My eighth-grade teacher said I should be a writer after reading some of my short stories.  I’m not sure what he saw in them. I read through those stories recently and almost collaped on the floor in laughter at how tragical they were to borrow a word from Anne Shirley. Those stories were better off buried in the bottom of my hope chest which my parents had bought for me. I started the habit of putting stories and attempts at publication into this chest. As rejections started piling up, I renamed it my hopeless chest.

 

I wrote my first book, The Mysterious Note, when I was 18. It was about a volleyball team where one girl writes a mean note about another girl and the whole team has to learn and grow how to work together and love each other.

 

When an opportunity came to help out with my dad, Dr. James A. Scudder’s television program Victory In Grace on the writing side, I was ready. I began listening to his messages for television and radio and turning them into devotionals and articles. 30 to 31 devos plus two to three articles a month. My writing got better because I did so much of it. I started getting published in magazines like Secret Place, Focus on the Family, Clubhouse, Christian Home and School, and more. I started speaking on magazine writing at writer’s conferences as well.

 

I wrote many books based on my father’s sermons. I would transcribe the messages and then turn it into text for a book. We would work through all the text together. Some of those books are Forever with God, Beyond Failure, Your Secret to Spiritual Success, Finish Strong, and Lead. His last book we worked on just a year before he went to be with his Savior, so it holds a special place in my heart.

 

When I would speak at writer’s conferences on nonfiction writing, I would sneak into the fiction writer’s workshops to learn that side of the craft. I then wrote My Name is Faith but I Sure Don’t have Any. This book finaled in two national contests.

 

I’ve written quite a few other fiction books as well. About two years ago, I got this idea for a character based on Eve. I wondered what it was like for Eve after she was first created. Our first experiences as babies we don’t remember but since Eve was an adult, she would recall every first experience. What was it like for Eve the first time she walked, drank water, or held Adam’s hand? I started to write out this idea with a character named Skye, a spirit who comes to earth with a body and a mission. I’ve recently completed this book and am currently working on the next steps towards publication.

 

I want my words to glory God and bring people to a greater understanding of His great love in sending his Son to die for us on the cross. In my stories, my characters realize that no matter how difficult the journey, it is always possible to latch onto faith.