HHH Blogger Spotlight - Vickie McDonough

Hi folks!

I'm Vickie McDonough, and I'm the guest blogger today. I was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and lived there all of my life, except for a year when my husband and I lived on a kibbutz in Israel, 11 miles from Jerusalem. We went with a group of young people from our church and got to know many Israelis and we had the chance to visit many different parts of Israel during the year we lived there. It was hard being away from family in an era where you good only mail letters back and forth. We could call, but it was very expensive, and we only did that twice.

When I was a girl, I loved watching westerns like Bonanza, Wagon Train, and The Big Valley with my dad. Here's a funny fact: my grandma (who was born in 1876) loved Bonanza, but she could never say it. She called the show Lorenzo. :)

I grew up loving horses, and even though I was a city girl, I talked my parents into buying three horses over a five-year period. I rode all over town. That time is a special memory now, and I fully believe God allowed that love for horses to make me a better writer when I got older. Having that experience helps make my westerns more realistic.

 

The Land Rush Dreams Series
Experience the excitement of the Oklahoma land rush days.

Purchase Gabriel's Atonement

Purchase Joline's Redemption

Purchase Sarah's Surrender

I didn't start writing until I was 47 and had mostly raised my four sons. I never planned to be a writer, but I believe God started sending me stories. They keep rattling around in my mind so that I couldn't hardly sleep. I decided to write them down in hopes they'd go away and leave me alone. After I wrote two books, I began to wonder if God was calling me to write. After praying with my husband, I jumped into writing. I took classes at the local community college, took classes online, and started attending writers conferences. I guess you could say the rest is history. To date, I've written/created 52 books. Most of those are historical Christian romances, but I do have three contemporary stories, as well as a USA Word Find book and a Stained Glass Mandala coloring book.

 

Purchase USA Word Find

Purchase Stained Glass Mandalas

I started out writing novellas (15,000 - 30,000 words) to short books for the Heartsong Presents line (50,000 words) to writing trade fiction (over 75,000). The Texas Boardinghouse Brides was my first trade fiction series, and it's a fun series with lots of humor and drama.

 The Texas Boardinghouse Brides Series

Three mail-order brides arrive in a small Texas town, each expecting to marry the town marshal--
but he never ordered a bride.

Purchase The Anonymous Bride
Purchase Second Chance Bride
Purchase Finally a Bride

On a personal note, Robert and I will have our 45th anniversary in October. We raised four boys, and two are married. We also have a fourteen-year-old granddaughter. Here's a picture of Hailey when she was little. We had just attended an event at our church. 

It's not too early to start your Christmas shopping now. 

Feel free to ask me questions if you have any. Blessings!