Florida non-fiction author, Chris Manion is a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native. While there, she learned how to “sled, play tennis, and turn car wheels toward the curb when parking on a hill”—a slice of driver’s ed instruction unnecessary on Florida’s flat terrain. She now lives in the panhandle with her husband on a spring-fed lake that cascades along their property and flows into the Gulf under the state’s tiniest maintained bridge. “God helped us find this new home less than a year ago after enduring a bullying neighbor with Christian love.”
Writing has always been her way of sorting and expressing her feelings. “I grew up the oldest of six, and my next sibling was a brother. I didn’t have someone with whom I could confide identity questions as a teen. My only sister was three years younger. So my five-year diary with a little gold key was my first satisfactory experience of exploring feelings and ideas in writing.”
Chris’s love of books stems from her parents, who read them bedtime stories and saw that as soon as they could print their names, they received library cards. “It was a big deal. In my teen years, I found resonance with poets Rod McKuen, Emily Dickinson and e.e. cummings. In high school, the lyrical spiritualism of Kahlil Gibran and Siddhartha caught my attention, and the classics Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre stand out as my earliest favorites.”
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Over a fifteen year period, while in the height of a direct sales career, running a twenty-million dollar sales team, Chris carved out time to write. Her endurance paid off. In 2017, her first book was published by Redemption Press. God’s Patient Pursuit of My Soul is an account of how her realization that Jesus could be her best friend set her on a path of spiritual discovery and changed her life.
Her advice for aspiring writers is to “read writing craft books, go to writers’ conferences, and find your particular tribe of writers in a nearby critique group. You may have to try a few groups until you find one that fits. In my case, a Google search showed me the closest group was six hours away, so in 2015, I started a Destin chapter of Word Weavers. We’re now nineteen members strong and a tight-knit family, which I thank God for. Writing is a lonely and limiting business without the support of other writers.”
Today, this former direct-sales superstar remains a high achiever motivated by big goals. Amidst her hopes to one day write a New York Times bestseller, she’s writing children’s picture books, exploring her first venture into fiction writing, and finishing a Deep Editing, Rhetorical Devices, and More course through Lawson Writers Academy.
Chris invites you to connect with her on her website at www.chrismanion.com and to check out her book on her Amazon Author page.
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“Shaping a life, both the living of it and the telling of it, is an elusive creative process, somewhat like a pointillist painting. Up close, nothing seems clear. Only as one steps back enough … does an image appear from the multitude of tiny brush strokes.” —God’s Patient Pursuit of My Soul
How Wonderful! Thanks for sharing a little about authors and their lives. Congratulations, Chris. I have enjoyed meeting and getting to know you this year. Blessings, dear friend.
You’re welcome.
Thank you, Patricia. I so appreciate friends of writers like Starr and you who dedicate their time and hearts to support us and lift our work up. God bless you all.
Sounds like perhaps you’ve found a little slice of heaven on earth Ms. Chris; in the panhandle no less. Praying you enjoy the Emerald Coast ma’am. Happy writing! Location makes for some wonderful inspiration.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, JD.
Thank you, J. D. You are such an encourager and super star Word Weaver. I’m glad I’m playing on your team. My husband and I thank God every day for the beauty that surrounds us here.
Starr, thanks for showcasing Chris and her work!
“Yunz” sound like you found your dream house.
Enjoy your writing journey and may God bless your work.
Ben, we surely have found our dream house. Funny how God always wants to share even greater joy with us. When we moved here 11 months ago, we had to leave what we’d called our dream house on the sea. We’d lived there 16 years and it made us sad to leave, but we no longer had peace there. God used some negative circumstances to show us how He could bless us even more. He ever delights in bringing us joy.