Sharon Riddle

Sharon K Riddle was born in Michigan on July 18, 1956. Her father was a pastor and her mother was VERY creative. (i.e. One time she created a sheep costume for our dog so she could use him for a Sunday School object lesson. Smile.) This explains Sharon's two central passions in life. She loves the Lord and she loves to create. She can create an appliqued quilt, a meal for a hundred, or a story, but only when connected to the source of creativity. The One who created the universe comes along-side and resources her dreams on a daily basis. She has written six books to date: three non-fiction books on prayer (Waiting at the Window, Warring at the Window and Waltzing at the Window) and three children's picture books (The King's Silverware, Tony Loved to Learn and Princess Batilda).

Sharon received a B.A. degree in music from Azusa Pacific University and went on to work on her M.A. at Azusa's Graduate School of Theology. She married church planter, Ike Riddle and spent 18 years growing a church and school in Corona, California. Then, as Ike's health suffered, they moved to New Braunfels, Texas where Sharon teaches at New Braunfels Christian Academy. She also continues to write and to speak for retreats and seminars.

Every day after lunch our 4th grade class wrote stories. For some it was a miserable half an hour of boredom and note passing. However, for me, it was the magic time of day for spilling out silly scenarios. Our teacher gave us the prompt of two different animals and our objective was to invent a combination animal and to write about it. It was in that room that I fell in love with words and crafting them. It was there that the antics of monkelephants and zebrapotomi roamed the jungle of my mind.

Years later, as a teacher of creative writing I tried to paint the room with magic for my students. I want their heads to spin with imaginative character development and plots. I want foreshadowing and alliteration to flip from their fingers as they type out their dreams.

To teach writing you must be a learner in the school of writing. My teenage daughter made me laugh the other day. She loves to write and I suggested that she read a book a friend had written on the art of writing. "I already know how to write" was her response. I was thinking in response to her statement, "I have been writing for almost 60 years and I feel like I barely know anything about writing". I want to learn something every day about writing. I want to write about things that matter, and I want to write well enough so that people want to read what I write.

"I am only a pencil in God's hand, God writes through us, and however imperfect instruments we may be, God writes beautifully." Mother Teresa