Felicia achieved master’s degrees in Healthcare Administration and Speech-Language Pathology, but has written since childhood and dreamed of authoring books that teach and inspire others. An award-winning fiction and non-fiction freelance writer, she has published several devotions and sweet romance short stories. Her passion, however, is writing women’s fiction and romantic suspense with strong female characters who work through their traumas and tragedies using biblical principles and counseling techniques.
She is the past president of the Destin chapter of Word Weavers International, a member of the Pikes Peak Word Weavers chapter, the American Christian Fiction Writers Association, and incoming vice president of ACFW Colorado Springs. In 2024, she served as the conference coordinator for ACFW Colorado Springs’ Write in the Springs Conference. Her radio devotional, Build Faith for the Journey, airs Saturdays on Christian Mix 106.
As a child, Felicia lived in Kansas, Texas, and Louisiana before her family settled on a horse and cattle farm in Kentucky. As an adult, she lived in Tennessee for two years and later spent ten years in the Florida panhandle soaking up the sand and sun. But then God moved her once again. This time out of the South and into the mountains of Colorado. When she’s not glued to her laptop, Felicia enjoys hiking, meandering with her thirteen-year-old Frenchie, and looking forward to the next story.
Visit Felicia Ferguson online
When Secrets Come Calling
When former University of Alabama and Titans wide receiver Dax Carpenter learns his father is accused of a forty-year-old robbery and murder, he turns to the only person he trusts to discover the truth: his ex-girlfriend, Caitlin Fitzhugh. Caitlin, a cold-case specialist with the Alabama State Division of Investigations, wants nothing to do with the case or Dax. Not only is the evidence against Dax’s father already condemning, she can’t risk having her heart broken—again. Caitlin’s boss, however, ignores her arguments and orders her to take the consult. She convinces herself she can keep the case and her past with Dax separate. But unlike her, longings and memories don’t follow orders. While she lends her skills to the Gulf Shores Police Department in search of the truth, Dax fends off a possibly career-ending social media hit—leading him to question everything he knows about his father … and himself. As the secrets of both their pasts unfold, they discover whether Dax’s father truly robbed and murdered a man forty years ago but also why Caitlin ended their relationship. And those secrets could drive a wedge between them, forever.
- ISBN: B0D389JF4R
- Publisher: Salt and Light Publishing
Interview with Felicia Ferguson
What message do you hope readers take away from this book?
I’m hoping readers look to God for their identity rather than their past or career.
Reflecting back, what do you see as most significant to your publication journey?
After I finished writing The Choices She Made and I was in the query process for an agent, I asked God to be my agent. For him to find the right home for each book that I would write. I knew I needed to be traditionally published and about a year after I asked him to be my agent, the door opened for that traditional publishing contract in a way I never would have expected. As my agent, he has opened doors to relationships and friendships in the writing community that are priceless. And he keeps revealing new opportunities and expanding my writing tribe to help me grow as a writer and expand the reach of the books he has for me to write. That prayer and God’s answer to it has had the most impact on my publishing journey.
What’s your biggest challenge in balancing writing time with your other responsibilities?
I write full-time and my only responsibility is myself and my furchild. But when I’m actively focused on a story, I can tend to lose myself in the characters and what’s going on in their lives. So I make a concerted effort to take real breaks from their lives and go for a hike or get together with friends to give me perspective and keep me present.
How do your faith and spiritual life play into the picture and affect your storytelling?
I can’t separate my faith from my storytelling. Even if God isn’t specifically mentioned in a piece, his fingerprints are on it.
Who/What spurs you to write? Where do your story and character ideas come from?
I can’t not write. It’s an extension of who I am. I’m not one to label myself by a job – at least not for a while. But writing is intrinsic to my personality and my character. My characters create the stories. When I’m itching to start a new story, I simply start listening. One or two of the characters will start talking either to me or to each other, and the story builds from there.
What is your writing routine? Any quirky habits or must-have snacks?
When I’m working on a manuscript, I’m at my laptop with a protein bar around seven AM after doing my devotions with my morning tea. I have to have instrumental music playing in the background and a cup of hot chocolate is a must to have all cylinders firing!
What is the funniest thing that has happened to you as an author?
I can’t think of a funny thing, but the oddest detail I’ve had to research is what happens to a fighter jet after a bird strike. I learned during a discussion with a retired pilot that when a bird is sucked into an engine, the whole cabin smells like cooked chicken. Um…yum?
What do you think makes your style of storytelling unique?
