Mommy Authors: Valerie J. Steimle

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

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Meet the team!

Valerie J. Steimle

Team Leader

Despite being born and raised a Yankee, Valerie Steimle moved to southern Alabama with her husband and nine children and has found herself partial to the south. She has always been passionate about families and despite being busy with her own, felt compelled to write about them. Starting with a column in the local newspaper, she has since published several books regarding family issues. During that time her husband passed away suddenly and she was left to raise their five youngest children alone. She moved forward with faith however, and has found happiness in her writing, her family, and her remarriage.

See my sites: www.strengthenyourhome.com www.valeriesteimle.blogspot.com

Luisa Perkins

Luisa Perkins is the author of Dispirited, Comfortably Yum, and the forthcoming The Book of Jer3miah. She loves cooking and eating, all kinds of music, and knitting. She and her husband have six children and one aging-but-still-insane cat. They live in a small town in Southern California.

Mary Dewald

Mary Dewald considers herself a country-raised girl used to mountains and snow raising her children in a city built in a desert. She hadn’t been on horse back for twenty-five years, but she has nine terrific children to make up for it. Though not yet published, she loves to write and hope to be in the coming year. Her writing usually stems from her strongest passions- family, family history, children, freedom and the wonders of God's creations. Her sister is currently finishing up the pictures for a children’s picture book she have written and others are waiting their turn. She also has a historical novel in progress.

Margaret Turley

Margaret started writing when she was in elementary school. She has published her nursing memoirs and articles in nursing magazines. Save the Child is her first published novel and has several WIPs. She is Administrator for Writers Unite to Fight Cancer - an organization of authors who raise money for cancer research while supporting authors with venues and helping cancer patients in need. Margaret enjoys writing and reading in almost every genre, music, playing violin, cooking, and spending time with family. She is the mother of one daughter and a son with four granddaughters.

See my site: http://writersunitetofightcancer.com/

Jillian Torassa

Jillian Torassa is a Oregonian who loves to bake and play guitar. She graduated from Brigham Young University, where she studied English and Political Science, and she’s been writing stories since she first learned how. Her first novel was about a dog that fell into a wormhole and ended up in a land filled with talking yellow labs. She was six, and her spelling was so atrocious, she felt she must have been writing in tongues. She believes it’s imperative to experience life outside your own bubble, and that’s why literature is so important. She is married to her best friend, who is very supportive of her dreams, and though she not a mom yet, she can’t wait to be one.

Heidi Murphy

Heidi Murphy is a "writer-of-all-trades". She writes under the name of H. Linn Murphy for Regency romance, Latter-day Saint romance, paranormal romance, and historical fiction and under the name of Indigo Chase for Science Fiction. She and her family are hostages of the desert and wish to move somewhere green, with real seasons. She loves to travel, read, swim, hike, camp, swordplay, and plays the guitar, tin whistle and bodrhan (Irish drum).

She's also a freelance artist and works for the Boy Scouts. Someday she's going to find her family castle, find her Scottish pirate ancestor, go back to Europe, and get her loads of books published.

Connie Sokol

Connie Sokol is a mother of seven, a national and local presenter, and a regular speaker at Education Week. She is a monthly TV contributor on KSL’s “Studio 5” and regular blogger for KSL's "Motherhood Matters." She is a former TV and radio host for Bonneville Communications, and columnist for Deseret News and Utah Valley Magazine. Mrs. Sokol is the author of Caribbean Crossroads, Faithful, Fit & Fabulous, Life is Too Short for One Hair Color, and Life is Too Short for Sensible Shoes, as well as talk CDs and podcasts. Mrs. Sokol marinates in time spent with her family and eating decadent treats.

Check out my site:
www.conniesokol.com

Tanya Parker Mills

Tanya Parker Mills grew up overseas in some pretty volatile areas and, as a result, likes to write fiction that builds understanding between people and cultures. She graduated from Brigham Young University in Broadcast Journalism with a minor in Political Science and worked for Sunset Magazine for a couple of years as an Assistant Editor for Trade Publications. Her first novel, THE RECKONING, was a 2008 Whitney Finalist, the 2009 Indie Book Award Winner for Multicultural Fiction, and the 2010 Writer's Digest International Self-Published Book Award Winner for Mainstream/Literary Fiction. Her new novel, A NIGHT ON MOON HILL, just came out in September and was inspired by her son, Jason, who was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome at age six.

Anika Arrington is an aspiring writer, a full time mother of five, a foster-adoptive parent, blessed wife of an amazing man, big sister, and many other monikers. She loves being in the kitchen as much as she loves being at the computer and tends to procrastinate by making brownies or macaroni and cheese from scratch (She claims the best 20 minute recipe and it includes pumpkin!). She is currently polishing/finishing two works of speculative fiction and one work of inspirational nonfiction which she hopes to publish next year.

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Valerie J. Steimle