I’m a girl from Wisconsin, raised by a single mother in a trailer court. When I was thirteen, I went on a youth group camping trip to Rib Mountain, in Wausau, Wisconsin. It was there that I told God I was His. From that day on I’ve been on this journey with Him, knowing that He loves me and has a wonderful plan for my life. He has one for your life too!

I married John DePree in 1985 after graduating from Bethany College of Missions. John is an amazing man. He has vision like few people I've met in my life. He never says, "That's impossible." Instead he asks, "How can we make it happen?" He believes in me like no other.

In 1988 I took a job in the customer service department at Bethany House Publishers. I liked this job, liked helping people. When the phones weren't busy I'd go down to editorial to see if they had unsolicited manuscripts I could review. There were always far more than they could manage so they were eager to send them my way. I seemed to have an innate sense of not only what was lacking in a story but how to fix the problem. So it wasn't long before I was transferred to the editorial department first as an assistant, then a proofreader, copy editor and line editor. I worked at Bethany for over seven years--it was an excellent education in writing.

When we moved to rural Minnesota I began my freelance editing business. I edited for many publishers—Thomas Nelson, Multnomah, Tyndale, Barbour and Baker/Revell, and a fledgling division of Random House called Waterbrook Press. Soon I was editing most of Waterbrook’s fiction line, and loving it. I'd become the regular editor for amazing authors, including Lisa Bergren, Diane Noble, Jane Orcutt , Jane Kirkpatrick , Robin Lee Hatcher, as well as Thomas Nelson authors Ted Dekker, Robert Whitlow, Frank Peretti and many, many others.

During that time, I realized I knew how to do this thing called fiction so I wrote a proposal for my first novel, A Can of Peas. It was accepted right off by WaterBrook and I was planted on a new path. I was a writer.

Photo Album:

Click Here if you'd like to see photos of Traci

Causes:

The following organizations are very dear to my heart, having adopted our youngest daughter, who is such a joy to our family, I know firsthand the wonderful gift that is adoption.

Philip Hayden Foundation works with special needs orphans in China, housing and caring for them, getting them deeply needed surgeries, and finding them forever homes.

Bring Me Hope, also in China, sponsors summer camps for orphans, giving them a glimpse of what it means to be loved. So many kids need forever homes!

Our family is also touched by autism—my niece and nephew have Aspergers Syndrome.

Adventures in Social Drama is a drama class that literally teaches these kids how to behave in different situations. I’ve seen firsthand how dramatically it works! Visit their sites to learn more.