Monica Collier

I’m southern. I’m a night owl. I'm about to release my third novel (and have four more in the works). I'm shopping the rights to my novels. I like my coffee. I suffer CSA on most mornings (cover separation anxiety).

I was born and raised in Franklin, North Carolina, about seventy miles west of Asheville, right above the state line shared with Georgia. I still live in Franklin, in fact. It’s small, warm, friendly, mountainous, at times humid, and very picturesque, right off of the Appalachian Trail. I’ve left it at times, traveling around to see what lies beyond the horizon. Paris called for a while, and I answered. Each time I come back to where my heart is, Franklin. It’s my home.

I’ve been inspired creatively since a young age. I’m an only child and spent much of my time around the company of adults. Writing came naturally to me, believe it or not, after being absorbed into the likes of Shakespeare, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, and Edgar Allen Poe, at the age of eleven. Even though life has taken me down paths I didn’t expect, my passion for writing never faded. True, writing did take a back seat while the messy bits of every day were tempered with prayer and quietness. Life is the messy bits. Without living we cannot write. Inspiration comes through living.

If I could say anything to you it would be to follow what God has given you a passion for. He will never lead you astray. My passions have taken me through many vocations. I’m interested in everything. Cooking, wine, gardening, aromatherapy, flowers, designing stationery, old books, antiques, cultures, and photography (I retired from weddings after eleven years). But I always return to writing.

You may find me wondering around a trail, one of the gardens at Biltmore Estate, trying to stuff my curly hair underneath a hat, teaching on the benefits of essential oils to a church group, or speaking on the lost art of letter writing. Eventually you’ll see me writing if you pay attention long enough. I carry a red barrel, Parker jotter pen, my preferred writing instrument, with me at almost all times. Journals, or scraps of whatever I can find, are usually not too far beyond my fingertips, lying in wait for the next thought to be committed to paper. There is truth and freedom in writing. Words are powerful. Use them wisely to bring life and encourage others.