Last week, Karen Witemeyer posted a fascinating list of “10 Things You Might Not Know About Me.” All the authors of Inspired by Life…and Fiction thought it was such a fun post and such a great idea that we asked Karen if we could collectively “steal” her idea and each do a similar post. Karen confessed that she’d already stolen the idea from someone else, so we should feel free to steal away! Haha! So without further ado, here’s my list of 10 things you may not have known about me before today.
- You might know that I have four children, but did you know that I gave birth to those kids over three decades? I had our first baby in the 70s, 2 more in the 80s, and our youngest daughter surprised us in 1990. That amounts to more than 33 years with 1 or more children living under our roof—3 of those with 3 teenagers! Is it any wonder Ken and I are enjoying our empty nest so much!?
- All 4 of our kids have the same initials: TAR. My mom used to call them her “little TAR babies” (from the Bre’r Rabbit story.) Of course, she had no room to talk about initials. Before she married my dad, her initials spelled WAR. He bequeathed her a T to make it WART. Needless to say, my mom never owned anything with a monogram. 😉
- My first contract offer for my very first novel, A Vow to Cherish, came the day after I witnessed a murder in our small-town grocery story. Talk about highs and lows! I didn’t actually accept that offer, as I had 2 others that followed quickly, and I ended up going with Bethany House.
- I speak Pig Latin fluently! My parents used to speak that silly language whenever they didn’t want us kids to know what they were talking about. But one night at the dinner table, my dad revealed the secret, and ever since, my brother and sisters and I often try to impress people with our Pig Latin. My mama was not very happy Daddy spilled the beans…until he taught her a new “secret” language called Alfalfa language, which I still can’t speak to this day. And at-thay is-hay a-hay oo-tray ory-stay! 😉
- I play the piano by ear. Not very well, but well enough that I once had a job in the occupational therapy department of a large Jewish nursing home near New York City in which I traveled from wing to wing taking requests on a little rolling keyboard. I butchered many a song, but the sweet residents treated me as if I were Liberace and applauded every effort.
- In high school (and for a short time in college) I was on the debate and forensics teams. I missed an important tournament in order to be crowned homecoming queen, and my debate teammates sent me a congratulatory telegram. (Wow, does that make me feel old!) I still have several “Best Speaker” gavels I won in tournaments, and I like to keep honing my debate skills with my poor husband as a (very able!) opponent.
- Speaking of my husband, I met Ken on a blind date. My best friend in high school was dating Ken’s brother. He and I had each just broken up with someone, and my friend and Ken’s brother were tired of hearing about our heartbreak, so they thought we may as well meet. Little did they know we’d beat them to the altar fifteen months later!
- I’m the oldest of 4 girls and a boy. Ken is the oldest of 4 boys and a girl. (For a while, one of my sisters dated one of his brothers.) They say 2 “oldests” should never marry, but after 42 years of wedded bliss, we beg to differ!
- My talented husband had two books published before my first book ever came out. His children’s picture books are Stick Horse (Green Tiger Press 1991) and It’s Probably Good Dinosaurs are Extinct (Simon & Schuster 1993). The dino book also got picked up for a 2nd grade reader, but the original art got stuck at the printer in Japan for many months after the 1995 Kobe earthquake. It’s safely home now and hangs in Ken’s studio.
- I grew up on a farm where there once lived 40 cats! My dad allowed them because they kept the mice population down in the barns and grain bins. My favorite kitty was a long-haired gray and white cat named Dixie. I’d climb on my bike, stretch out one leg, and Dixie would scamper all the way up to perch on my shoulder. We’d ride like that all over the farm.
I can’t wait to see the lists from the other authors of Inspired by Life…and Fiction. Now, what are some things we might not know about YOU?
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DEBORAH RANEY's first novel, A Vow to Cherish, inspired the World Wide Pictures film of the same title and launched Deb’s writing career. Forty books later, she's still creating stories that touch hearts and lives. Her novels have won RWA's RITA Award, the ACFW Carol Award, the National Readers Choice Award, and the HOLT Medallion. She is also a three-time Christy Award finalist. Deb is on faculty for several national writers’ conferences and served on the executive board of the 2,500-member American Christian Fiction Writers organization for 18 years before retiring in 2022. She is a recent transplant to Missouri, having moved with her husband, Ken Raney, from their native Kansas to be closer to kids and grandkids. They love road trips, e-biking, Friday garage sale dates, and breakfast on the screened porch overlooking their wooded backyard.
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Hi Deb, this was so fun! : )
Thanks, Carrie. I always love seeing your smiling face in the comments here! It’s been too long since I hugged your neck in person!
I loved this post, Deb! What a fun peek into your life and family. 🙂
Thanks, Becky! I can’t wait until it’s your turn! 🙂
So fun! Glad the thievery has paid off. LOL. And I loved the TAR babies. 🙂 We have a tradition of oldest sons carrying on the same initials as the father. My father-in-law is WDW, my husband is WDW, so when we had our first son, it was imperative we find a WD to go with the W of Witemeyer. My father, who died when I was 16, had the middle name of Dale, so that became an easy selection for the D. The W was a little trickier. So many W names had already been used in our family. I finally decided on Wyatt because it had such a great western feel to it (Wyatt Earp?). But the true magic happened when we told my grandmother, and she teared up because we were naming our son after her. What? It turns out (thought I didn’t know this at the time) that her maiden name had been Wyatt. So a tradition that started on my husband’s side of the family ended up having a ton of emotional meaning to my side of the family as well.
