I never expected to become a writer. I mean, my college  had a degree in creative writing and I had two roommates who majored in it, but I didn’t take a single course. Back in the late ’90s, my new husband and I decided to try writing a mail-order booklet as what we would now call a side-hustle. Since the timing was 100% wrong, being right at the beginning of internet shopping and online everything, it didn’t go anywhere, but it started me writing. For the next few years, life took the forefront and my writing didn’t amount to much, but I did do some writing and started learning about the industry and how it works. 

When my children were old enough that I could start writing again, I mostly wrote non-fiction. And I started blogging. At first, I replied with a lot of comments on The Survival Mom. Then, I started writing posts for her. Eventually, I wrote over 100 posts and had the idea for a series of three books based on one of the most popular blog posts on her site: a series of suggestions for survival knowledge kids need. That is my Survival Skills for All Ages series. I also wrote three books on “Scouting in the Deep End” for Boy Scout leaders.  

Somewhat oddly, I have ended up writing several cookbooks. My fourth cookbook was written during quarantine, but I’m not sure it will ever be published. I’d give it a 50/50 chance right now. I only have a couple dozen recipes to finish testing but writing in the 1632 Universe too priority for a while. Bluntly, I earn more from those books because it has a large fan base. What is “the 1632 Universe” ? It’s an alternate history series with nearly 200 writers, 70 books, 102 issues of an online magazine, and 25 million words. Many of these books are published through Baen Publishing, but the magazine and many more books (including mine) were published through Ring of Fire Press, owned and operated by Eric Flint. After Eric died in July, 2022, the publishing company had to close. While we all hope another venue will be found for the magazine and for books Baen can’t publish, that hasn’t happened yet. I am still actively working on stories for them so I’ll be ready with something whenever it happens, but I am also looking at some of my other mothballed projects and will begin working on those.