exclusive author notes - spoiler alert!
On this page, I give away information about how I wrote New Life. This includes sensitive information about the plot as a whole, so if you haven't read the book yet, PLEASE don't scroll any further down this page! Instead, buy the book on Amazon, read it, and then you'll be welcome to explore this page :)
the basics
I came up with the character of Aleah Matthews in 2011. At the time, it wasn’t even on my radar to write a book about her. I just like coming up with imaginary people inside my head, and thinking about their lives, relationships, and how they grow and change over the years.
At the time I invented her, Aleah was a 20-year-old college student (there, I just gave you a spoiler for later in the series!) with a 3-year-old son named Austin and a 2-year-old daughter named Anna. Aleah was a dedicated Christian with a broken past. I’m not sure what else I knew about her at the time—I think I knew what she looked like, but I wasn’t clear on her family structure or on what had caused her to become so promiscuous in her teen years.
At the time I invented her, Aleah was a 20-year-old college student (there, I just gave you a spoiler for later in the series!) with a 3-year-old son named Austin and a 2-year-old daughter named Anna. Aleah was a dedicated Christian with a broken past. I’m not sure what else I knew about her at the time—I think I knew what she looked like, but I wasn’t clear on her family structure or on what had caused her to become so promiscuous in her teen years.
the writing process
A couple years later, I started typing a document that chronicled Aleah’s life from birth up through her mid-twenties. I’m pretty sure that I still didn’t have any clear plans to write a book about her at this point in time, but I wanted to get the information written down just in case. At some point a little bit later, I decided that I would write the story of Aleah’s life into a series of four books, modeled after the writing style of one of my favorite authors, Karen Kingsbury.
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It was July 2015 that I started writing “Aleah Book One.” I remember being outside, supervising my adventurous little cat, Magi, and trying to decide what I wanted to write (I like to bring my computer outside and work on stuff while I’m supervising Magi). I don’t remember what exactly prompted my decision, but I opened up a new document and started typing the beginning of my Aleah story.
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The story came so quickly over the next several days. I spent hours each day outside, writing more and more and more, using my document about Aleah’s life to feed my ideas. Some pieces from that document ended up being included word-for-word in the book!
click here to read the most detailed part of my aleah biography doc!
Aleah had been worried for a couple weeks because she was starting to experience some of the same symptoms she’d had when she first got pregnant with Austin. She desperately hoped she wasn’t pregnant again, and tried to ignore the signs. But she knew she couldn’t hide from them forever. One Wednesday in mid-November, she bought a pregnancy test kit on her way home from work. It was dark already, it was 6pm. Austin had been picked up from the center by Aleah’s mom, as was the agreement for Wednesday nights. Aleah didn’t want to test at home, so she did it in the drugstore where she’d bought the kit. The test was positive.
Aleah did not know what to do. She went out to her car and cried for an hour about her predicament. She knew her mom would be so angry at her for messing up not once, but TWICE. She couldn’t afford another baby. Her mom wouldn’t agree to taking care of another baby. Aleah should have known better after seeing where her last relationship got her. And worse, this hadn’t even been from a relationship at all. Just some random guy. She didn’t even know which guy. This was not going to go over well.
Aleah drove aimlessly around town and over into the next town. She didn’t know where she was going. Part of her wanted to swing by her mother’s house, pick up Austin, and just leave town. Part of her wanted to leave town and leave Austin with her mom, since she would probably be able to take better care of him anyway. She considered that this time, maybe she would give the baby up for adoption. She still didn’t want an abortion, but part of her was hoping for a miscarriage. Thoughts of suicide floated around in her head, but what stopped her was the reminder that it wasn’t the baby’s fault, any of it. The baby didn’t deserve to die no matter what.
She drove aimlessly until she passed a lit sign with the words New Life on it. This attracted her interest, because new life was what was on her mind—her unborn baby’s, whose new life would certainly not be good. Impulsively, she pulled into the driveway next to the sign.
The sign and the driveway belonged to a church. Aleah saw the steeple and felt a little remorseful. She had believed in God once, when she was little. She had gone to church and been a good girl. She thought she could remember saying a bedtime prayer once with her parents. And now look where she was. She hadn’t thought about God in years, but she was pretty sure He didn’t approve of who she was.
