good friend who writes in another genre and she inspired me to put myself out there in the form of fiction novels. I liked the idea of having more control over what happened with my books, having complete say in the content, covers, marketing really appealed to me.

I have three young children, so I write on my MacBook, usually on the couch or kitchen table. I have to be able to keep an eye on the littles.

I still have a hard time thinking in those terms. I want all my readers to feel like I am their friend who happens to write stories they love. I do believe that without readers, a storyteller is lost, so I suppose that means my fans keep me anchored.

When I knew how to put sentences together. I have written for a few different newspapers including a teen section in the local paper, my high school paper for which I was also one of the News Editor, and two college papers, one of which I was the Editor-in Chief. Currently, I am an on-going contributor for The Mighty website and I have a blog that has been published on multiple sites including featured on Yahoo Parenting and ABC News.

Kindle but I also read on my MacBook through iBooks. However, I have downloaded a lot of reading apps and used several at different times.

I have the first three books in Window to the Heart Saga finished, minus some minor details. I have the plots loosely constructed for Book 4 and Book 5, both of which will be focusing on characters from the previous books, one of which is a fan-favorite. I hope to have Book 4 out by early Fall of 2017 and Book 5 by Christmas 2017.

I enjoy cooking. As a matter-of-fact, I made steamed lobster tails and rustic potatoes for dinner tonight because my kiddos were away at camp and I wanted to have a date-night with the hubby. I also love to watch movies, play board games with the family and I volunteer at my church.

I look through the new release sections and I have some reading groups online that I am a part of and I pick from books listed in them.