In my childhood, my head was always filled with stories like the Chronicles of Narnia, the BFG, Call of the Wild and so many more. I gobbled up all the horse stories I could find. When I hit the sixth grade, I ran out of books that interested me, so I started reading Christian fiction and was hooked.

Around that same time, I got my first horse and began training and honing my riding skills. My horse was a registered Arabian mare named LL Naseem. I found a book of legendary Arabian stallions and found my horse was a descendent of one of them.

My very first novel was born – I wanted to read a story about a famous Arabian horse and the strong woman trainer who tamed it. But I couldn’t seem to find the right story, so I wrote one myself!

A few years later, I had the opportunity to interview a World War II veteran who had flown B-29s into hurricanes toward the end of the war to gather scientific data and weather statistics. His story enthralled me and soon there wasn’t a World War II history book I wouldn’t devour.

This brought about my passion for World War II and soon the two loves – writing and history – merged.

As I was brushing my teeth one night, the real lightning strike happened. I remembered the story of Wirtez II (see post here) and my first real novel was born. A strong woman horse trainer who braves the world war to find the horse she needs for her Arabian breeding farm. Then, throw in some murders here and there for excitement and a handsome British major.

This book was my focus for more than six years. I wrote it throughout high school and rewrote it in college. It is on its third full rewrite and now sitting on the shelf. Many “first” novels never see the light of publication, which is  good thing. But the story of how that first novel came to be is one I hold dear to my heart.

My other novel ideas (of which there are hundreds) come from reading the newspaper, studying history, talking with people, observing crowds, creative daydreaming and more.

In the following weeks and months, I’m going to feature other authors and their stories of how their novels came to existence!