About Beth

I’m another one of those people who have always wanted to be a writer. I learned to read at three and have been reading ever since, which is important for absorbing the things that make up a story and the structure of various types of novels. It wasn’t enough, though, so I went to college and got a B.A. in English with lots of literary analysis and lots of writing classes. Then, to avoid becoming a teacher, I went to library school and got my MLIS. I discovered “No Plot? No Problem!” on the shelf when I was weeding the 800s, and that’s when I began writing novel drafts every April and November for several years.

In 2012, my husband and I decided to move to Washington from Oklahoma. We’d always wanted to move away, and the time finally came when we could make it happen. A few months of preparation, and we stepped out into the void with my retirement in the bank and all our stuff in a Budget truck and a Chevy Tracker. It was a big step because we had no jobs or people or home prospects on the other end. But it worked! We found someone willing to rent to us, and we decided that whoever found a job first would be the breadwinner and the other would stay home with the kids. We’d had four bad daycare experiences in less than three years, so this was important. Ken found a job first, but things were tight, so I started looking for writing jobs I could do at home. I ended up with a couple of regular ones that didn’t get in the way of being a stay-at-home-mom, and then I came across others along the way, from writing LinkedIn bios to articles about local events to blogs for attorney websites to grants for a local nonprofit. I’ve done some editing, too.

But best of all, in 2013 I went to some writing workshops through the local library, and I met some local authors and a local publisher, and I submitted one of my NaNo novels to Books To Go Now. It was accepted, and when the editing process for that started, I really started learning about getting fiction published. It was painful. But my book Worth It was published, and then the two sequels, The Bright Obvious and Weapons Policies. I also wrote a couple of holiday stories, Selfie Sessions and Christmas Connections.

I spun out a bit during Covid and ended up working on one novel for more than two years and never could get to the end. When the fifth draft was over 400 pages and still didn’t have a resolution, I finally gave up. And now I have a new novel that should be coming out soon! Depending on how long the process takes. I have a new focus in life, which is mental and behavioral health, so this book is about a chemical dependency counselor. That’s all I’ll say for now. Hopefully there will be a teaser soon!