Good morning from Houston, Texas.
Martha Rogers
here, one of the regular bloggers on HHH blog. Born and bred in Texas, I’ve
never lived in any other state except for six months with my aunt in
Washington, D.C. when I was in eighth grade. That was an amazing time for me and my sister as we were able to see and do so much in that great city.
My husband Rex and I live in Houston and have lived in the same house for 44 years. Lots of history here. Rex and I met at a social for Career Singles at Houston's First Baptist church where we were married and are still members.On October 24, we will celebrate 61 years of marriage.
My husband and I loved to travel when we were younger and have visited many of our great states. We’re retired, but at the age of 84, we are no longer able to travel like we once did.
My
favorite things or people are our grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Our sixth great-grandchild, Zachery Ryan, was born in August and is a delight. Our youngest
grandson is a senior in high school and was recently elected president of his
senior class. So, despite COVID, this will be a year of good memories.
I love to
read and grew with weekly trips to the library for as many books as they would
let me check out. I’ve been writing since I was able to hold a pencil and
scribble out stories I told my mother. I had a very creative imagination and my
teachers in elementary and secondary school encouraged me in my writing.
My
freshman English professors at Baylor University also encouraged me in my writing,
and from them I learned more about sentence structure and the
mechanics of
writing. I wrote my first novel at the age of 17 on a typewriter in my dorm
room. I still have a yellowed copy of it. I am an avid Baylor fan and love my Alma Mater as evidenced by the Baylor wall in the room I use as my office.
After
graduation, I wrote short stories while I worked as a Home Economist with the
electric company here in Houston. Then I married, had a family, and put my
writing on the back burner. I started teaching and eventually earned my MEd in
curriculum and began teaching English. I then taught at the college level.
Right after I began teaching at the college level, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and had surgery. After treatment, it still came back five years later, and in 1999, I had the second surgery. This time the treatment took care of it, and I've been cancer free since 2004. God has blessed my life in more ways than I could ever count, and I give Him all the praise and glory for all that He's done for me. I am especially proud of our family and how God has blessed us with beautiful grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Below is a picture of our family at our grandson Seth's wedding to Katherine three years ago.
Finally,
after thirty-six years, I retired from teaching when I had my second cancer surgery. I then began attending writing
conferences, and got serious about my writing. In 2005, my first novella was published by Barbour in a collection called Sugar and Grits. Our son and his family lived in
Tulsa, Oklahoma, so we made many trips up there. We always stopped at the
Welcome Center just over the Texas line, and I began picking up pamphlets about
the history of Oklahoma. That inspired me to set my first book in the state
after the land run in the late 19th century. Then, believe it or not, the acceptance letter for my first full-length novel in the Oklahoma series came on my 73rd birthday in 2009. One book became the
first of six. These are the first four.
Since then, I have over 55 novellas and
novels published.
In my
series, Homeward Journey, I used some
journal entries and letters from my great-grandfather to my great-grandmother
just after the Civil War as the starting point for my story. Writing it required a lot of research about the armistice
and the conditions of POW camps in the north. My great-grandfather was a
prisoner at Pt. Lookout, Maryland and was exchanged a few days after the
Armistice to make his way home on foot with his younger brother which is the starting point for the book. That then
required research into what towns existed in 1865 between Maryland and his home in
Louisiana. Since then, the majority of my books have been set in Texas.
The theme
of all my books centers around reunion and reconciliation. That reconciliation
may be character to character, the character with self, or the character with
God. My characters face tragedy, adversity, loss of faith, sin, and rejection,
but through it all, their lives are changed through restoration of faith and
prayer.
I'm a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and write the devotional for that loop every week. I'm also a member of Christian Author's Network, WOTS chapter of ACFW in The Woodlands, Texas, and Inspirational Writers Alive, our local writing group in Houston. I also teach a Ladies Bible class on Sundays and co-lead a First Place 4 Health group.
This is one of my most favorite pictures from ACFW conference. I'm getting a hug from Frank Peritti at the Saturday night gala in 2013.
Ask me a question about my journey or my books and include your email address. You will then be in the drawing for this book either as a paperback or an e-book.
Learn more about me on my website and Facebook:
marthawrogers.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarthaRogersAuthor
