Anna Daugherty is an award-winning author and editor based in Texas. She holds a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. After several years of freelance journalism, writing for local and international publications, Anna rediscovered a love for fiction and now writes Christian women's novels with grit and grace. Her Grace Church series has been an Amazon bestseller and has won the PenCraft Award and the Next Generation Indie Book Award.
Anna lives in the hill country with her husband and three young daughters. When she isn’t writing or chasing a toddler, she can usually be found enjoying the outdoors, going for a run, or reading a book. Sometimes all three at once.
Visit Anna Daugherty online
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Reaching for Grace
After a vagrant upbringing, free-spirited Wren Atwood has fought to beat the odds. She has a career as a massage therapist, a solid church community, and now her lifelong dream is coming true, with a little blue house to call her own. But the first person to congratulate her is the last person she wants to see: pompous businessman Daniel Hollis. Adored by most of Ridley Bay, Hollis has found success as an entrepreneur. Yet no amount of money can buy love from his family or health for his sister. When a hurricane rips through the Texas coast and forces Wren and Hollis together, the walls they have built are exposed, along with the family secrets they hide. As Wren turns to her toxic family for help, and Hollis fights to save his sister's life, they discover their efforts alone will never be enough. If grace can't repair the past, how can it rescue the future?
- ISBN: 1685134696
- Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Interview with Anna Daugherty
What made you want to become an author?
I have always loved telling stories. As a child, I started a family newsletter and turned all my long-distance relatives into pen pals. In middle school, I took a creative writing class through a co-op and wrote a spin-off to my favorite book series. Thanks to the encouragement of my mother and co-op teachers, I was hooked on the writing life from an early age.
I studied journalism in college and became a freelance journalist for several years; I loved sharing people’s stories. After a few years in journalism, I became a stay-at-home mom, doing freelance work on the side. I had just had my second child when the pandemic started; partly due to a change in my work and a need to relieve stress, I started writing fiction for fun and ended up falling in love with it!
What did you learn while writing Reaching for Grace?
After going through the hard work of editing and publishing my first novel, I struggled to turn off my inner critic and tap into the creative side needed to finish the first draft of Reaching for Grace. It was hard to make progress when I had my editor mentally chiming in after each sentence.
I had to learn to switch modes: shut out the critic, let go of perfectionism, and get that messy first draft done.
What is the toughest part of writing?
Putting my heart out there is by far the hardest part. There is a piece of my heart in every story I tell—a bit of loneliness I experienced, a disappointment, a lost dream, a lesson God taught me, a moment of love I’ve felt.
In journalism, I had a buffer—these weren’t my stories, they were someone else’s. Any critique I received was usually technical: a slow lede or split infinitive. In fiction, the entire work is personal and the first few rejections or mediocre reviews felt personal as well. I have to remind myself that not every book is for every person. But God has given me these stories for a reason and I believe he wants me to share them, so I’ll keep putting my heart out there!
If someone were to look at your Google search history (all for research of course!), what types of things would we find?
How to write characters who are smarter than you
How to fictionalize your own experiences
How to find sensitivity readers
Is research just procrastination?
How to stop procrastinating and write
If you could have coffee with an author, dead or alive, whose work you admire, who would that be? What would you ask him or her?
C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien. Both wrote such incredible novels on two different levels, taking Biblical truths and applying them in fictional worlds. I love how they were able to share truth without become preachy and I would love to understand more about their creative process in doing so.
What’s your go-to drink while writing?
I’m usually writing late at night after my kids have gone to bed and go for comfort drinks like hot tea or hot chocolate.
If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
Just take the next step. The big picture can be overwhelming, paralyzing even, but when you focus on the next small step (whether that’s sharing your story with a friend, writing a proposal, or looking for a publisher), you can keep making forward progress. Don’t be afraid to share your voice, God gave it to you for a reason.
What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing?
I’m a stay-at-home mom to three girls, homeschooling my oldest two in second grade and kindergarten, and keeping the toddler out of the bathroom cabinets. It’s hectic at times, but I love spending our days together, exploring nature, reading books, and going on field trips.