Part of her felt that she was too dirty, too messed up to enter a church. But part of her was drawn to it, to the light in the windows, to the New Life banner. She didn’t have any other options, so how could entering a church make her life any worse?
She parked her car, mustered up her courage, and tentatively walked to the door. She tried it and it opened. She could hear voices and see some light from down the hall. The voices sounded so happy and joyful, like they were from an entire different world from the one she lived in. She was definitely out of place. Still, they intrigued her. What were people doing at church on a Wednesday night, anyway?
She crept over and peered into the lit room. There were a bunch of teenagers there, kids her age, playing ping pong and foosball and maybe some board games. They were talking and laughing, there was music playing in a corner, some kids looked like they were eating—Aleah stood, transfixed, watching that happy scene as an outsider.
A man saw her and came over. He was around her mom’s age, maybe, and the only adult in the room. “Hi,” he said. “Are you here to join us at New Life tonight?”
Aleah shook her head, backing away. “No—no…I’m just—just—” she couldn’t think of a good excuse for being there.
“Are you here to pick someone up?” he asked.
“No…”
“Oh, I’m so sorry, I haven’t even introduced myself yet. I’m Steve Jenkins and I’m the pastor at this church. The kids call me Pastor Steve. What’s your name?”
“A-Aleah.”
“Aleah. That’s a pretty name, I don’t think I’ve ever heard it before. Well, Aleah, this is our high school youth group meeting tonight. If you don’t have anywhere else you need to be right now, we’d love to have you join us.”
Aleah hesitated. He seemed really nice, and so did the kids. But that was the problem. She didn’t deserve to be near nice people. She wasn’t like them.
Pastor Steve sensed her hesitation. “Why don’t you come on in and I’ll introduce you to everyone. You like ping pong? Foosball? Board games? Snacks? We’ve got a lot of stuff to do in here.”
“I’I’m not really wearing church clothes,” Aleah was wearing a somewhat low-cut black tank top covered by a black fashion jacket.
“That’s okay, neither am I. We dress casually for New Life. You’ll see, the kids in there are dressed kind of like we are.” Pastor Steve was wearing a T-shirt and jeans.
He led her toward the room and she went along, because she really was curious and something was just drawing her in that direction.
Pastor Steve showed her around and introduced her to some people, and then a girl from the foosball table came over. “Hey, I’m Christine. You wanna come over and play foosball with me and Aubrey?”
Aleah wasn’t sure she wanted to get involved. “I-I’m not very good,” she said.
“Neither am I. That’s why I need you on my team!” Aleah went over and Christine introduced her to Aubrey. They played foosball, Aleah and Christine against Aubrey, and Aleah and Christine pulled off a win. “All right!” exclaimed Christine, holding her hand up for a high five. “See, I knew we could do it! And you are good.” Aleah had played foosball at the Boys and Girls Club back when she went.
Christine and Aubrey invited her to go over and get some snacks with them, and she did, and she spent the rest of the night there talking to people, eating snacks, and playing games. They had a small closing session about an hour later, with a prayer and a sing-along worship song on a big screen. Aleah didn’t know the song, but she enjoyed listening to it and hearing the voices around her singing.
When that was over, Pastor Steve came over to her and said she’d be welcome to come back any time she wanted. He asked her if she had a church and she said no. he said, “Well, we have services on Sundays at 9:00, if you’re interested, and if not, that’s all right. You don’t need to be a churchgoer to come to New Life, everyone is welcome. Half the kids in there don’t attend this church, but they love coming for the games and the fun.” He said they weren’t meeting next Wednesday because it was Thanksgiving weekend, but the Wednesday after that he’d love to see her there again.
It had been like a night from a dream. In there, Aleah had felt loved and welcomed. She hadn’t known any of the kids, but that had been a good thing, because they didn’t know her either. They didn’t know what a mess she really was, they just welcomed her like any other teenager. And she had felt so good and normal in there with them, playing games, eating snacks, just like she really was any other teenager, not a teen mom who was about to have her second baby.
