Deborah M. Schneider

Born in upstate New York, Deborah Schneider has always enjoyed creating stories. From imaginary friends to entertaining her cousins on her grandparent's farm, she grew up knowing how to spin a tale.

Graduating from Oswego State University with a degree in Secondary Education, Social Studies, she settled in a small town and worked to bring culture, adult education and early childhood services to a large, rural school district.

Several years later she and her husband decided to, "Go West" and they hitched up their van and a motor home, to spend six weeks on a cross country tour of some of the most beautiful places in the United States. It was a dream trip, taking them from the Great Smoky Mountains to the Grand Canyon, from the Las Vegas strip to the Redwood forest.

After nearly two months of traveling they arrived in Seattle, took one look at the mountains, the water, the ferries and the skyline, and decided to stay. They settled in another small town at the edge of the Cascade mountains.

They had a son, then another one, and then one more. With a house full of men, Deborah created a child care business, wrote a series of articles on raising children for a local newspaper and dreamed of writing a novel.

In 1992 she was chosen to be a kidney donor for her son, and decided to take advantage of the six week break by starting to write a romance novel. It took nearly two years to finish, and after receiving rejection letters from every publishing house in New York, Deborah joined Romance Writers of America.

Her third novel, "Beneath A Silver Moon" won the Heart of Denver Molly Award for having, "the most unsinkable heroine". This prestigious award is named after the Unsinkable Molly Brown, of Titanic fame.

In the summer of 2001, Deborah entered this manuscript in a contest sponsored by Dorchester publishing and Romantic Times magazine. In September of that year she learned she was a finalist in the contest, and planned to travel to the convention held in November.

The tragic events of September 11th threatened her travel arrangements, and she reconsidered the cross-country journey to Florida for the convention. Much like the heroine of her story, she decided that nothing was going to make her give up on this adventure.

Then, on October 10th, Deborah's son arrived at her workplace with exciting news. The Swedish Hospital Transplant Center had called, and a kidney would be arriving in town within the next 24 hours. It looked like a wonderful match for him, and after nearly two years of dialysis, he would be receiving a transplant.

It was an amazing gift from a family in Montana, who at a tragic moment in their lives, gave someone else a future.

The possibility of traveling to Florida dimmed, but it wasn't important. Missing the Romantic Times convention was of little consequence compared to the incredible miracle of getting a kidney for her son.

The operation was a success, her son was released after only six days of hospitalization, and by November, he was doing so well that Deborah left for the convention.

She didn't win the title of "New Historical Voice," but that wasn't important after learning that the editors at Dorchester Publishing had decided they would make an offer for her book. On November 26th, 2001, Deborah Schneider became a published author.

"Beneath A Silver Moon" will be released on September 3, 2002.

Visit her website at www.debschneider.info

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