Patricia Davids was born in the farming and ranching
country of central Kansas. She had an idyllic childhood
filled with horseback riding, softball games, fishing and
swimming in the creek. As the only girl with four
brothers, it was inevitable that she grew up to be a
tomboy. Her love of books began early in life. Nancy Drew,
Trixie Beldon, The Hardy Boys and Zane Grey were but a few
of the favorites she collected.
After high school, Pat attended Kansas State University
and went on to earn her nursing diploma at St. Joseph's
School of Nursing in Wichita, Kansas. It was there that a
classmate asked her to write a letter to a lonely sailor.
Pat had no idea her pen pal would become the love of her
life. After exchanging letters for several months, Pat met
Dave face to face on St. Patrick's Day in 1973. It wasn't
exactly love at first sight, but it was close. The
following year they were married. Pat followed her sailor
to the U.S Submarine Base in Groton, Connecticut, and
eventually they were joined by daughter, Katherine.
On their return to Kansas two years later, Pat and her
husband both entered the medical field. Pat as an RN in
the NICU and Dave as an X-ray technician. Pat's work
eventually expanded to include being a flight nurse on the
neonatal transport team. As part of the team, she helped
transport infants in need of critical medical services to
her hospital. Besides taking care of babies, Pat also
worked as a home health nurse. Her stories of life in the
air and on the ground were always sure to bring a laugh to
her co-workers and family.
You can take a girl out of the country, but you can't take
the country out of the girl. Pat's love of the outdoors
and her husband's interest in hunting and archery lead
them both to compete in the sport of archery at the local,
state and national levels. In 1992, Pat and Dave won the
Kansas State 3-D archery championships in their respective
classes. Throughout her busy life, she remained a devoted
reader, but often thought that she might like to write a
novel — when she retired.
After her daughter left home, Pat's love of reading
evolved into a serious desire to write. In 1996, she began
work on her first novel. It proved to be more difficult
than she expected. In researching how to write, she
discovered a local writers group and soon joined both the
Wichita Area Romance Authors and the national
organization, Romance Writers of America. Pat credits the
help of the wonderful members of both organizations with
teaching her the craft of writing and giving her insight
into the publishing industry.
Still, after seven years of writing and three completed
manuscripts, all she had to show for her efforts was a
pile of rejection letters. Then, in the summer of 2002,
Pat met Deborah Raney, a fellow Kansas author, and learned
about the growing inspirational romance market. It was a
lightbulb over the head moment. Pat revised her third book
for yet another time and the rest is history.