Although Deanna was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, she did not grow up there. Her dad’s Air Force service led him from Texas to Nebraska, where he met her mother. Moving is common for military families, and as a result, she’s lived in multiple places. The most exciting place was Japan. However, she was too young to enjoy or remember the experience. Living in Texas for a huge portion of my life means she consider herself a regular Texas gal.
She was always the new kid, so she had to be outgoing. People who know her will tell you she is not at all shy! Deanna loves meeting people and making new friends wherever she goes. Her aunt hooked her on the classics - Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Black Beauty, Heidi, Charlotte’s Webb, Alice in Wonderland, and more. As she lost herself in the pages of any book, her vivid imagination brought the story to life, drawing her into the book, and she became part of the story. After the classics, Deanna moved on to mysteries, Nancy Drew, and The Hardy Boys, graduating to the love stories of Harlequin and Silhouette. Now she will read whatever captures her attention no matter the genre.
Long before the Internet and personal computers, she typed or wrote longhand. Laughingly she admits that her penmanship stinks, and maybe her real calling was to be a doctor! Even she has problems reading her handwriting. You’re laughing now and so is she! She used an old fashion typewriter, so it would be legible. After a time had passed, she finally had enough of a manuscript and was ready query. So, she sent it snail mail to Harlequin. With their stacks and stacks of slush piles, her only desire was they’d take a quick look before trashing it.
Snail mail takes forever and replies even longer, so she went about her life and wrote when she found the time. Months later, an unexpected phone call came in from New York. A representative from Harlequin was calling. Deanna’s heart raced. Could her dreams of becoming a published author come true? No. Her dream was still a dream. But the call was better than a canned letter; and uplifting because the representative told her she had an earthy writing style, that she definitely had ‘something’, and she encouraged her to keep writing. Deanna was both disappointed and exhilarated and she decided she I would not give up.
Years later, a chain of events happened, giving her ample time to write, and she pounded the keyboard, publishing her first children’s book. Afterward, that came her first Jack West Detective Novel and three more followed. In 2024, she released her first FBI Novel, When Good Men Fall- a Kasper Bergman Novel and two YA Fantasy/ Adventures. Saving A Sioux Legacy (released 2020) and Protector of Legends (released 2024). Both YA fantasies encompass time-travel, adventure, magic, with a Native American History.
Deanna feels her life brought her full circle to a dream that began years ago. For her, it’s an exhilarating feeling to knowing that she gets to engage with and entertain readers.
