birth_place imagesize nationality birth_date genre article_title name occupation
united states 150px american 1952 romance , historical fiction colleen coble
 colleen coble novelist
colleen coble

colleen coble is an american christian author of romance , romantic suspense and historical fiction .
her thirty-five novels and novellas have sold a total of about 2 million copies , and have received numerous awards , including the romance writers of america prestigious rita , the holt medallion , the acfw book of the year , the daphne du maurier , national readers ' choice , the booksellers best , and the 2009 best books of indiana-fiction award .
she was born january 19 , 1952 , in wabash , indiana .
she was raised on a farm in wabash county , indiana , the eldest of four children .
her father , george rhoads , was a farmer who also worked as a guard at general motors .
her mother , peggy rhoads , was a housewife .
she has three brothers : randy -lrb- who died in 1990 -rrb- , rick , and david .
she graduated from southwood high school , in wabash county .
coble 's early books were short historical romances published by barbour publishing under its heartsong presents imprint .
the first four novels were set in wyoming .
coble says she was inspired to write them when her brother randy was killed by lightning on august 28 , 1990 .
after a visit to wyoming , where he had lived , she was inspired to do what she 'd longed to do for several years : actually write a book .
wyoming became the setting for her first four romance novels , set in the wild west of the 1860s : `` where leads the heart , plains of promise , the heart answers '' and `` to love a stranger '' .
it took her a year to write the first one because she continued to work at her full-time job as a receptionist at wabash electric supply , where she answered about 1000 phone calls a day .
coble says , `` born and raised in the midwest -lrb- indiana -rrb- , i grew up on a farm with horses , pigs and chickens .
i had plenty of adventure -- from being dragged by my pony to running my brother randy 's motorcycle through a fence .
maybe that 's why all my stories have action and adventure in them . ''
