Tosca Lee

“ONE OF THE MOST GIFTED NOVELISTS WRITING TODAY.”

—STEVEN JAMES, BEST-SELLING AUTHOR

WHEN NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER TOSCA LEE WAS A CHILD,SHE DREAMED OF BEING A DANC-ER, USING DANCE AS A WAY TOENTERTAIN AND TRANSPORTAUDIENCES TO A DIFFERENT

PLACE AND TIME. Her little girl self would practice and prance across the dance floor as she dreamed of audiences and applause. It wasn’t until a series of injuries followed by a growth spurt that she had to consider a new dream. “I really think now that I was made to tell stories.

Whether through dance or writing or music,” said Lee. “I think that’s such an empowering thing, to be given gifts and told to run with them. It’s one of the most powerful things we, as humans, can do.”

Fans of Lee will recognize her as the author of books like Demon, Iscariot and Havah. While some were ideas that others suggested, Lee says that some like Demon and Havah were dreamed of “on a whim.”

Others, like the much-acclaimed series Books of Mortals, were, as Lee shared, “a joint brainstorming effort” with mainstream author Ted Dekker.

Wherever the creative idea begins, it is always followed by research. It is in the creating and researching that Lee said she gets lost. “Gosh, every time I sit down and think I’m writing someone else’s story, I find out I’m really writing my own. I was Clay grappling with the concept of grace in Demon. I was Eve wondering where God was in Havah. I was Judas with my own agenda for God in Iscariot. I was the young queen grappling with where my identity lies in The Legend of Sheba. And for me that kind of makes sense. “As readers,” she added “we read to know we’re not alone. And as writers, I believe we write for the same reason—as well as to sort out who we are and make sense of our experiences.”

Lee is excited that her readers seem to get caught up in that journey as well. As she puts it, “getting into the nooks and crannies … going deep, not shying away from the gritty and ugly elements that come with it.”

Lee’s dream of writing really took hold as a college freshman. Searching for her future, she considered a degree in business or advertising. It wasn’t until in a talk with her dad one day toward the end of the semester that she said out loud that she wanted to write a novel. To her

surprise, he took her idea seriously and offered her a deal she remains grateful for to this day.

She said her dad told her that he’d “pay me what I would make as a bank teller for the summer if I devoted myself to writing a novel.” It’s still in her basement, but the experience of writing it was a valuable lesson.

It hasn’t been a fairy-tale ascent for Lee. Perhaps it is more like a journey in the historical fiction she writes—sometimes nervous, sometimes overwhelmed. Looking back on it, Lee said, “As someone who grew up in the church receiving all the right answers, I was really rocked when I came to a point in my life where the answers didn’t seem to add up.

Even with years of experience in writing and research, Lee was quick to reveal, “a lot of the time I don’t really see what was going on until much later. I think that’s probably true for most of us—that hindsight reveals much more than being in the thick of what’s happening. I can say that now about the tumultuous time of my divorce, when my life was really in shambles, and also my publishing journey, which never really took off until my divorce—a strange thing to me then that makes perfect sense to me now.

Everything hard in my life or that required more writing workshops. S

Greater things have come. After a time of divorce, healing, and singleness, Tosca Lee recently (last year) met and married a farmer not far from her midwestern Nebraska home. This part of her journey has allowed her to become an “insta-mom” to four children ranging in age from the oldest at 22 down to the twins who are 12.

“Kids have brought me such better perspective on not just life but writing—at a time when I needed that kind of grounding just to stay sane. I love the way they look at life and having fun. (When did we start to take ourselves so seriously?). They’re very clever, funny kids, and I am learning so much from them. And from my husband, too, who is an old, wise soul. Gosh, I’ve learned a lot about love lately.” She adds,

“I’ve recently come to a place of peace around the idea of accepting more mystery in my life without a need to know all the answers. But it took a lot of struggle to get here.”

Tosca Lee’s next novel, Firstborn, sequel to The Progeny, is scheduled for release May 2.

You can find more about Tosca, including information about her book The Progeny, and its sequel Firstborn releasing on May 2 at www.toscalee.com. There, you’ll also find out about her upcoming keynotes and