After having her first child, Kimberley Woodhouse found herself captivated by writing.
Her baby, Josh, was often sick. To cope, Woodhouse turned to the pen.
“I just started writing in the middle of the night to do something with the creative juices. I never told anybody, because I was a music person,” she said.
The new mother hid her written work in a drawer for years. Not even her husband knew of her growing collection. It wasn’t until a friend who was helping the family pack for a move to Alaska in 2000 that her stockpile was discovered.
“You are hiding your light under a bushel. You got to be sharing these stories,’” Woodhouse’s friend told her.
Although Woodhouse initially pushed back, her friend convinced her to become serious about her secret passion.
“You got to step out of your box,” Woodhouse’s friend told her.
Now, the Colorado Springs-based author is releasing her 40th book, “70 North,” the conclusion to her Alaskan Cyber Hunter series. Her professional writing career spans two decades.
Focused on mysteries and thrillers, Woodhouse’s work has won her a Carol Award, Christian Market Novel of the Year, the Holt Medallion and many other accolades. Just recently, she was named a Christy Award finalist in the mystery/suspense/thriller category for her second book in the Alaskan Cyber Hunter series, “8 Down.”
From the time she was a teenager, Woodhouse remembers being encouraged to write. But, she felt called to follow a different creative path: music, receiving a scholarship to Juilliard to pursue piano performance and pedagogy.
“I decided to go to a different school, because Juilliard was very overwhelming. It was amazing, but overwhelming,” she said.
It was at college where Woodhouse met Jeremy, her husband of 33 years. The couple have two children — son Josh and daughter Kayla. Woodhouse’s daughter has a rare nerve disorder, which led the family to Alaska nearly 25 years ago, looking to the weather to provide relief. During that time, Woodhouse learned more about the publishing business and received feedback from editors.
After about five years in Alaska, Kayla continued to face health issues, and in search of answers, the family moved to the Springs. It was here that doctors discovered Kayla had a Chiari malformation (where the lower part of the brain presses down on the brain stem), separate from her nerve disorder. Kayla was scheduled for brain surgery for the newly understood problem.
During this time, Woodhouse took a break from writing. Her mentor and fellow author, Tracie Peterson, reached out, encouraging her to jump back into her passion.
“My life was really hard and we’d gone through some really tough things. It was wonderful to have people who reminded me that there were stories to tell, and there were people’s lives to be touched with story,” Woodhouse said.
“She’d kind of prod me to get me back into being able to use that creativity, because I needed to be refreshed.”
For about eight weeks, Woodhouse sat beside her daughter on the couch as she recovered from surgery.
“She was reading books, and I was diving back into writing,” Woodhouse said.
Many might recognize Woodhouse and her family from the popular reality ABC series, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” The family was selected in 2007 — a year after Kayla’s surgery — to be recipients of a newly built home in Colorado Springs. Around the same time, Woodhouse contracted her first book.
“Things really started kind of taking off at that point,” Woodhouse said. “It was really exciting, too, after all these years — working and writing for so many years — it just it became a reality.”
In 2009, the first installation of her Alaskan Cyber Hunter series was released. The concept of the series came from an idea her husband had in the middle of the night, Woodhouse said.
“He rolls over one night, wakes me up and taps me on the shoulder, and he goes, ‘I have an idea,’” Woodhouse said. “I’m half asleep, and he goes, ‘What if the power goes out in Alaska when it hits 26 below … and of course, then my wheels are spinning.”
The series follows a team of experts working to track down a serial killer and cyber-terrorist wreaking havoc in Alaska. While working on the story, Woodhouse consulted her son-in-law, who is a cybersecurity expert for the Army Cyber Institute.
“It was a lot of fun to brainstorm with him and bring the cyber thread into the stories,” Woodhouse said. “They’re very high in intensity, high action. … It’s so fun to see it come to life.”
The final book highlights the account of David “Mac” McPherson, whose wife and daughter were victims of the killer’s first attack. Formerly the head of the Cyber Solutions team, McPherson has since stepped back, obsessing over vengeance. Meanwhile, McPherson’s surgeon, Tracie Hunter, who saved him from the attack, is working hard to stay sober and continue saving lives.
“His journey is not just catching the bad guy. His journey is very much one of healing. He’s got to find how to heal and also how to forgive when the person who did it isn’t sorry,” Woodhouse said.
An important element throughout her work and in her life is faith, Woodhouse said. It’s what continues to give her hope, which she wants to share with readers, even in the dark themes of some of her novels.
“For me, faith is a part of every aspect of my life,” she said. “We wouldn’t make it through without our faith. God is just so good, and that doesn’t mean that life is going to be a bowl of cherries, but I pray that my faith does ooze out in the stories, just to give people hope.”
Looking to the future, Woodhouse is eager to start a new chapter in her writing career: children’s books. As a proud grandmother, she’s been reading plenty lately.
“It is absolutely the best thing in my life to be ‘Nana the Great,’” Woodhouse said. “It’s always family first, and then I have a million stories still in my head, and I have a lot of books I’m contracted for still, so I’m just going to keep writing until I’m done.”
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