What books are on your TBR pile right now?
Oh, that endless list! There are a few Christian fiction authors I’ve been meaning to read and have next on my list, including Melissa Tagg, Nicole Deese, Emily Conrad, and T.I. Lowe. Right now though, I’m mixing it up with a classic and reading The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas.
What can we look forward to next?
I’ve just signed the contract for my third book, Before Grace! Each book in the Grace Church series is a stand-alone read though they follow a shared timeline. This one will be a prequel in a sense, going back a few years to look at the love story of Katie and Isaac, a couple that appears in both of my current novels. It will be coming out in July 2025.
I have always loved telling stories. As a child, I started a family newsletter and turned all my long-distance relatives into pen pals. In middle school, I took a creative writing class through a co-op and wrote a spin-off to my favorite book series. Thanks to the encouragement of my mother and co-op teachers, I was hooked on the writing life from an early age.
I studied journalism in college and became a freelance journalist for several years; I loved sharing people’s stories. After a few years in journalism, I became a stay-at-home mom, doing freelance work on the side. I had just had my second child when the pandemic started; partly due to a change in my work and a need to relieve stress, I started writing fiction for fun and ended up falling in love with it!
What did you learn while writing Reaching for Grace?
After going through the hard work of editing and publishing my first novel, I struggled to turn off my inner critic and tap into the creative side needed to finish the first draft of Reaching for Grace. It was hard to make progress when I had my editor mentally chiming in after each sentence.
I had to learn to switch modes: shut out the critic, let go of perfectionism, and get that messy first draft done.
What is the toughest part of writing?
Putting my heart out there is by far the hardest part. There is a piece of my heart in every story I tell—a bit of loneliness I experienced, a disappointment, a lost dream, a lesson God taught me, a moment of love I’ve felt.
In journalism, I had a buffer—these weren’t my stories, they were someone else’s. Any critique I received was usually technical: a slow lede or split infinitive. In fiction, the entire work is personal and the first few rejections or mediocre reviews felt personal as well. I have to remind myself that not every book is for every person. But God has given me these stories for a reason and I believe he wants me to share them, so I’ll keep putting my heart out there!
If someone were to look at your Google search history (all for research of course!), what types of things would we find?
How to write characters who are smarter than you
How to fictionalize your own experiences
How to find sensitivity readers
Is research just procrastination?
How to stop procrastinating and write
If you could have coffee with an author, dead or alive, whose work you admire, who would that be? What would you ask him or her?
C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien. Both wrote such incredible novels on two different levels, taking Biblical truths and applying them in fictional worlds. I love how they were able to share truth without become preachy and I would love to understand more about their creative process in doing so.
What’s your go-to drink while writing?
I’m usually writing late at night after my kids have gone to bed and go for comfort drinks like hot tea or hot chocolate.
If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
Just take the next step. The big picture can be overwhelming, paralyzing even, but when you focus on the next small step (whether that’s sharing your story with a friend, writing a proposal, or looking for a publisher), you can keep making forward progress. Don’t be afraid to share your voice, God gave it to you for a reason.
What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing?
I’m a stay-at-home mom to three girls, homeschooling my oldest two in second grade and kindergarten, and keeping the toddler out of the bathroom cabinets. It’s hectic at times, but I love spending our days together, exploring nature, reading books, and going on field trips.
What books are on your TBR pile right now?
Oh, that endless list! There are a few Christian fiction authors I’ve been meaning to read and have next on my list, including Melissa Tagg, Nicole Deese, Emily Conrad, and T.I. Lowe. Right now though, I’m mixing it up with a classic and reading The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas.
What can we look forward to next?
I’ve just signed the contract for my third book, Before Grace! Each book in the Grace Church series is a stand-alone read though they follow a shared timeline. This one will be a prequel in a sense, going back a few years to look at the love story of Katie and Isaac, a couple that appears in both of my current novels. It will be coming out in July 2025.
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