Afternoon Rebecca is a charming romance novel about two small-town Christians navigating online dating, faith, and vulnerability, set against the quirky and heartfelt backdrop of Indiana life. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

It came to me many years ago when I was a dishwasher for a local Italian restaurant. Originally, it was going to be called Fine Dining, and the ending was to be revealed: they were on a Love Connection-type show and the previous chapters were them recounting their stories on the show and agree to another date when done.

How did you go about crafting Jeff’s internal monologues to feel so authentic and relatable?

I thought back to when I was in the dating world and tried to remember how I’d think about the possibility of her having a male roommate or avoiding simple questions like how she got her nickname.

Did any of the quirky details, like the parrot’s Biblical recitations, come from personal experiences or observations?

Most of the conversation between Jeff and Rebecca was based, however loosely, on my real-life experiences, up to and including how she got the nickname, Afternoon Rebecca, and the song. “Can of Peas” is an actual song I wrote in 2020, and I accompany it by playing my ukulele.

What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?

Being Afternoon Rebecca. It picks up the day after the date and goes through most of the summer. It’s her, her job, playing on the softball team, and her budding relationship, among other things. It should be out by the end of January. At least five books are expected in the series. The sequels are longer, all expected to come in well over 700 pages each, unlike the 140 or so of the first.

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