Conference Key Note Speaker:  Melanie Dobson
"The Power of Story and Ten Steps to Create a Compelling Novel"

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Melanie is the award-winning author of twenty historical romance, suspense, and time-slip novels. Four of her novels, Chateau of Secrets, Catching the Wind, The Silent Order and Love Finds You in Homestead, Iowa, have received Carol Awards, Catching the Wind received the Inspirational Fiction Audie Award in 2018, and The Black Cloister was named the ForeWord Religious Fiction Book of the Year.

Research Trip to England Melanie received her undergraduate degree in journalism from Liberty University and her master’s degree in communication from Regent University. Prior to her writing career, she was the corporate publicity manager at Focus on the Family and owner of Dobson Media Group.

Melanie met her husband, Jon, in Colorado Springs, but since they’ve been married, the Dobsons have relocated numerous times with Jon’s work including stints in Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Colorado, Berlin, and Southern California. Along with their two daughters, Karlyn and Kiki, they now enjoy their home in the Pacific Northwest where Jon works at The Bible Project.

The entire Dobson family loves to travel and hike in both the mountains and along the cliffs above the Pacific, and they enjoy serving together with the orphan care ministry in their church. When Melanie isn’t writing or playing with her family, she enjoys teaching, dancing, and reading inspirational novels.