Christi Parker

I grew up in a tiny town in the middle of Missouri. We never had much money, but my parents made books a priority. In the second grade, my class had a contest for who owned the most books and I won. I was beyond thrilled! I had never had the most of anything before. The prize was, you guessed it, a new book, and I was a happy girl. Without a doubt, my favorite activities were reading stories and making up my own. I particularly loved recruiting all the neighborhood kids to act out my stories. They must have been decently interesting because my friends never seemed to mind. I loved writing all through my childhood. My stories got longer and longer and I eventually began writing “novels” for my friends for their birthdays. I thought the greatest thing in the world would be to write stories for a living, but somehow, it just never occurred to me that it was a viable choice. No one I knew was an author. It didn’t seem like a real job and I completely forgot all about that ambition, choosing instead to take an easier, more normal path. I went to college and grad school and got a good job, and then put it all away to stay home and homeschool our wonderful girls. It was a nice life and I was happy. Sometimes I still dreamed of writing stories, but the timing was never right. There were always so many other things that needed to be done. I told myself I would start writing again someday, but didn’t truly believe that day would ever actually come. Then my happy little life was sidelined by drama I had hoped would never happen. I immediately went in search of a story that would help me prepare for what we were facing, but couldn’t find what I was looking for. When things settled down again, I felt compelled to write the story I had needed. Writing it was hard, but I loved every minute. (Well, most of the minutes!) When I was finished, I immediately started my next book and am already dreaming of another. Sometimes dreams take a long time to come true, but they are worth the wait! I live with my husband in the Ozark Mountains where I love hanging out with my adult children and my granddogs.