Katie's first book is "Journey of Faith"...named for her young heroine. "This book is about Faith Martin," explains, "and she is living comfortably at home in Missouri, and then they decide to move out West." 

The story is set in 1855, and is the first in a series she calls "Legacy of Purpose." "The series is going to go through the War Between the States, so I'm not sure how many books that'll take."

Katie's fictional family mirrors her own...Mom, Dad, and nine children. "That's kind of how I base my characters," she says,"the way my siblings are."

Her mother, Denise McCurdy remembers when Katie started writing. "She would tell stories to the little girls. And I told her, I said it would be a real treasure if you could write down your ideas so later on you could pass them on to your children. And that's where it began. She started on the computer and she would just type away."

Katie's father, Ron, continues the story.  "She came to us a couple of years ago, maybe three years ago, and says she wants to write a book. And I said...go for it."

How do you create a story that goes on for nearly 300 pages? For Katie, it seems easy. "I just see my characters experience something. They really, like, come alive and just one thing leads to another and then all of a sudden there in the middle of something...and then they get out of it."

Jere Hough, visiting with Katie and her parents at their home in Milton, Florida, reads from the book: "'Why can't life go on as it always has? Why does everything have to change?" He sets the book down and observes, "By the time you get to page 280, all of those questions are answered."

The books are for sale at two websites: Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com