All of my characters work through their past traumas or heartbreaks as a part of their stories. They use biblical principles and counseling techniques to either start their healing journey or finish it. My heart is for readers to close the books with greater empathy for those who have been broken by loss and gain greater insight into the courage it takes to trust God and heal. And if those readers have themselves experienced the same or similar trauma or heartbreak, I want to make sure the story accurately reflects it and give them a model to help them heal.
What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing?
I’m a Bible nerd, so I like Bible studies. But I’m also a nature-lover, so I can also be found hiking, exploring, or just sitting in a park people watching.
What books are on your nightstand right now?
I don’t keep books on my nightstand. They’re actually scattered around my house for easy access. But I’ve recently finished Write Your First Novel, and I’m reading through books about Colorado history for my current work-in-progress. For fun, I have two writer friends’ books about to land on my Kindle: Charlsie Estess’s When the Ocean Roars and Donna Mumma’s The Women of Wynton’s.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Kathy McKinsey lives in Lakewood, Ohio, with her husband Murray and the oldest of their five children. Besides writing, she enjoys activities with her church, editing for other writers, braille drawing, crocheting, knitting, and playing with their rambunctious cat. https://www.kathymckinsey.com
I’m hoping readers look to God for their identity rather than their past or career.
Reflecting back, what do you see as most significant to your publication journey?
After I finished writing The Choices She Made and I was in the query process for an agent, I asked God to be my agent. For him to find the right home for each book that I would write. I knew I needed to be traditionally published and about a year after I asked him to be my agent, the door opened for that traditional publishing contract in a way I never would have expected. As my agent, he has opened doors to relationships and friendships in the writing community that are priceless. And he keeps revealing new opportunities and expanding my writing tribe to help me grow as a writer and expand the reach of the books he has for me to write. That prayer and God’s answer to it has had the most impact on my publishing journey.
What’s your biggest challenge in balancing writing time with your other responsibilities?
I write full-time and my only responsibility is myself and my furchild. But when I’m actively focused on a story, I can tend to lose myself in the characters and what’s going on in their lives. So I make a concerted effort to take real breaks from their lives and go for a hike or get together with friends to give me perspective and keep me present.
How do your faith and spiritual life play into the picture and affect your storytelling?
I can’t separate my faith from my storytelling. Even if God isn’t specifically mentioned in a piece, his fingerprints are on it.
Who/What spurs you to write? Where do your story and character ideas come from?
I can’t not write. It’s an extension of who I am. I’m not one to label myself by a job – at least not for a while. But writing is intrinsic to my personality and my character. My characters create the stories. When I’m itching to start a new story, I simply start listening. One or two of the characters will start talking either to me or to each other, and the story builds from there.
What is your writing routine? Any quirky habits or must-have snacks?
When I’m working on a manuscript, I’m at my laptop with a protein bar around seven AM after doing my devotions with my morning tea. I have to have instrumental music playing in the background and a cup of hot chocolate is a must to have all cylinders firing!
What is the funniest thing that has happened to you as an author?
I can’t think of a funny thing, but the oddest detail I’ve had to research is what happens to a fighter jet after a bird strike. I learned during a discussion with a retired pilot that when a bird is sucked into an engine, the whole cabin smells like cooked chicken. Um…yum?
What do you think makes your style of storytelling unique?
All of my characters work through their past traumas or heartbreaks as a part of their stories. They use biblical principles and counseling techniques to either start their healing journey or finish it. My heart is for readers to close the books with greater empathy for those who have been broken by loss and gain greater insight into the courage it takes to trust God and heal. And if those readers have themselves experienced the same or similar trauma or heartbreak, I want to make sure the story accurately reflects it and give them a model to help them heal.
What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing?
I’m a Bible nerd, so I like Bible studies. But I’m also a nature-lover, so I can also be found hiking, exploring, or just sitting in a park people watching.
What books are on your nightstand right now?
I don’t keep books on my nightstand. They’re actually scattered around my house for easy access. But I’ve recently finished Write Your First Novel, and I’m reading through books about Colorado history for my current work-in-progress. For fun, I have two writer friends’ books about to land on my Kindle: Charlsie Estess’s When the Ocean Roars and Donna Mumma’s The Women of Wynton’s.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Kathy McKinsey lives in Lakewood, Ohio, with her husband Murray and the oldest of their five children. Besides writing, she enjoys activities with her church, editing for other writers, braille drawing, crocheting, knitting, and playing with their rambunctious cat. https://www.kathymckinsey.com
For more great interviews, visit our Author Interview Archives.