When I was two years old and traveling on a train to California with my parents, I entertained the passengers with my made-up stories. I've been telling stories ever since.
My first published book was The Hideout whose plot was hatched when I was twelve years old and sitting in Sunday school imagining what it would be like to live in a church. Not until the first year I was married did I finally write it. It was published by Moody Press in 1983. I have revised, updated, and re-published it.
Susanna of Beaver Lodge is a Christmas story from 1939 taken from the life of my mother and her sisters growing up in a wonderful country home called Beaver Lodge with wrap-around porches upstairs and down.
My adult Christian historical novel, The Chautauqua Belles, takes place at the Chautauqua Institution. As I walked the tree-lined streets with charming gingerbread-trimmed cottages, or as I read on the veranda of the stately Hotel Athenaeum, I would imagine ladies with their long skirts and parasols. I have tried to make that era come alive. The title comes from a steamboat that today plies the waters of Chautauqua Lake, The Chautauqua Belle.
Real Places Brought to Life is what I write about. Most of these places you can visit too. For more information check out my website at www.bethlivingston.net where you will also see lots of pictures.
I grew up in Lewiston, New York and lived in the Buffalo area until recently when my husband and I retired to Dublin, Ohio to be near grandchildren.
Graduating from Wheaton College in 1974 with a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education, I received my Master's Degree in Library Science in 1975 from the University of Illinois. For five years I was the school librarian in Geneva, Illinois and thirteen years at West Seneca Christian School in West Seneca, New York.
I have two grown children and two grandchildren.
Besides writing, I enjoy cooking, quilting, reading, and selling fabric online. I teach a ladies' Sunday school class, a Wednesday night kids' club, and VBS.
