After winning her first writing contest in first grade with an essay called “Patrol Boys are my Friends,” Jill couldn’t keep herself from writing. As she grew, she soon found that with every boy she liked, every new friendship formed, every break of her heart, she wrote a poem and forever stashed it away in her file called “Stuff I Wrote”.Eventually she tried to write “stuff” for publication. In fact, she received her first request from a publisher for a completed manuscript when she was 9 months pregnant with her third child. Jill literally finished tweaking the manuscript between contractions in the hospital! It paid off with the acceptance of the manuscript, publication of her first book, and a bouncing baby boy!
She continued writing stories for children and over the next few years accumulated enough rejections to jam a file drawer. She has quit several times, cried puddles of tears on her back porch vowing never to write again, only to hear one of her children say, “You have to write, Mommy. You’re a writer.”
With those words and eventually the nudge from a “squirrel” she became a committed writer and loves it despite the rejections. She has published over 30 books for children and hopes these books will draw children and their loved ones closer to Jesus, help them love others well and to be become the person God designed them to be.
Jill received her Nursing Degree from the University of Missouri – Columbia, her Master’s Degree from UNCC, and her Anesthesia Certification from Carolinas Medical Center School of Nurse Anesthesia. She works as a nurse anesthetist and absolutely loves this career, too.
She lives in Denver, NC with her husband, Bill where they’re navigating an empty nest, as their three children have flown the coop. She enjoys running, hiking, golfing, and playing pickleball with friends. She and her husband enjoy traveling and exploring new parts of God’s world.