Since you asked
Well, okay, since you asked . . .
diane hale moody
who?
Born in Fort Worth, Texas, raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Graduate of Memorial High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Graduate, Oklahoma State University, B.A. in Sociology.
Following graduation, I worked as a Patient Representative at Baptist Memorial Hospital
in Memphis, Tennessee. I was there the day Elvis died. He was bluer than those blue
suede shoes by the time he arrived, according to a friend in the ER. In case you were
wondering.
I moved back to Tulsa in 1980 to study court reporting. I figured if I was going to be single, I wanted to have an interesting career (and make some decent money). I started attending First Baptist, the church I'd grown up in. I noticed this funny tall guy in the singles group. At the Living Christmas Tree, he played the partridge in the pear tree, wearing a rooster costume complete with yellow tights. I was one of the turtle doves. It was those bird legs that did it. The turtle dove married the partridge on April 25, 1981, becoming Mrs. Ken Moody, trading in her stenographer's transcriber for marital bliss.
Ken & I moved to Fort Worth, Texas where he enrolled at Southwestern Baptist Seminary (just two blocks from the house I lived in after I was born). He graduated in 1984 and we moved to Naples, Florida where he served on staff at First Baptist Church. We had both our kids in Naples: Hannah in 1985 and Benjamin in 1987.
In 1989 we moved to Largo, Florida where Ken joined the staff at First Baptist Church of Indian Rocks. Ironically, that was the church Ken grew up in. (Do we see a pattern here?) We lived there almost ten years and made so many wonderful friends. Now, I realize most of this bio is about me following the hubster's career moves. But I was busy being a mom and didn't have time for much else. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
In 1999 we moved to Kingston Springs, Tennessee, a small town in the hills just outside of Nashville. Ken is CEO of Hedgebuilders, a Christian internet filtering company, and I am now a full-time writer & author. I wrote a local newspaper column for over five years, as well as numerous magazine articles and curriculum feature stories. And in 2010, I officially added "published author" to my resume!
Me an Author
Me? An Author?
Now that I'm 50-something, I decided it's time to figure out what I want to do with my life. When I went to college, I didn't have a clue. I picked a sociology major only because I enjoyed the classes. Got a degree but that was about it. Got married, had a couple kids, they grew up, and I suddenly realized God surely had something more in store for me than just waiting around for grandkids.
To be honest, there was that whole "ah ha!" moment back in my 12th grade Creative Writing class when Mrs. Bullock said something to the effect of "you know, you have quite a gift." Really? Gifted? Me? For a freckle-faced redhead who'd never been a stand-out in ANYTHING, I was thrilled!
So why did it take me so long to follow up on Mrs. Bullock's accolades? Beats me.
I did have some self-confidence issues. And then there was that whole procrastination thing . . .
Had a stormy time in my 40s (and who doesn't love menopausal hell?) and ended up seeing a counselor who suggested I try my hand at writing again and see what happened. Not only was it therapeutic, I watched a forgotten passion reignite into a full-blown dream and I've never looked back.
My first venture into fiction was THE RUNAWAY PASTOR'S WIFE. Oh so therapeutic, that one. It's been really fun getting feedback from pastor's wives. (My lips are sealed.) Then came BLUE CHRISTMAS, a story that morphed out of my daughter's teen years and her boy band affections. It was first written as "fan fiction" and when posted online, received more than 80,000 hits, stuffing more than a thousand fan letters in my email. It was such a blast writing that story! But don't worry, we dropped the boy band and went with a more mainstream rock band image.
I never dreamed I'd write non-fiction, but God apparently had other ideas. My first book to get published, CONFESSIONS OF A PRAYER SLACKER released in 2010, followed by DON'T EVER LOOK DOWN: SURVIVING CANCER TOGETHER, a book I co-authored with my good friends Dick & Debbie Church, released in April 2011.You can find out more about all my books by clicking on the "BOOKS" tab over there to your left. I even included some of my WIPs (that's writer lingo for "works in progress, in case you were wondering.) I can't wait to finish them!
That's about it. The rest of my life is all about family and friends, good books, good music, excellent coffee, and my relationship with God. If you're really bored, you can take a stroll through my life by browsing through my scrapbook photos, favorite things, and inspirations (below). Meanwhile, feel free to put on some James Taylor, kick your feet up, and stay awhile.
