Nikki Stoddard Schofield

I began writing for publication when I was the Thursday editor of the Shortridge Daily Echo, one of five high school daily newspapers in the world, in 1959-1960. Authors Kurt Vonnegut and Dan Wakefield preceded me at Shortridge, the oldest high school in Indianapolis. l was reading a romance novel that was so bad, I thought: "I can do better than this." I considered what I wanted to read in an historical romance novel. To start, I wanted the hero and heroine to always be kind to each other. Because of my interest in the Civil War, all of my novels take place in that era. I began my first novel during phased retirement from working 37 years as the law librarian at Bingham Greenbaum Doll. Currently, I work as a tour guide and the Staff Genealogist at Crown Hill Cemetery, docent at the Indiana Medical History Museum, volunteer creating finding aids at the Indiana State Library, and multiple positions at my church, Speedway Baptist. My books have unique features not usually found in novels such as cast of characters by chapter indicating whether they are fictional or historical, chronology of historic events, historic notes, and book club and classroom discussion questions. All of my novels have the same subtitle: "A Civil War Romance." However, they are not genre romances; there are no bedroom scenes. The main characters are Christians and have proper Victorian manners. These novels are suitable for junior high readers.