When she got to her car, it all came back. Who she really was and the problems she faced. She drove home, said hi to Austin, and went to bed without telling her mom anything. It wasn’t unusual that she was home late. She always got home at this time, because she usually went out and got together with guys after work. Her mom was under the impression that work didn’t get out until two hours later than it actually did.
Aleah did not know what to do. She went out to her car and cried for an hour about her predicament. She knew her mom would be so angry at her for messing up not once, but TWICE. She couldn’t afford another baby. Her mom wouldn’t agree to taking care of another baby. Aleah should have known better after seeing where her last relationship got her. And worse, this hadn’t even been from a relationship at all. Just some random guy. She didn’t even know which guy. This was not going to go over well.
Aleah drove aimlessly around town and over into the next town. She didn’t know where she was going. Part of her wanted to swing by her mother’s house, pick up Austin, and just leave town. Part of her wanted to leave town and leave Austin with her mom, since she would probably be able to take better care of him anyway. She considered that this time, maybe she would give the baby up for adoption. She still didn’t want an abortion, but part of her was hoping for a miscarriage. Thoughts of suicide floated around in her head, but what stopped her was the reminder that it wasn’t the baby’s fault, any of it. The baby didn’t deserve to die no matter what.
She drove aimlessly until she passed a lit sign with the words New Life on it. This attracted her interest, because new life was what was on her mind—her unborn baby’s, whose new life would certainly not be good. Impulsively, she pulled into the driveway next to the sign.
The sign and the driveway belonged to a church. Aleah saw the steeple and felt a little remorseful. She had believed in God once, when she was little. She had gone to church and been a good girl. She thought she could remember saying a bedtime prayer once with her parents. And now look where she was. She hadn’t thought about God in years, but she was pretty sure He didn’t approve of who she was.
Part of her felt that she was too dirty, too messed up to enter a church. But part of her was drawn to it, to the light in the windows, to the New Life banner. She didn’t have any other options, so how could entering a church make her life any worse?
She parked her car, mustered up her courage, and tentatively walked to the door. She tried it and it opened. She could hear voices and see some light from down the hall. The voices sounded so happy and joyful, like they were from an entire different world from the one she lived in. She was definitely out of place. Still, they intrigued her. What were people doing at church on a Wednesday night, anyway?
She crept over and peered into the lit room. There were a bunch of teenagers there, kids her age, playing ping pong and foosball and maybe some board games. They were talking and laughing, there was music playing in a corner, some kids looked like they were eating—Aleah stood, transfixed, watching that happy scene as an outsider.
A man saw her and came over. He was around her mom’s age, maybe, and the only adult in the room. “Hi,” he said. “Are you here to join us at New Life tonight?”
Aleah shook her head, backing away. “No—no…I’m just—just—” she couldn’t think of a good excuse for being there.
“Are you here to pick someone up?” he asked.
“No…”
“Oh, I’m so sorry, I haven’t even introduced myself yet. I’m Steve Jenkins and I’m the pastor at this church. The kids call me Pastor Steve. What’s your name?”
“A-Aleah.”
“Aleah. That’s a pretty name, I don’t think I’ve ever heard it before. Well, Aleah, this is our high school youth group meeting tonight. If you don’t have anywhere else you need to be right now, we’d love to have you join us.”
Aleah hesitated. He seemed really nice, and so did the kids. But that was the problem. She didn’t deserve to be near nice people. She wasn’t like them.
Pastor Steve sensed her hesitation. “Why don’t you come on in and I’ll introduce you to everyone. You like ping pong? Foosball? Board games? Snacks? We’ve got a lot of stuff to do in here.”
“I’I’m not really wearing church clothes,” Aleah was wearing a somewhat low-cut black tank top covered by a black fashion jacket.
“That’s okay, neither am I. We dress casually for New Life. You’ll see, the kids in there are dressed kind of like we are.” Pastor Steve was wearing a T-shirt and jeans.
He led her toward the room and she went along, because she really was curious and something was just drawing her in that direction.
Pastor Steve showed her around and introduced her to some people, and then a girl from the foosball table came over. “Hey, I’m Christine. You wanna come over and play foosball with me and Aubrey?”
Aleah wasn’t sure she wanted to get involved. “I-I’m not very good,” she said.
