Shaking Things Up A Bit

Today we're going to take a break from my 30 day challenge and introduce you to the new team at Mommy Authors. Starting next week these ladies and I will be bringing you parent-writing related posts every Tuesday and Thursday. I'm so excited to have these talented women working with me and I think you'll enjoy them too, so let's start the introductions!

Laura Long

Laura Long, the indie author of Founder. My perfect afternoon would involve a plate of Pecan Sandies, a large glass of milk, and my dog eared Pride and Prejudice. A thunderstorm wouldn't hurt either. I am a voracious reader. My DVR and I are BFF’s. If I didn’t love to travel so much, I might have finished my degree. Instead I worked for an airline and occasionally attended classes, for a little over a decade. I’m married and live with my mother-in-law in Northern California. Before you ask, because everyone does, we won’t be trying for that boy. The thought of FOUR girls terrifies me. I have been scribbling thoughts on paper my entire life. At one time I wrote to preserve my memories. Now I write to preserve my sanity.

For more about Laura visit her site at https://www.lmlong.com

Ranee S. Clark

I've been writing since I was old enough to grasp a crayon--my grandma even has an early copy of a "book" I made her. I have a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Wyoming and will (hopefully) soon be starting a graduate program in English. When I'm not breaking up impromptu UFC fights in the living room or losing miserably to my six year old at Uno, I'm ... well, writing, of course, reading something just for the fun of it (I'm still trying to catch up on those four years in college when I "had" to read stuff), or listening to my favorite podcast "Missed in History." I'm married to my best friend, and we have two rambunctious but simply amazing little boys.

Learn more about Ranee at her personal site raneesclark.blogspot.com

Valerie J. Steimle

Valerie J. Steimle was born in Brooklyn, NY, to a close-knit Jewish family. Her mother searched for many years to find what was missing in their lives and found The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Their baptism brought an incredible change in their life, but her parents would not tell the rest of the family for 10 years as they lived in both the Jewish world and the LDS world.

She graduated from Ricks College in 1979 and attended Brigham Young University from 1979 to 1982, where she met Robert Steimle. They married and had nine children.

Though she grew up in New Jersey, she found southern Alabama to her liking and has lived there for the past 19 years with her family. Her husband of 25 years passed away suddenly which left her to raise her youngest five children on her own until she met James Foy two years later. They happily reside in southern Alabama.

While she was raising her children in the early years, Valerie felt compelled to write about the family and started with a newspaper column in the local paper. She then published her first book, called Home Is Where The Heart Is, which is a collection of those articles. Her next book, Home Is Where The Learning Is: Home School Lifestyles from Home School Moms, includes seven other home school moms contributing their story in understanding the lifestyle of a home school family. Her third book is Of One Heart: Being Single in the LDS World which was written to help all those who are single and belonging to The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints. Her last book published to date is Dogs, Blogs and Hobbits: Writings from a Widow's Perspective a culmination of other writings on life and death.

Besides writing and reading, Valerie loves to spend time with her family, watches movies, embroiders, and gardens.

You can find her website at www.strengthenyourhome.com and her blog at www.valeriesteimle.blogspot.com