Dee Ann Miller

Since first published in 1970, writing has been an avocation. My life has been enriched, my words frequently informed by my life's work in psycho-social nursing while married to a compassionate minister. Frequent themes are: justice, peace-making, gender issues, children's issues, health and well-being, spirituality, and mental health.

My first book, published in Africa by Nairobi's International Publishing House was a work of fiction, a small storybook, written for new adult readers, about alcoholism in the African village. "Mr. Kapande's Family Gets a New Start" provided an AA model that could be implemented in churches.

In 1993, "How Little We Knew" was released. This first-person memoir about the first seven years spent dealing with systemic complicity in one horrendous case of sexual abuse by a missionary-colleague of my husband and I. Neither the denomination nor the perpetrator, Gene Kingsley, was named in this book. Nor any other of the key players except for myself and my husband Ron. Kingsley, a missionary who, with his wife, had various assignments in Africa, over a period of twenty-five years with Southern Baptist's Foreign Mission Board. His violent, abusive behaviors--some reported to officials, others not, left victims ranging from young teens to middle-aged colleagues of both genders. The bizarre behavior of members of this organization at every level are now known to be typical signs of systemic pathology, commonly present in incestuous families and faith groups.

"The Truth about Malarkey," in 2000, was a work of satire. A salty, old grandmother, sitting on her front porch, writes a letter to her young grandson, whom she expects never to meet, in hopes he'll find it when he's old enough to read such material.

In 2013, after stumbling across a piece of little-known history related to injustice during the American Civil War, I took on young adult, historical fiction for the first time. This resulted in a single story, published for kids on two reading levels: "Just Following Orders" and "Mighty Tall Orders." The very same month of my discovery, the World Council of Churches published my work on collusion with abuse in the faith community, as the 5th chapter of "When Pastors Prey." Imagine my delight when I discovered Jimmy Carter, a man who has struggled much with the Southern Baptist Convention himself, was the foreword writer!

Three years later, in January, 2016, shortly before the movie Spotlight won Oscars for Best Picture of the Year and Best Original Screen play, inspiration struck again--this time beyond anything I'd ever experienced. Seeing that movie, I knew I had to take on the largest project yet. Within six months, though the first draft was finished, I had a greater challenge than anything I'd lived through in 70 years! It just didn't seem fair, but who says life is supposed to be?

My mother's story, told partially in guest blog #248, for Dr. Marie Fortune of Faith Trust Institute was written in late 2017, when things seems to be finally stabilized after Mom's long-term abuse. Yet, things only got worse. soon after that blog. What a struggle as I learned to work around all the care-giving challenges, still putting my mother first as I put to finally get the finishing touches on Enlarging Boston's Spotlight.

I am so proud of this product, though I'm beginning to think I should have done it as a trilogy. For it's really THREE books in one.

(1) the inspirational Catholic-led advocacy work that I was proud to lend a hand to and be a part of in the early years of the "Boston story" told in Spotlight

(2) the challenging layers that came for me in taking on the second largest denomination in all of this: the Southern Baptist Convention, which happens to be the heritage of my husband Ron and I, as well as most of our family

(3) The ecumenical work that's on-going.

As life goes on, bringing personal and inter-personal struggles, I have no plans for going quietly into the night. Available for conferences and consultations, I'm eager to see what comes next.