After seventeen years in the Chicago suburbs, we moved back to my native Wisconsin. On the verge of being empty-nesters, we decided to move to the country and a more relaxed life-style. Answering an ad in the local paper I joined a ‘learn to spin group’. I’d always been a knitter and the thought of spinning my very own yarn added a whole new dimension. I soon found myself the owner of several Jacob sheep. I joined a group of local fiber artists who taught me so many things, among them being that crafting and women’s friendships are such an integral part of many women’s lives.

I was inspired to weave craft and art into my stories because to me, each craft I learned was a personal growth issue. I had to practice patience with learning to spin a good yarn, use math and dexterity with weaving and to use wool as an artist uses paint in felting. Along with learning these crafts I realized the importance of them and friendships down through generations. I’m hoping to pass this love on to my grandchildren.

The Spin I’m In - When newly widowed Martha discovers her husband had been leading a double life, she determines to find the person she put aside to become the perfect wife and mother and finds friendship and help within a group of local fiber artists.

It Never Felt So Good - Struggling artist Cara Olson moves home to Wisconsin to care for her ailing grandmother and while there learns that the definition of success is totally individual to each person.

I’ve always been intrigued with stories of women starting over and finding their own place in life. I wanted my characters to be ordinary women with real, everyday problems—things we can all relate to—be it family, friends or career.

I’ve worked for years studying the craft of writing and like other crafts, it was a personal growth experience. Along the way I’ve met so many wonderful and sharing writers and I wouldn’t be here today without them. Writing can be a lonely life without friends to share the joys and frustrations.

I guess it would be Carol. As the mother of five, the grandmother of seventeen, and a nurse, I can relate to most everyday problems in family life. Also, as a cancer survivor I will never forget hearing those fear-inducing words, “You have cancer.”

I hope readers will realize the strength we women can gather from each other and always from family. Plus, a little humor goes a long way to putting joy in life.

I guess the most unique thing about me is my family background. I consider my family the original Brady Bunch, only on a gigantic scale. My father was a widower with six children and my mother a widow with four. They married and had five children—myself  having the dubious honor of being number fourteen. I learned a lot about characters in that wonderful, loving family and draw on them often in my stories.

Another unique detail related to the books is that both covers are original artwork painted by my daughter, Molly Bowman Johnson, and photographed by my son. David Bowman. I’m so proud of these covers!

What inspired you to write SILVER MOON? 

Silver Moon is the third book in a four-part series and follows the story of the children of some of the characters in Blue Moon, about twenty years after Blue Moon leaves off. When I had finished Blue Moon, I knew I was going to write about Luis and Oshki, but I didn’t know how to start until one day I went fishing with my husband to our favorite backwater slough on a cool autumn day and inspiration struck. As I watched the cool water swirl in front of me, I wondered what it would be like to be submerged in that tempestuous liquid, fighting for my life. I set down my fishing pole and wrote the opening prologue to Silver Moon. 

If you could sum the book up in one sentence, what would you say? 

It’s a tale of courage and hope in the darkest of times. 

What challenged you about writing this story? 

I set Silver Moon during WWI, and I knew next to nothing about that time period and even less about Canada’s involvement in the war. I did a lot of research, but I enjoy learning about history. I hope I represent the war accurately and believably through the men from Webaashi Bay, Ontario, Luis, Oshki, and Jimmy, who fight on the Western Front in various roles. 

Which character do you most relate to and why? 

In this book compared to the others, my life has less reflective quality in the characters’ direct experiences. I have never been in the kind of situations during wartime that my characters faced, but I fight against a kind of war every day. I have MS, and my health is a constant battle that never lets up. The voice which spoke to me the most as I wrote was Luis, the main protagonist. 

Luis struggles with his identity as a spy and who he is as a person. He gets lost in translation, so to speak, but finds his way back with the help of friends, loved ones, and a little faith. After the fact, he has a hard time justifying the choices he had to make during his time as an active spy. 

What do you hope readers will take with them after they’ve read it? 

I hope readers will know that even on the most difficult of days, there is hope. 

What is something about you that is unique or we may not know? 

I started my series, By the Light of the Moon, twenty years ago, but with work and family life got busy. I set aside the first book, Ruby Moon, after about five chapters and didn’t pick it up again until 2018 when I had to quit my job as a floral designer due to increased disability from MS. Wondering what to fill my time with, I thought of the book I’d started many years prior and resurrected it from the depths of an old computer. 

I would have never guessed then that I would be here today—three books published and many more waiting to be. It just goes to show that sometimes the best things in life happen when we get side-tracked by unforeseen circumstances.