Biography of Merrillee Whren

Merrillee Whren was born on her mother’s birthday in Rapid City, South Dakota, but her parents soon moved to Montana. This would be the first of many moves in her life. After she graduated from high school in Spokane, Washington, she went back to South Dakota to attend Dakota Bible College. She also has a degree from Milligan College in Tennessee. After graduation, she taught sixth grade near Cincinnati, Ohio, where she met her husband. They were married on Valentine’s Day and had their reception in Loveland. No wonder she became a romance writer. 

She started married life in Greenfield, Ohio, where her husband was a pharmacist at the local pharmacy. She continued teaching. Just before the birth of their first child, she and her husband moved to Hillsboro, Ohio. Daughter number one was born on June 18, 1978. One year later, to continue a family tradition of sharing birthdays, daughter number two was born on June 18, 1979. 

The moving she did as a child prepared her well for life with her husband whose career took them on a journey from a small town in Ohio to the cities of Atlanta, Boston, Dallas and Chicago. Eventually her husband decided to start his own company, and they moved to one of God’s most beautiful creations, an island off the east coast of Florida. When she’s not writing or working for her husband’s recruiting firm, she enjoys walking on the beach, playing tennis or doing a little yard work. 

Merrillee’s writing journey has had as many stops along the way as her real life journey. She wrote her first novel while she was in high school and shared it with her friends. However, many years passed before she considered writing anything for publication. Finally in 2003, after writing and revising eight manuscripts and receiving lots of rejections, she won Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart for best-unpublished inspirational manuscript. The following year, she made her first sale to Steeple Hill. Because she loves stories with happy endings, she is thrilled to be writing romance for Steeple Hill where the stories have emotional and spiritual happy endings.

Merrillee loves to hear from readers. You can contact her at P.O. Box 16461, Fernandina Beach, FL 32034, or through her website at www.merrilleewhren.com.

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