“Neither am I. That’s why I need you on my team!” Aleah went over and Christine introduced her to Aubrey. They played foosball, Aleah and Christine against Aubrey, and Aleah and Christine pulled off a win. “All right!” exclaimed Christine, holding her hand up for a high five. “See, I knew we could do it! And you are good.” Aleah had played foosball at the Boys and Girls Club back when she went.
Christine and Aubrey invited her to go over and get some snacks with them, and she did, and she spent the rest of the night there talking to people, eating snacks, and playing games. They had a small closing session about an hour later, with a prayer and a sing-along worship song on a big screen. Aleah didn’t know the song, but she enjoyed listening to it and hearing the voices around her singing.
When that was over, Pastor Steve came over to her and said she’d be welcome to come back any time she wanted. He asked her if she had a church and she said no. he said, “Well, we have services on Sundays at 9:00, if you’re interested, and if not, that’s all right. You don’t need to be a churchgoer to come to New Life, everyone is welcome. Half the kids in there don’t attend this church, but they love coming for the games and the fun.” He said they weren’t meeting next Wednesday because it was Thanksgiving weekend, but the Wednesday after that he’d love to see her there again.
It had been like a night from a dream. In there, Aleah had felt loved and welcomed. She hadn’t known any of the kids, but that had been a good thing, because they didn’t know her either. They didn’t know what a mess she really was, they just welcomed her like any other teenager. And she had felt so good and normal in there with them, playing games, eating snacks, just like she really was any other teenager, not a teen mom who was about to have her second baby.
When she got to her car, it all came back. Who she really was and the problems she faced. She drove home, said hi to Austin, and went to bed without telling her mom anything. It wasn’t unusual that she was home late. She always got home at this time, because she usually went out and got together with guys after work. Her mom was under the impression that work didn’t get out until two hours later than it actually did.
I wrote for about a week. That week brought me all the way up to midway through Chapter 26 (when Aleah is sitting in the nursery at the church after telling her mom about her pregnancy). My writing stalled there because I didn’t have as clear of a vision of what was going to happen next. I loved reading over what I had, though, each time thinking “This is such a good book!”
I think it was November or December of 2015 that my brother and I came up with the titles for all four books in the series.
It took me two more writing bursts to finish New Life. The first took place for a week or two in February-March 2016, taking me up to Chapter 33, when Georgia and Aleah meet with Steve at church for the first time. My final writing burst was from November 2016 to March 2017, in which I finished the book. It was an amazing sense of accomplishment as I pumped out the last line of what was, at the time, a 120,000 word manuscript.
It took me two more writing bursts to finish New Life. The first took place for a week or two in February-March 2016, taking me up to Chapter 33, when Georgia and Aleah meet with Steve at church for the first time. My final writing burst was from November 2016 to March 2017, in which I finished the book. It was an amazing sense of accomplishment as I pumped out the last line of what was, at the time, a 120,000 word manuscript.
(Below is a screenshot I took while writing my first draft because I liked the pattern of 1's and 7's in the word and page count)
I was so excited to be done. I eagerly submitted the manuscript to my editor… who, after reading the first 13 chapters, told me the book was too wordy and needed to be cut down. He told me I had to remove 100 words from each (Microsoft Word) page before I could resubmit.
It was a long, painstaking process, but the book is MUCH better now than it was before. I read back now on some of my original stuff and laugh because it's so over-the-top wordy!
It was a long, painstaking process, but the book is MUCH better now than it was before. I read back now on some of my original stuff and laugh because it's so over-the-top wordy!
CLICK HERE TO READ THE ORIGINAL BEGINNING OF CHAPTER 45
Steve stood in his bedroom, staring into his closet, trying to decide what to wear for his night out with Lauren. His parents would be showing up any minute now to spend the evening with Ben, and the plan was that as soon as they arrived, Steve would head over to Lauren’s house so the two of them could carpool. But Steve still hadn’t decided what he was going to wear.
“I think you should wear a suit and tie,” said Ben, coming up behind him and joining him in staring into the closet. “That way you’ll look fancy.”
