I live in Colorado, but was born in northern Minnesota. My husband likes to say you can take the girl out of the woods but you can’t take the woods out of the girl. Though Colorado is now my home and it surrounds me with majestic beauty, my heart will always belong to the lakes and forests of Minnesota.
I am the proud mom to Ben and Alex (and to 2 Pomeranian pups, Roxie and Roscoe), wife to Clint, step-grandma to five, grandma to Zoey, Olivia, and Emilia.
I am a paralegal, restitution advocate for a District Attorney’s Office, avid reader, writer, and lover of words.
But above all, I am the daughter of a loving God who showers me daily with grace and mercy. I aspire to bring Him joy and carry His message to others by words, as well as actions.
In January of 2013 I began a life-changing journey by adopting My One Word. Rather than a list of resolutions become goals become broken before the month is over, I choose one word that fits an area of my life in which I would like to grow. For 2013, my word was “Grace,” 2014 was “Silence,” 2015 was “Love,” 2016 was a year of reviewing all of them, and 2017 is “Forgive.” To join the movement, visit the My One Word website.
Writing
My love of writing goes back to high school, and perhaps before that–we won’t say how many years ago that was. At that time I was invited to write a couple of articles for the city newspaper, and I fell in love with the movie Absence of Malice with Sally Field and Paul Newman. (If you’ve seen the movie, you will understand the connection between my stint at the Newspaper and the movie.)
I spent a great deal of time in my room and floating in a fishing boat on the lake writing poetry. I entered some of my poems in contests and some of them were published in poetry anthologies.
Over the years, I completed an online Journalism/Short Story Writing class, wrote in a journal for each of my boys until they were twelve, and was a stringer for a local newspaper, writing mostly about community and school events.
Before I had my boys, and while I was a stay-at-home mom, I wrote a rough draft for two and a half novels which I thought I had lost over the years. Imagine my joy when I found them in a box on floppy discs and was able to convert them to a word document long after floppy discs disappeared. Hallelujah!
Participating in–and winning–NaNoWriMo in November, 2012, created the first draft of another novel, The Inheritance, which was published in June 2013. It’s available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and at Welcome to the Bookstore. NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo have produced several more pieces of work, four of which are now published along with The Inheritance–they are Shear Madness, Shear Deception, and Shear Malice, books one, two, and three in the Melanie Hogan cozy mystery series, and Finding Abby, the first in the Whispering Pines Resort mysteries. Book four of the Melanie Hogan series, Shear Murder, will be available in 2018.
I am a member of Sisters in Crime-CO, Sisters in Crime-National, Guppies (an online chapter of Sisters in Crime, and Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers.
My Blog
A Novel Journey was born by my desire to live a life of grace, through the grace given to me daily, by reaching out to others through words and story. A Novel Journey. Novel–“new” and “books.” Each new day is a novel one. One in which to live with abundant gratitude and grace, for there is so much to be grateful for in this life
I post once a week, on Wednesday’s, as my free time is typically taken up by working on my novels. But I still come here to rest. I like to post photos of nature, write about writing, gratitude, family, God, and anything else that pops into my head.
I would love for you to connect with me and comment as you will. You can also friend me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter
Hi! I have just nominated your for a liebster award: http://homeandspirit.wordpress.com/2013/11/03/ive-been-nominated/
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Wow and Thank You! I feel honored! 🙂
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Visiting from the A to Z blog challenge and I grew up in Minneapolis! I live in Nicaragua now and still feel like a Minnesotan even though I haven’t lived there for 10 years. Great blog I’ll be back when this wild blog challenge is over if not before.
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Wonderful! Thank you. It’s so nice to “meet” you. 🙂
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Hi! I’m an A to Z blogging visitor, but I’ll be back to read more!
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Thank you for visiting Lori. I’ll stop by your site as well. 🙂
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Hello, thank you for stopping by my blog. I always love meeting new bloggers and discovering what they write about and their various interests. I look forward to exploring your blog.
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My pleasure, Sheri. Having experienced bipolar with my stepdaughter, it was “enlightening” to read about your story. And thank you!
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Hi Rhonda, I like what you do. So much so, that I’m nominating you for a Liebster Award. Yay! Should you choose to accept, check out this post on http://www.bookgirl.com.au
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Thank you Bookgirl, and I’m honored that you thought of me. However, I was just nominated six months ago. 🙂
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That’s okay, just sending that virtual hug your way.
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I am enjoying your blog and I appreciate hearing of One Word! Curious, is your one word still Grace?
I would have to say my one word is Explore; chosen purposefully as I am on a 3 year journey to transition into something new. Channeling my energy into exploration is freeing.
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Thank you! My one word for 2014 is Silence. It has been a blessing on so many levels to remember silence is golden. I love the word Explore. It sounds like its a great one for you. It’s amazing to me how that “one word” just appears.
Thank you for the follow. I’m following you right back. 🙂
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Wow. Silence. I may have to pursue that at some point. In fact a friend goes to the Krupa lu Center for Yoga & Health year ad her most favorite part of every day is Breakfast. It is completely silent; you eat with everyone including the monks. She says it is incredibly grounding.
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I’ve always wanted to participate in a silent retreat. There’s so much to be “heard” in silence.
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Hi Rhonda, I wanted to let you know that I nominated you for a Liebster Award. I see from reading the comments that you’ve been nominated before. If you choose to accept the nomination this time around, you can find the details here: http://lorilmaclaughlin.com/2015/02/20/celebrate-the-small-things-and-the-liebster-award/
Have a great weekend!
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Hey, thanks for the follow! By the way, I love your header image. It’s very calming and peaceful and looks like a lovely place for a long walk. 🙂
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I could have sworn I had been following you for a long time. It was just recently when I was scrolling through my reader for blogs I follow, specifically to find yours because I wasn’t getting emailed notifications and thought you were just very quiet on your blog :), that I realized I hadn’t been. My bad!
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I know I have trouble keeping track of all the blogs I follow. I don’t get to them nearly as often as I’d like. Too many great blogs, too little time. 🙂
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Hey there Rhonda! I’m doing a project where I’m following ten exciting, fresh, and interesting bloggers each day for the month of March 2015, and you’re today’s #10! Feel free to come visit me when you can at http://www.thatssojacob.wordpress.com, and follow if you like what you read. Have a good one!
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Thank you for the follow! I followed ya right back. 🙂
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Love your site! I’m a grandmother of a Zoe (and her big sister), an author of a cozy mystery (among other things), a Christian, and a Canadian just across the border from Northern Minnesota. Lots of similarities!
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Indeed! It’s nice to meet you! 🙂 My Zoey is having a little sister in August. Isn’t grandmotherhood the best? 🙂 Thank you so much for visiting.
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Rhonda, nice to read more about you and your journey through life. I really love the “one word” idea for the year. If I had to choose one for 2015, mine would be patience. With myself and with others.
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Thank you Corinne. Patience is a great word and one I could use as well. Was great to meet you last weekend! Looking forward to connecting again. 🙂
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In addition to many other things, we also have our Minnesota roots in common! So glad to have met you, Rhonda.
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I’m going to friend you on Facebook, because I tend to be more active there than on WordPress.
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Sounds great! Looking forward to connecting. 🙂
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Thank you Tracy. My heart will always belong to Minnesota. 🙂
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