Patricia Davids was born in the farming and ranching country of central Kansas. She had an idyllic childhood filled with horseback riding, softball games, fishing and swimming in the creek. As the only girl with four brothers, it was inevitable that she grew up to be a tomboy. Her love of books began early in life. Nancy Drew, Trixie Beldon, The Hardy Boys and Zane Grey were but a few of the favorites she collected.
After high school, Pat attended Kansas State University and went on to earn her nursing diploma at St. Joseph's School of Nursing in Wichita, Kansas. It was there that a classmate asked her to write a letter to a lonely sailor. Pat had no idea her pen pal would become the love of her life. After exchanging letters for several months, Pat met Dave face to face on St. Patrick's Day in 1973. It wasn't exactly love at first sight, but it was close. The following year they were married. Pat followed her sailor to the U.S Submarine Base in Groton, Connecticut, and eventually they were joined by daughter, Katherine.
On their return to Kansas two years later, Pat and her husband both entered the medical field. Pat as an RN in the NICU and Dave as an X-ray technician. Pat's work eventually expanded to include being a flight nurse on the neonatal transport team. As part of the team, she helped transport infants in need of critical medical services to her hospital. Besides taking care of babies, Pat also worked as a home health nurse. Her stories of life in the air and on the ground were always sure to bring a laugh to her co-workers and family.
You can take a girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl. Pat's love of the outdoors and her husband's interest in hunting and archery lead them both to compete in the sport of archery at the local, state and national levels. In 1992, Pat and Dave won the Kansas State 3-D archery championships in their respective classes. Throughout her busy life, she remained a devoted reader, but often thought that she might like to write a novel — when she retired.
After her daughter left home, Pat's love of reading evolved into a serious desire to write. In 1996, she began work on her first novel. It proved to be more difficult than she expected. In researching how to write, she discovered a local writers group and soon joined both the Wichita Area Romance Authors and the national organization, Romance Writers of America. Pat credits the help of the wonderful members of both organizations with teaching her the craft of writing and giving her insight into the publishing industry.
Still, after seven years of writing and three completed manuscripts, all she had to show for her efforts was a pile of rejection letters. Then, in the summer of 2002, Pat met Deborah Raney, a fellow Kansas author, and learned about the growing inspirational romance market. It was a lightbulb over the head moment. Pat revised her third book for yet another time and the rest is history.