“Well, we’re not really going to a fancy place,” Steve said, ruffling his son’s hair. “I need something a little more casual.” But not too casual. It was ridiculous that he was putting this much thought into what he was going to wear on the non-date. He felt like a high school girl getting ready for school, spending too much time worrying about what everyone else would think of each outfit. But it was important that he didn’t dress too nicely, because that would give the evening too much of a first-date feel. It was also important that he didn’t dress too casually, because that could imply that he was already so comfortable with Lauren that this might as well be their eighth or ninth or tenth date.
There was a small ding from Steve’s dresser on the other side of the room. Steve’s phone, notifying him that he had gotten a text. “I bet that’s Miss Lauren,”’ said Ben happily, skipping over to take a look. “Or maybe Grandma. Not Grandpa, ‘cause he doesn’t text.”
“Why don’t you bring the phone over to me and I’ll take a look at who it is,” Steve advised his son. There probably wouldn’t be a problem with Ben reading the message, since it most likely was from one of the people Ben had listed, and it most likely said something like Are you ready? or We’re almost here. But it could be from somebody else, or even if it was from Lauren, it could say something about a date, and he didn’t want Ben asking questions about that.
Ben looked anyway. “It’s from some random number,” he said. “It says, ‘Hi Steve, this is… George… George Matthew? Allie’s mom, and I was wondering if you would be av… av-ail-able to meet…”
Steve whirled around and in a jiffy was at his son’s side, reading the message displayed on his cell phone’s screen. Hi Steve, this is Georgia Matthews (Aleah’s mom), and I was wondering if you would be available to meet with me at some point coming up to discuss some important things. I would like to meet preferably without Aleah. Regardless of whether you are willing to meet or not, please reply back to this number so I’ll know you have gotten this message.
Steve took the phone from his son while Ben was still trying to sound out “preferably”. Ben looked up at him, confused. “Who’s George Matthew? Do you know him?”
Steve nodded. “Someone I met at church a couple weeks ago.” It was true, he had met Georgia for the first time at church. And now she wanted to meet with him again. He had been so certain that she would never even want to see him again. Had Aleah told Georgia what Steve had said about Georgia being welcome at any time? He had been hesitant even to extend the invitation, unsure of exactly why he was doing it. But apparently it had been the right thing to do.
As Steve was typing a response to Georgia—giving her a briefing of his availability in the week to come—the doorbell rang. “They’re here!” exclaimed Ben, running out of the room to go answer the door.
Steve sighed. He still hadn’t decided what to wear. He finally just grabbed a blue and white striped polo shirt and a pair of khakis. He changed quickly, then went out to greet his parents.
“We’re all set if you’re all set,” his dad told him. “I’m all geared up for a night of K’nex and Legos!”
“Yeah!” exclaimed Ben. “I have to show you what I built. You’ll never believe it. It’s a Lego city!”
“Wow!” Steve’s dad’s eyes lit up. “I definitely want to see that.”
“Come on, I’ll show it to you right now!” Ben grabbed his grandpa’s hand and pulled him down the hall toward his room.
Steve and his mom were left in the kitchen, and his mom smiled at him. “Well, this works out well. I wanted to talk to you privately for a moment.”
Steve raised his eyebrows. “Privately? About what?”
“About your night out tonight. I’m just going to say… keep an open mind. Give her a chance.”
“Who, Georgia?” Steve’s mind was still on the text he’d received moments before.
“Georgia?” His mom’s eyes sparkled with amusement. “You mean you have another lady in your life now?”
Steve shook his head, embarrassed. “No, no. Nothing like that. No, Georgia’s just… remember when we prayed for one of my New Life kids that time when we were having breakfast? Georgia’s her mom. She wants to schedule a meeting with me so we can talk some things over.”
“Oh, okay. Just checking.” The amusement faded from his mom’s eyes and she fixed him with a serious look. “No, I was talking about Lauren. Steve… I’ve been doing a lot of Scripture reading lately, and everything I read seems to point to the same conclusion. God wants us to live our lives in the most fulfilling way possible. He wants us to live for today, and be happy—as long as we’re living according to His will. God doesn’t want us to spend our days locked away in the past.”
“I think you should wear a suit and tie,” said Ben, coming up behind him and joining him in staring into the closet. “That way you’ll look fancy.”
