Tamera Alexander

[http://www.tameraalexander.com Tamera Gattis Alexander] (born 1961) is an American author of Christian fiction, who specializes in the inspirational romance genre. Prior to beginning her writing career, she worked in data support services within the mass media industry, and later served in a variety of part-time positions as a complement to her full-time position as Mom for a daughter and a son. She is best known for her award-winning first series, the Fountain Creek Chronicles, [http://www.bethanyhouse.com Bethany House Publishers] .

Contents

Biography

Early years

Tamera Alexander grew up in [http://www.decatur-ga.com Decatur, Georgia] , the daughter of a former insurance company executive and a former bank manager. As a child, Alexander enjoyed writing poetry and short stories, but never dreamed of some day writing fiction as a career. She attended and would later graduate high school from [http://www.greateratlantachristian.org Greater Atlanta Christian School] (GACS) in 1979. Early advisors led her to choose what was regarded as a more practical livelihood within the field of business--a discipline she began studying in 1979 while attending [http://www.harding.edu Harding University] (Arkansas). She earned her Bachelor of Business Administration in Management in 1983. Upon graduation, she began her business career in [http://www.atlanta.net Atlanta, Georgia] , before accepting a position with Data Communications Corporation in [http://www.cityofmemphis.org Memphis, Tennessee] in 1984 as an entry-level customer service representative. Within three years, she had quickly advanced through the company ranks and was managing a staff of 27 employees and supporting corporate clients such as [http://www.turner.com Turner Broadcasting Systems] (TBS), with a heavy traveling schedule. The arrival of her first child in 1987 and a new employment opportunity for her husband, led to a family relocation to [http://www.abilenetx.com Abilene, Texas] in 1987. A second child and another job opportunity for her husband resulted in another move in 1990, this time to [http://www.greeleygov.com Greeley, Colorado] .

Career

After her mother-in-law encouraged her to read a book by [http://www.janetteoke.com Janette Oke] in 1994, Alexander subsequently began to read every work of Christian fiction she could find and penned her first manuscript in 2000, a historical piece set in the 1870s Colorado Territory and unofficially titled, "As High as the Heavens." The manuscript made it all the way to the final review board with Bethany House Publishers before being rejected in 2002. Rejections from another publisher would follow, and although at first discouraged, she quickly returned to the drawing board, determined to apply the planning and analytical skills she had learned in business to studying the craft of writing. She began dissecting numerous novels in an attempt to better understand the recipe for success in historical Christian fiction/romance.

Her second completed manuscript, "Rekindled," was contracted by Bethany House in 2004 and published in March 2006, where it quickly climbed to #8 on the Christian Booksellers Association [http://www.cbaonline.org/nm/BSLs.htm CBA] national best-sellers list in May 2006 and was later named as a 2006 Top 5 Best Inspirational Book by [http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6401664.html?q=tamera+alexander Library Journal] . Rekindled was also honored as a 2007 RITA Award finalist by Romance Writers of America (RWA) for best first book. The book was in its 7th printing as of August 2008.

Alexander's subsequent novels have all been in the inspirational fiction genre and set in the Colorado Territory (circa latter 1800s) with the Rocky Mountains as a landscape backdrop. Her second novel, "Revealed," garnered the [http://http://www.rwanational.org/cs/contests_and_awards/rita_awards 2007 RITA Award] from RWA and climbed to #18 on the CBA national best-sellers list in March 2008. "Remembered," the third novel in the Fountain Creek Chronicles series received the [http://www.christyawards.com 2008 Christy Award for Best Romance] , as well as the Readers Choice Award by FHL Romance Writers of America in 2008.

Alexander's second three-book series, "Timber Ridge Reflections," was launched in May 2008 with the release of "From a Distance." The book debuted on the [http://www.ecpa.org ECPA] national best-seller list at #20 in [http://www.ecpa.org/bestseller/fiction.php?id=708 July 2008] . The second title in the series, "Beyond This Moment," is scheduled for publication in April 2009.

In 2008, Alexander was contracted by [http://www.thomasnelson.com Thomas Nelson, Inc.] to write the publisher's first historical romance novel for its " [http://www.womenoffaith.com Women of Faith] Fiction series." "The Inheritance" is scheduled for publication in March 2009.

Personal life

Tamera Alexander is married to Joe Alexander and they live together in [http://www.franklin-gov.com Franklin, Tennessee] (where her next historical series is set). They have two college-age children, and a silky terrier named Jack.

Bibliography

Christian/Inspirational Romance Novels:
"Rekindled" (2006), Bethany House
"Revealed" (2006), Bethany House
"Remembered" (2007), Bethany House
"From a Distance" (2008), Bethany House
"The Inheritance" (scheduled 2009), Thomas Nelson
"Beyond This Moment" (scheduled 2009), Bethany House

References

External links

[http://www.tameraalexander.com Tamera Alexander official homepage] [http://www.libraryjournal.com Library Journal official homepage] [http://www.bethanyhouse.com Bethany House Publishers official homepage] [http://www.rwanational.org Romance Writers of America official homepage]