FAIRMONT - Janelle Mowery is still incredulous that she gets to do what she loves.
"I'm blown away that God blessed me with having my books published," she said.
She will sign copies of her latest, "When All My Dreams Come True," from 3:30-5 p.m. Friday at Good News Bookstore in downtown Fairmont.
It is even more remarkable because "Dreams" was the first book Mowery wrote.
She grew up loving to read, including "Alice in Wonderland" and the Nancy Drew mysteries, but says her efforts at writing fiction in high school were less than stellar.
"I laugh now because it was so awful," she said.
After graduating from Granada-Huntley, Janelle Fowler left the farm she had grown up on outside of Blue Earth and moved to Texas to live with her older sister. Soon she got a job with an oil company. She met her husband, Rodney, eight years later.
"I grew up on a farm, moved to a big city and married a farmer," Mowery said with a laugh.
She was raising their sons, Daniel and Darren, southwest of Houston, but still had the bug to write.
"My sister was involved in an online ministry for ladies, and a man was writing one for men. They wanted someone to write children's devotions," Mowery said. "That's how I got started writing anything."
She read Christian fiction voraciously, but when she read author Lori Wick's work, "I thought, 'I can do this,'" she said.
Mowery would walk in fields and find items from some long-ago family, "left-over things from when they used to live there," she said. "My mind stuck on the family and tried to form a story from that.
"I sat down in January of 2001 and started writing that story" which turned into "When All My Dreams Come True," the first in the Colorado Runaway series. Books two and three will be released in October.
"I wrote the books in one year," Mowery said, explaining why she feels so blessed. "Usually the first books you write, you never want anyone to see them."
She wants to convey to readers that "faith in God, that's what gets us through," she said. "It may not be the way we want, but it always works out the best in God's plan."
Why does a Minnesota girl living in Texas write a story set in Colorado?
"I love that state; it's just beautiful," Mowery said, laughing. "I'm working on a story right now set in Minnesota and (I've) done one in Texas."
Mowery also has released a book called "Love Finds You in Silver City, Idaho."
"I just hope readers keep wanting to read my books," she said.
"I am very happy," Mowery said. "Living on a farm and writing books: I love my life."