“Well, we’re not really going to a fancy place,” Steve said, ruffling his son’s hair. “I need something a little more casual.” But not too casual. It was ridiculous that he was putting this much thought into what he was going to wear on the non-date. He felt like a high school girl getting ready for school, spending too much time worrying about what everyone else would think of each outfit. But it was important that he didn’t dress too nicely, because that would give the evening too much of a first-date feel. It was also important that he didn’t dress too casually, because that could imply that he was already so comfortable with Lauren that this might as well be their eighth or ninth or tenth date.
There was a small ding from Steve’s dresser on the other side of the room. Steve’s phone, notifying him that he had gotten a text. “I bet that’s Miss Lauren,”’ said Ben happily, skipping over to take a look. “Or maybe Grandma. Not Grandpa, ‘cause he doesn’t text.”
“Why don’t you bring the phone over to me and I’ll take a look at who it is,” Steve advised his son. There probably wouldn’t be a problem with Ben reading the message, since it most likely was from one of the people Ben had listed, and it most likely said something like Are you ready? or We’re almost here. But it could be from somebody else, or even if it was from Lauren, it could say something about a date, and he didn’t want Ben asking questions about that.
Ben looked anyway. “It’s from some random number,” he said. “It says, ‘Hi Steve, this is… George… George Matthew? Allie’s mom, and I was wondering if you would be av… av-ail-able to meet…”
Steve whirled around and in a jiffy was at his son’s side, reading the message displayed on his cell phone’s screen. Hi Steve, this is Georgia Matthews (Aleah’s mom), and I was wondering if you would be available to meet with me at some point coming up to discuss some important things. I would like to meet preferably without Aleah. Regardless of whether you are willing to meet or not, please reply back to this number so I’ll know you have gotten this message.
Steve took the phone from his son while Ben was still trying to sound out “preferably”. Ben looked up at him, confused. “Who’s George Matthew? Do you know him?”
Steve nodded. “Someone I met at church a couple weeks ago.” It was true, he had met Georgia for the first time at church. And now she wanted to meet with him again. He had been so certain that she would never even want to see him again. Had Aleah told Georgia what Steve had said about Georgia being welcome at any time? He had been hesitant even to extend the invitation, unsure of exactly why he was doing it. But apparently it had been the right thing to do.
As Steve was typing a response to Georgia—giving her a briefing of his availability in the week to come—the doorbell rang. “They’re here!” exclaimed Ben, running out of the room to go answer the door.
Steve sighed. He still hadn’t decided what to wear. He finally just grabbed a blue and white striped polo shirt and a pair of khakis. He changed quickly, then went out to greet his parents.
“We’re all set if you’re all set,” his dad told him. “I’m all geared up for a night of K’nex and Legos!”
“Yeah!” exclaimed Ben. “I have to show you what I built. You’ll never believe it. It’s a Lego city!”
“Wow!” Steve’s dad’s eyes lit up. “I definitely want to see that.”
“Come on, I’ll show it to you right now!” Ben grabbed his grandpa’s hand and pulled him down the hall toward his room.
Steve and his mom were left in the kitchen, and his mom smiled at him. “Well, this works out well. I wanted to talk to you privately for a moment.”
Steve raised his eyebrows. “Privately? About what?”
“About your night out tonight. I’m just going to say… keep an open mind. Give her a chance.”
“Who, Georgia?” Steve’s mind was still on the text he’d received moments before.
“Georgia?” His mom’s eyes sparkled with amusement. “You mean you have another lady in your life now?”
Steve shook his head, embarrassed. “No, no. Nothing like that. No, Georgia’s just… remember when we prayed for one of my New Life kids that time when we were having breakfast? Georgia’s her mom. She wants to schedule a meeting with me so we can talk some things over.”
“Oh, okay. Just checking.” The amusement faded from his mom’s eyes and she fixed him with a serious look. “No, I was talking about Lauren. Steve… I’ve been doing a lot of Scripture reading lately, and everything I read seems to point to the same conclusion. God wants us to live our lives in the most fulfilling way possible. He wants us to live for today, and be happy—as long as we’re living according to His will. God doesn’t want us to spend our days locked away in the past.”
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