Why I Love Writing Stories About Women Who Find Their Strength

If you’ve read any of my books, you’ve probably noticed a common thread running through them.

I love writing about women who discover they’re stronger than they thought they were. Not the women who have all the answers from the very beginning and not the women who charge fearlessly into every situation without a second thought.

I’m drawn to the women who are figuring things out as they go. You know the ones who doubt themselves and the ones who make mistakes. And I really connect to those who find themselves standing at a crossroads, wondering if they’re capable of taking the next step.

Maybe that’s because those women feel the most real to me.

When I think about the women who lived on the American frontier, I often wonder what it must have felt like to leave everything familiar behind. To travel hundreds of miles from home. To build a life in a place where nothing was easy and very little was certain. Most of them weren’t trying to make history. They were simply trying to make a home.

They cooked meals over open fires, hauled water, cared for children, tended gardens, helped neighbors, and somehow kept going through hardships that would have sent many of us running for the nearest modern convenience.

What inspires me is that so many of these women probably didn’t think of themselves as brave. They were simply doing what needed to be done. And isn’t that often where true strength is found?

Not in grand gestures or dramatic speeches. But in showing up day after day and refusing to quit when life gets hard.

Those are the kinds of women who find their way into my stories.

I love watching a character grow into herself. I love seeing her discover abilities she didn’t know she possessed and I love those moments when she realizes she can handle more than she ever believed possible. I think that’s one reason I love historical fiction so much.

In fact, that’s one of the reasons I loved writing my Marrying a Sweet Sister series. The women in those books aren’t perfect, and they certainly don’t have everything figured out. They’re simply trying to navigate life’s challenges while staying true to themselves and their faith.

Who is a woman—real or fictional—who has inspired you with her strength? What was it about her that stayed with you?

Leave a comment below and tell me. I always enjoy hearing your thoughts.