I grew up the daughter of a writer, Marion Bond West. She’s now a contributing editor for Guideposts and one of the magazine’s most published/most rejected writers. Praying for My Life, her seventh book was published by Guideposts Books in 2006.
As a child, my favorite spot was the library, thanks to Mom. She instilled the love of words way back when. She taught me to feel a story before writing it, almost like playing an instrument by ear. Often, a story moves around inside my heart a long time before I write it.
I began writing on paper in 2001. Before that time, I played with story ideas in my mind. My first publication came in Homelife January 2002, "The Hardest Battle,” a story about losing our baby, Robbie.
Then I wrote an article on something I could barely talk about. My year of clinical depression. Guideposts published "Resurrected" in March of 2002.
In 2004, I won a coveted spot to the Guideposts writers workshop.
In 2005, I returned to a Guideposts writers workshop based on a winning story. This time I wrote through someone's voice and ghosted a friend's story. Then in 2007, I won another Guideposts workshop based again on a ghosted story. Some of my published articles are ghosted--not written in my name. One of my favorite parts of writing is listening with compassion to tell a story for someone.
For people to trust me to write their joy and pain is one of my highest callings. Ghosting stories in Guideposts, Angels, PLUS and Sweet 16 is an honor.
I’m a member of the Amercian Christian Writers (ACW) , the Amercian Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) , and The Writers' View.