Location: United States
Member Since: Jan. 21, 2012

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Maria Keffler

Biography

Maria Keffler lives in Arlington, Virginia, with her husband and three children. She blogs about things like tarantula-milking lawyers and the savagery of familial relationships at www.wastingmyeducation.blogspot.com; she joined the board of a Uganda-based NGO because it's an amazing and life-changing organization (and because being on the board makes her seem serious and meaningful); and is presently learning how to cook without the smoke detector finding out about it.

Smashwords Interview

Describe your desk
I am a 1950's housewife. My desk is a little nook in my kitchen, where my laptop sits on a miniature shelf above the lunch boxes and a stack of folders for the PTO, the Girl Scouts and the bills/receipts file. I think I intended to be a feminist when I grew up. My husband irons his own shirts, though. Does that count for anything?

If I think I'm going to get some good, solid, uninterrupted time to write (i.e., the rest of the family units are either out of the house or buckled into their straightjackets and muzzles), I take the laptop to my rocking chair in the corner of the living room, next to which I keep my Bible, journal, a couple of craft books, and a stack of my husband's typo'd business cards. Every time he reorders, the company prints them wrong at least once, and I get a handy box of linen-feel, card-stock scrap paper. (Does anyone's name actually have the same letter three times in a row?)

Though I am the poster child for introversion, one of my favorite writing desks is a table at a coffee shop. It makes me feel French, and cosmopolitan, and caffeinated. Somehow I write better that way. Or maybe I just think I do.
Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
I grew up on a small farm in rural Indiana. It was a great place to be a kid, but a little lonely since I had very few friends within easy travel distance. My mom said I got along with animals better than I did people, to which I replied, "Moo," and flicked my tail at her.

I've loved writing ever since I first got a pencil gripped the right way in my hand, and without siblings or neighbor kids with whom to enjoy Monopoly or dodge ball or cow-tipping, I had lots of time to put long, hackneyed stories onto reams of looseleaf paper. I still have some of them. When I fear that my writing has not improved since childhood, I peruse them, reassured that at least the heroes in my present stories aren't galloping in to save the day on silver unicorns. ('Cause everyone knows unicorns only come in white and pink.)
Read more of this interview.

Where to find Maria Keffler online

Website: http://drawn.bravesites.com
Twitter: @MariaKeffler
Facebook: Facebook profile
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/profile/public-profile-settings?trk=prof-edit-edit-public_profile
Blog: http://wastingmyeducation.blogspot.com

Books

When They Got Married by
You set the price! Words: 17,300. Language: English. Published: April 18, 2017. Categories: Fiction » Young adult or teen » Drama, Fiction » Women's fiction » General
After waiting eight years to marry Damon Sheppard, Julie Brynn knows exactly what kind of wedding she wants. But as the date approaches and Julie’s mother turns into The Crazy-Maker, Damon and Julie make plans to elope. But will their choice be the final nail in the coffin of Julie’s relationship with her mother?
Daemonia by
Series: DRAWN, Book 3. Price: $4.99 USD. Words: 162,640. Language: English. Published: December 7, 2016. Categories: Fiction » Young adult or teen » Drama, Fiction » Coming of age
Juliet hasn’t seen Damon in nearly three years, or heard from him after the devastating letter his new 'soul mate' sent her. When the chance of a new life in Chicago appears, free of her shattered family and haunting memories, Juliet resolves to let nothing get in her way. But whispers of love resurface and she must choose between her heart and a destiny that something doesn’t want her to find.
Deo Volente by
Series: DRAWN, Book 2. Price: $4.99 USD. Words: 144,380. Language: English. Published: September 11, 2015. Categories: Fiction » Young adult or teen » Drama, Fiction » Young adult or teen » Religion
(5.00)
Juliet Brynn’s life looks nothing like it did. Her parents divorced and split up the family. Poor, alone, and shattered by others' choices, Juliet has only Damon to bridge the two halves of her life. But when her one refuge is ripped away, she must confront the power that grants her The Gift of Artistic Prophecy, and which demands her loyalty even as it seems determined to destroy her future.
Drawn by
Series: DRAWN, Book 1. Price: Free! Words: 142,090. Language: English. Published: October 30, 2013. Categories: Fiction » Young adult or teen » Drama
(4.89)
Artistic prodigy Juliet Brynn wants to survive the year with as little social torture as possible. But her sketches start to come true and Damon Sheppard, a boy with a troubled past, shows her worlds she never knew existed. When unthinkable trauma strikes, will Damon and her prophetic gift prove as catastrophic as some predict, or can they impart Juliet the power to make everything right again?
Year-In-Review: The Entirely True Histories of a Perfectly Wretched Family by
Price: $2.99 USD. Words: 26,430. Language: English. Published: April 10, 2012. Categories: Nonfiction » Entertainment » Humor and satire, Nonfiction » Entertainment » Humor and satire
(5.00)
Concussive diaper explosions and aircraft lavatories. (The Mile-High Club just isn’t the same thing after kids.) Death, destruction and debt. (How can a child be born $1800 in the hole?) Sibling rivalries of biblical proportions. (“I’m telling God!” “Oh yeah? I’m telling Mom!”) Sometimes the experience of training up kids seems more akin to experiencing a train wreck.
The God of Mists and Shrouds by
Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 82,750. Language: English. Published: January 21, 2012. Categories: Fiction » Historical » Ancient, Fiction » Christian » Historical
(4.60)
An orphaned Hebrew princess disguises herself as an exiled peasant. A Babylonian slave chooses between the courage that could save her and despair over the love she has lost. A sorceress discovers the truth behind the origins of her dark power. The consequences of the masters they choose will reverberate through generations.

Maria Keffler's tag cloud

1980s fiction    amelmarduk    art    art and artists    babylon    babylonia    babylonian exile    bibical    bibical history    bible    children    christian    daemonia    damon    deo volente    destiny    divorce    drawing    drawn    exile    faith    family    god    historic fiction    history    hope    humor    israel    jehoiachin    julie    junior high    kids    love    mists    momoir    nebuchadnezzar    parenting    prophecy    romance    shrouds    teen    trust    wedding    yahweh    zedekiah    ziggurat   

Maria Keffler's favorite authors on Smashwords

Christine Hoover
Latest book: Partners in Ministry: Help and Encouragement for the Ministry Wife. Published May 13, 2014.
Follow them on Twitter: @christinehoover
Visit their website
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Smashwords book reviews by Maria Keffler

  • 31 Days of Love Letters: Searching Scripture for How God Loves on Oct. 03, 2012

    This is a fabulous addition to any devotional library. The author does a beautiful job of bringing God's love for his children into focus, with anecdotes and interpretations that illuminate what it is to be His beloved. Though I'm a devotee of "Streams in the Desert", I'm happily taking a sabbatical to enjoy and learn from "31 Days of Love Letters", and I'm sure I will return to it again and again. Thank you, Ms. Hoover, for all the time and study and prayer you obviously put into this book.