Thanks so much for starting these lists, Karen! And I love that story about your son’s initials. Such a cool “coincidence.” And I love the name Wyatt! If only it started with a T. 😉
I love reading these lists of factoids! Keep them coming!
That’s the plan, Grace! Stay tuned!
I loved this post just as I loved Karen’s. It is so much fun learning about authors and finding connections. Just to note some of those with you:
I met my husband on a blind date, we are the oldest in our families, and have been married 51 years.
My mother and father were both one of six children. My mother was one of five girls and had an older brother. My father was one of five boys and had an older sister.
I play the piano, only well enough for my own enjoyment, but not by ear. That is a real talent! One of our favorite vacation places is Bar Harbor, Maine where our hotel of choice has a nightly piano player in the great room, who plays ANYTHING, all by ear. Bill Trowel is amazing and plays from 7 – 11, nightly from May through October.
Just wanted to say, Deb, that I recently finished reading your novella, A January Bride, and loved it. What a unique way of presenting your major characters through notes!
I’m so glad I found this website, and it’s all because of Julie Klassen. I’ve been an avid fan of hers and thus became connected to this site. It’s been so much fun getting to know all of you, and I look forward to more posts about the others.
I loved reading this! Such fun to peek into your family! Your mom’s initals cracked me up – poor thing! LOL
Your birth order story reminds me of ours, only my husband and I are from what I kinda call reverse mirror image families. He’s the oldest of 3 boys followed by a girl who was the youngest. Our family had one boy followed by 3 girls, and I am the youngest.
Thankfully, my mom could always laugh about her unfortunate initials. And she thought my dad was well worth that T. 😉 I love your reverse mirror image family! That’s got to be rare!
Wow! I can’t believe how much we have in common, Betty! So fun to find all those connections out! And I’m so thankful Julie drew you here to Inspired by Life…and Fiction! I know I speak for all of us when I say that you are a blessing and encouragement to us all!
I love reading these facts about you Deb. Thanks for sharing!
It was fun! Brought back some memories!
I had read Karen’s Top 10 and now have read yours. It’s fun and interesting to get these insights into the lives of our favorite authors. Thanks for those.
I won’t bore you with my Top 10 because for one thing, I don’t even know what could possibly interest anyone. Consider yourself blessed! :))
Have a blessed and godly week!
Awww! You might be surprised, Hilda! I think we tend to think our own lives are boring because we’re not surprised by any of it. Others, on the other hand, might be fascinated by what we assume is ordinary. I’m always surprised how fascinated people are with the fact that I grew up on a farm. Though I had an incredibly sweet childhood, I always thought being a farm girl was b-o-r-i-n-g to other people. Apparently not! 🙂
This was really fun!! (I knew many of them…but, you still had some surprises!!)
Amazing what you learn during those late night chats with conference roomies, isn’t it? 🙂
Great list, Deb. Or should I say Queen Deb. Homecoming queen! I’m impressed but not surprised. Still beautiful.
Haha! Thanks, Lynn, but don’t be too impressed… It was a small school. 😉
What fun!!
Thanks for sharing these neat facts with us, Deb!
Thanks to Inspired by Life and Fiction for the great blog!
God’s Blessings to everyone!!
Thank YOU, Robbie. Always great to hear from you!
Thanks, Deb.
Hopefully, now that I’m better, I can be a little more active on social media.
God’s Blessings!
I am enjoying these! My hair was just like yours in your high school photo – long, straight, blond, parted in the middle, sometimes with a piece of it tucked behind my ear.
People might not know that I can be very competitive. I come across as soft-spoken and mild-mannered. But get me in a game, and I won’t bluster or trash talk, but I’ll stealthily come up from behind and do everything in my power to WIN! 🙂
Oh! Haha! Love that: stealth-without-trash-talk! Fun to find out mild-mannered people have a secret like that. I never used to think I was competitive, but games (cards or board games, NOT athletics!) do bring out a little competition in me! 🙂
Hey Deb, this Veronica Brayboy. Just a note to let you know that I have deactivated my Facebook account. I felt that I really needed a break from social media. Anyway I will miss your posts.
Oh, Veronica! I will MISS you on Facebook so much! Thank you for letting me know. If you don’t mind staying in touch with me via e-mail, I’d love to do that. My address is debraney@mac.com Hope all is well with you, and really hope to stay in touch somehow!
Fun to read about you! Thanks for sharing.
I too met my husband on a blind date. We were the oldest also. He has a younger sister and I have a younger brother. Mutual married friends got us together. I was friends with the wife and he was friends with the husband. Every year I wonder whether to send them a thank you note or not, ha! This coming August will make 36 years married for us.
It was so fun reading your comments and all the ones that followed! My mother always had interesting initials…..RAG and her sister was BAG……so you can guess what they were teased about in school! My husband and I were very careful not to name our children anything that would actually spell a word–especially if it would or could result in teasing!
Oh, my! RAG and BAG. That’s a new one! You made me smile, Jeanie!
We were married in August as well, Gail. So fun to see how much we have in common.
I think it’s high time you sent a thank you to that couple, Gail! 😉
How fun! I loved learning a little bit more about you, Deb. 🙂 You are definitely NOT boring!
Ken has definitely upped my game, Lynette. Haha! 🙂
So fun learning more about you! I love that you gave your children the same initials. 🙂 Me, my dad and brother had the same initials (until I married.) My husband, his mother, and his 4 siblings all have names that begin with D, and many of them married a D. Fun!
Haha! That’s a lot of D’s! 🙂 One thing we notice is that no one can just put their initials on the plastic cups or the scoresheet or whatever we’re marking. We have to be more specific. 🙂