I was selling to Silhouette, Harlequin, Dell and HarperCollins. Some years I wrote three or four, and I sold them all. Those books were kind of short, so I was able to write one in about three months. After I had that foot in the door, I just kept writing. I went to writers’ conferences to make contact with agents and editors, and as a result, I was able to sell my first book to Silhouette Books. So, I tailored my writing to fit that market. The best place to break into the publishing world at that time was in the romance genre. People in that group were getting published and doing well, so I learned everything I could from them.

To learn the craft, I joined a writer’s group that met once a month. I started writing my first novel during that time. I had my first child while I was in graduate school and took some time off. Her writing has been recognized with a Christy Award, two Carol Awards, a Christian Retailers Choice Award and a Romantic Times Book Reviews Career Achievement Award, among others.

She and husband Ken have raised her two daughters and his son together, and today their lives stay busy with their five grandchildren. From then on, I have been able to write for a living.”Īfter moves to Louisiana and then Florida, she returned to Clinton, where she has lived since 1990.

“I wrote my first book in my early 20s and sold it to a publisher when I was 25. She went on to graduate from Jackson’s Wingfield High School, attended Hinds Community College, and earned an English degree from the University of Louisiana at Monroe.Īlthough she began work on a master’s degree at ULM, Blackstock never finished the program because “I decided to write my first novel instead of a thesis,” she said. Her prolific body of award-winning work also includes 32 romance novels, nine standalone novels, four story compilations, two titles for young readers, and a devotional.Īfter spending the first 11 years of her life as an Air Force brat, it was when Blackstock’s parents divorced that her mother, a Mississippi native, settled the family in the Jackson area. Her most recent addition, “If I’m Found,” will be released March 21 by Zondervan, and is the second in her new “If I Run” series begun in 2016 - making it her ninth popular Christian suspense series. With 80 titles to her credit and 7 million books sold over more than three decades, Clinton resident and New York Times bestselling author Terri Blackstock insists she never has trouble coming up with new characters and plots to add to her substantial collection of page-turning stories.

If i live by terri blackstock