Award-winning Illinois author, Cindy Ervin Huff, was born in Wichita, Kansas. Her family moved when she was one and every few years thereafter. She said life as a “military brat” forced her to be an extrovert to find friends.
After her dad served a tour of duty in England, this Kansas-born author did more than click her heels to return home. She wowed the neighborhood by riding her giant tricycle. She was five and the wheels on her trike measured twenty inches. “All the kids wanted to ride it.”
Her big-wheel adventures eventually led her to marriage and a home in Aurora, Illinois, where she’s lived with her husband for the past forty-seven years.
Cindy writes Historical and Contemporary Romance. When asked about her inspiration for writing she said, “God put all the imaginary characters in my head. When I realized it was his gift to me, I was free to create stories for them.”
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Her first book Secrets & Charades, a historical romance, took five months from research to finished draft. After ten years of rewrites and twenty rejections, it was published. In 2014, it won the Editor’s Choice Award which led to publication and two more awards, including the 2017 Serious Writers Medal. Since then, she’s published a contemporary romance, New Duet, which was a 2019 Selah finalist and Healing Hearts, a novella, which released this past Thursday, August 15th as part of the Smitten Historical Romance Collection: The Cowboys.
When asked what advice she’d give a writer struggling with their first book, she said, “Find a great critique group where the feedback is honest, yet kind. Then read craft books, attend conferences and apply all that you learn. Don’t shy away from online classes, they made a big difference for me. Over time your book will be published because your writing craft will improve and your network connections from conferences will be priceless.”
In the future, this 2019 Selah award finalist wants to publish more books and hopes one day to move from finalist to “winner.” She’d also love to visit the UK, the home of her ancestors, and eventually revisit the wonderful people she met in the Philippines while she and her husband held pastor’s conferences there.
And just so you know, Cindy’s recently grown out her short-do and let her hair go gray. “People stop me mid-conversation to tell me how good it looks and that it makes me look younger. I’ve never had such a reaction to changing my hair before.” Now on to create a greater stir with her books.
Cindy invites you to connect with her on her website at www.jubileewriter.wordpress.com and to check out her books on her Amazon Author page.
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“He makes all things beautiful in His time.” —Ecclesiastes 3:11
