Debut Author Spotlight ... Dora Hiers

WHO NEEDS FIREWORKS?

by Dora  Hiers

Have you ever thought about the roads you’ve traveled? Bumpy, windy roads. Roads filled with potholes, forks, and turns. Up mountains. Through valleys. Quiet, country roads and bustling, noisy intersections. Have you considered how few roads are actually smooth?

I’m not one of those writers who dreamed of putting words on paper from an early age. Writing wasn’t in my career path. If I had seen it coming, I probably would have made a u-turn and headed in the opposite direction. After all, I’d spent twelve years writing and editing audit reports. Painful, excruciatingly so. You see, I’m one of those perfectionists. You know the kind. I analyze every word I write. Delete. Retype.

But, I have always wanted to read, loved to read. Had to have a book in my hands. Don’t you feel lost if you don’t have four or five books lined up ready to read? Me? I have sixteen ~ shhh, don’t tell my husband.

After I dropped out of the workforce to taxi my two sons around (and to make sure one of them actually attended school, he had a slight problem with that!), God planted the “writing” seed in my heart. “Me? Write? No way,” I scoffed. I was convinced I was wrong. God didn’t want me to do something that I didn’t enjoy, did He? Surely, I was mistaken.

The writing seed dug in, took root around my heart with the idea for Journey’s End, which germinated from a newspaper article about a mobster, finally convicted for his crimes years later. God watered the seed until it grew into a manuscript, even fertilized it with a few rejection letters and average contest results. God helped me to focus on the positive comments. One manuscript grew into two. Then, three.

A dear friend from Carolina Christian Writers directed me to White Rose Publishing and on New Year’s Eve in 2010, five plus years after I started down this crazy writing road, White Rose Publishing offered me a contract for Journey’s End, my first heart-racing, God-gracing book in the Marshals of Journey Creek series. Can you think of a better way to end one year and to begin another? Who needs fireworks?

Wow! Thank you, God, for not giving up on me! For walking hand-in-hand with me on this crazy exciting journey and for filling my heart with joy!

What is your own journey like? Curvy? Full of potholes? Are you facing a mountain? Whatever road you’re on, my prayer is that God blesses your journey.

JOURNEY’S END

Marshals of Journey Creek Series
by Dora Hiers

White Rose Publishing, May 2011
232 pages

Devastated after the brutal murder of her husband, Chelsea Hammond vows never to love another lawman. Intent on rebuilding her shattered life, she turns her focus to helping troubled teens. But when an angry father bent on retaliation threatens her, Chelsea must turn to the one man she never thought to trust: Deputy U.S. Marshal Trey Colten.

Trey wants only to protect Chelsea, but she blames him for her husband’s death. Trey can relate. He blames himself, also. As danger lurks, Trey begs Chelsea to heed his warnings. He let down one Hammond. He won’t let down another—especially one who now holds his heart.

When Chelsea is snatched from her home, can she put aside her fear and trust Trey with her life? Can she forgive him for destroying her past and let him help to rebuild her future?

Where one journey ends, another begins…

After a successful auditing career, Dora Hiers left the corporate world to be a stay-at-home mom to her two sons. Eventually, needing something more to fill her days, she started writing heart-racing, God-gracing books. Dora belongs to the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and the Carolina Christian Writers.

Dora and her husband make their home in Kannapolis, North Carolina. When she’s not writing, Dora enjoys spending time with her family, guzzling café con leche, kicking back in her recliner with a good book, teaching Sunday School, vacationing in the mountains, watching football, and walking her dog.
http://www.dorahiers.com
Facebook ~ Dora Hiers Author