I was born and raised in Indiana, but have lived most of the last twenty years in the California Central Valley. Those two places are not much alike. Living in a desert/swamp area now, I will forever miss the dramatic summer thunderstorms and abundance of huge, green deciduous trees of Indiana.

I’ve been an artist in one form or another all my life. For many years, my artistic outlet was mainly drawing. I eventually began portrait “painting” first in graphite and then professional grade colored pencil. When I’ve had time, I’ve created a living artform in my flower garden. Recently, I’ve been expressing my artistic side by jewelry making. But through it all, I’ve written, whether in stories, novels, journals, dream diaries, twenty-page letters, my websites, blogs, or email — I write!

I’ve been married to a wonderful man for forty-one  years, and we’ve been blessed to have a spectacular family of fours sons, their wives, and five (soon to be six) grandchildren form around us. I now have the time to devote to serious writing, and I am taking advantage of that.

I started off, as many writers do, as an avid reader.  I used to get in trouble as a teeenager for reading too much (not a common complaint among parents of tennagers), but I must admit my reading interfered with my chores and homework at times.  I also loved writing poetry and prose, and even won a few contests, but it wasn’t until recently that I discoverd my true love, writing novels.  I found myself waking up in the middle of the night with ideas for characters.  I would rush to the office and grab a notebook and start scribbling furiously, sometimes filling up ten pages with ideas.  Then the following morning I would try to decipher what I had written, which was no easy task.  Finally, I decided to let my creativity loose during normal daylight hours; I sat down and wrote a two-page prologue. 

I didn’t think much of what I had done until I got the courage to hand it to a few people. I started with my husband who loved it (he later told me he loved it so much he couldn’t believe how bad my first chapter was, though he didn’t say so at the time, smart man).  His enthusiasm about it empowered me, and I began giving it to a few other select people, including a writer friend.  They all loved it.  Now, I know it’s important to be careful of feedback you recieve from friends and family, and I am, but what I found interesting was that I began getting constant requests for more pages.  One of my readers would call or email and say, “Can I just have a page or even a few paragraphs?”, and if I didn’t write for a few days I heard complaining about my lack of progress.  I realized at that point I really wanted to finish my story.  It was, after all, floating around in my head, and it wasn’t going anywhere, so I might as well share it with others, I thought.  

At first I wasn’t very serious about my books, and figured I would just let my writing sit in a binder in my house somewhere.  After discovering that Kasie was also writing, we formed our own little book club and began sharing our work and reviewing and editing for each other.   Kasie inspired me with her enthusiasm and incredible work ethic, and ”Book Club” became my favorite activity during the week and a huge motivation to continue my work.  I realized that writing is what I want to do.  I love it, and now that I’ve started I can’t imagine my life without it.  

I have since recognized that it’s unfair to say that a writer is just lucky or talented.  I almost consider that an insult.  Certainly, you have to have an inclination, but you also have to be willing to pay the price.  Writing my books is a labor of love and extremely fulfilling, but it is definitely work.  In the past months I have spent countless hours writing, reading, editing, swallowing my pride, listening to criticism along with the compliments, and researching literary agents. 

Even when I’m not actively working on my books, I’m thinking about the plots and the characters; they speak to me when I’m doing the dishes and laundry or playing with my son or laying in my bed.  At times, I feel like I’m a slave to do their bidding and tell their story.  Does that sound dramatic or crazy?  Sometimes it does to me, but fortunately my husband is a psychologist and has assured me that he will let me know if I ever cross the line.  I think I’m doing okay.

I am almost done with the first book in my series.  It will most likely be around 90,000 words, and I would classify it as a Young Adult, Contemporary Fantasy.  My blog address is  candicekennington.wordpress.com if you would like to learn more about it or any of my other works.  I’m so excited to get to know other writers in the area.  I’m hoping this blog can be an extension of the “Book Club” we started that has been so motivating and enriching.

So that’s my story so far…

My first book was a completely private experience.  I was scared to share it or talk about it with anybody.  When I finally decided to open my mouth, first to my sisters, and then to my best friend, Candi, I found out that Candi was secretly writing a novel as well.  Through sharing, we have both realized that letting other people know, talking about it, opening ourselves up, has motivated us.  I have written more in the last six months, since telling Candi, than I had in the two previous years of keeping it to myself.  Anyway, as far as writing goes, that’s me.  If you want to find out more about me, visit my blog listed to the right.