Like Moonlight at Low Tide won the 2013 ACFW Carol Award for young adult fiction and is a "recommended teen read" by USA Today. When high school junior Melissa Keiser returns to her hometown of Anna Maria Island, Florida, she has one goal: hide from the bullies who had convinced her she was the ugliest girl in school. But when she is caught sneaking into a neighbor's pool at night, everything changes. Something is different now that Melissa is sixteen, and the guys and popular girls who once made her life miserable have taken notice. When Melissa gets the chance to escape life in a house ruled by her mom's latest boyfriend, she must choose where her loyalties lie between a long-time crush, a new friend, and her surfer brother who makes it impossible to forget her roots. Just as Melissa seems to achieve everything she ever wanted, she loses a loved one to suicide. Melissa must not only grieve for her loss, she must find the truth about the three boys who loved her and discover that joy sometimes comes from the most unexpected place of all.
The first time I fell in love with the written story was when I was about nine years-old, and my mother read an Emily Dickinson poem to me from a leather-bound anthology of American poetry. I spent the next years drawn to anything that would help me recapture that feeling of pure wonder I felt when I discovered how the perfect string of words could come together to illuminate a truth, or a heartache, or even love.
As a kid, I memorized lines of words in community theater. I wrote pages upon pages of words to my best friends in high school (and in subsequent summer school). I thought I had lost all my words when I was rejected from my high school newspaper, but I found them again when I got my first writing job as a student columnist for theManatee Am/Sarasota Herald Tribune years later.
After majoring in Communications at Appalachian State University, I was blessed to find the profession of public relations, which allowed me to work with words on a daily basis for the last dozen years in Washington, D.C.
But it wasn’t until I wrote Like Moonlight at Low Tide that I got to share the words that meant the most to me—the ones that tell a story of God’s goodness and relevance to all of us. I don’t think my words will ever do that mission justice, but it is sure fun (and incredibly humbling) to try.
Originally, I am from beautiful (and sunny) Anna Maria Island, Florida.
INTERVIEW!!:
What are your 5 favorite songs?
That's a tough one because the answer changes just about every day. But right now it's:
"Last Known Surroundings" by Explosions in the Sky
"From the Inside Out" by Hillsong
"Why Don't We Just Dance" by Josh Turner
"Take 'Em Away" by Old Crow Medicine Show
"Lord Raise Me Up" by Matisyahu
What is your earliest memory?
Moving into our home in Florida after my dad got out of the service. I was about two.
Tell us a little about Like Moonlight at Low Tide.
It's the story of what happens to a girl after she's been bullied and starts to get everything she ever wanted.
What character was easiest for you to write about?
The easiest character to write about was the younger sister of the main character. I'm an older sibling myself, and I remembered how much my younger brother just loved me where I was at when I was a teenager, even though my head was in so many different places. I wrote the younger sibling in this story in a similar way.
What character was hardest for you to write about?
The hardest character for me to write about was the main character's mother, who had a lot of issues. I wanted to show both sides of her -- the loving side as a mom, and the foolish side as a woman who thought that the right boyfriend would fix everything.
Do you have any ideas for more books?
I'm working on another novel now that is a real challenge to write. Just when I think I'm close to the end, I discover something new. It's an adventure.
What or who was/is your greatest encouragement as an author?
My parents and my friends both really encouraged me to write. They knew I needed to go out there and try it or else I would never know what I was capable of. They believed in me before I did.
I was also really inspired by a sermon a movie producer gave at my church. He talked about the role of stories in our lives and how important they are. When I heard that, I felt I had permission to pursue this dream.
You can listen to it here: http://www.
Do you have any favorite sayings?
What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?
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