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Short Bio:
Paula's writing accolades have included bylines in homeschool magazines, on health-related websites, as a contributing author in multiple gift books and anthologies, and as a children's author and speaker.
However, unexpected events put her writing on hold for 15 years...
When she came back, she decided to focus on what she'd always wanted to write in the first place: faith-based historical romance written the same way she likes to read it - with themes of heartache, hope, and redemption along with a dash of intrigue, flirtation, and humor.
A homeschooling mother of six, Paula makes her home in the wide, open spaces of South Dakota with her high school sweetheart and husband of 27 years.
She's a member of ACFW, Western Writers of America, and Faith, Hope, and Love Christian Writers, as well as co-creator of the Dakota Writers Group and Literature & Lattes Book Event.
The longer version:
For as long as I can remember, I've loved to read.
And not just reading - reading incessantly. A common scenario in our house involved my twin sister and I hunting down our books because our younger sister would hide them from us so that we'd play with her.
I read through school, taking my books to every class just in case I could sneak in a few more minutes between bells. Even though I won an award in high school for poetry, my true love was writing stories.
I started my first Christian historical romance novel during my senior year. This was the same year I met Travis, the love of my life, who I married shortly after graduation.
During the next four years I wrote on and off. Travis finished his bachelor degree, we moved back to our home state, our first son was born, and not to be outdone, our second son arrived 19 months later. Three more years passed and life was moving along swimmingly.
And then time stopped. Just four days before her due date, our daughter, Katie, was stillborn.
Life became a blur of days lived through fog.
Pain was unspeakably deep.
And I clung to my God, my husband, and my two little boys, still full of life and laughter.
Time passed slowly, but eventually I picked up my pen. This time to write about life. . .and death. The need to put raw emotions into words was incredibly hard, but incredibly healing at the same time. (Katie's story is available as a PDF for anyone who needs it or wants to share it with someone else who is grieving.)
After a time, we were blessed with another son. In the midst of that joy, I began writing fiction again.
I'd noticed a lack of good books for young boys, so I put my romance novel aside to focus on a children's series. I accepted a contract for my first children's chapter book - One-Eyed Jack. I can still remember opening the first box of books and flipping through the crisp new pages in awe.
Between speaking events at schools and libraries, I finished the second book in the series and sent it off for editing. Our fourth son arrived while I was in the middle of writing the third book. And then life took another unexpected turn. The 2008 recession forced my publisher to close her doors.
Just a few months later, Travis, who had been dealing with chronic health issues for over a decade, was diagnosed with Lyme disease and candida.
A different direction
It never ceases to amaze me. . .how God orchestrates your life in a different direction than you'd planned. Yet in the end you can look back and see how necessary it was - and somehow God, in his mercy, used it for good.
I never would have imagined that putting my writing to the side in order to research ways to help my husband would have turned into 15 years of researching, a business, and becoming a Certified Health Specialist and Metabolic Nutrition Coach to teach clients from around the world.
Writing historical Christian romance was replaced with creating The Kicking Candida Program and writing multiple cookbooks and ebooks.
Yeah. Didn't see that one coming.
And here we are
But during that 15 year 'drought' in fiction writing, we were blessed with a daughter. . . and another boy. Ha!
Our oldest son was 17 when our youngest was born. Which meant I was planning for college and washing diapers at the same time. If I had been writing at the time, I could have filled a library with anecdotal stories of how my newly sprouted gray hairs came to be!
But it wasn't until Travis's health was well in hand, our oldest three were young men with wives of their own, that I contemplated what life would look like if I dusted off those old manuscripts. . .
And here we are.
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