Sierra Neiman

My mother, who as a teenager dreamed of becoming the editor of Sunset magazine, instilled in me a deep respect for grammar and punctuation. Perhaps respect is too modest a word—fear is more appropriate. I definitely felt fear when I e-mailed my family from college, because I knew Mom would jump upon the opportunity to write back with a list of my spelling and grammar mistakes.

My father passed along to me a love for reading. I think I can almost count the number of times I've seen him without a book in his hands. One of my fondest childhood memories of family vacations is not actually a memory of the vacations themselves, but a memory of that thrilling “book day” immediately preceding the vacation. That was the day Dad would take my sister and me to our favorite bookstore and let us pick out as many books as we thought we could read during the trip.

Although neither of my parents writes, they sparked my interest in writing. My mother showed me how to do it; my father showed me the wondrous things that can result when someone does it. Now I find stories, waiting to be written, in everything. I delight in capturing the details of everyday occurrences and “ordinary” encounters for others to enjoy.

After I graduated from George Fox University in 2004 with a B.A. in business administration (marketing concentration), I started working at Barclay Press. Currently I’m working part time at Barclay Press while also pursuing a Master of Arts in Spiritual Formation degree at George Fox Evangelical Seminary, and sharing in this life journey with four 16-year-old girls: Ana-Maria, Kelsie, Morgan, and Hannah. Ana-Maria (who lives in Montana) and I have been carrying on a steady e-mail conversation since we met four years ago at Rainbow Glacier Bible Camp in Alaska. Kelsie, Morgan, Hannah, and I get together in person at least once each week to talk about how God is leading us on this pilgrim way.