Brenda Novak

Brenda Novak’s journey to becoming a bestselling author wasn’t something she planned, it came from a place of urgency and love for her family. She recalls a deeply unsettling moment when she discovered her day-care provider was drugging her children with cough syrup and Tylenol to make them sleep while she was away. That experience sparked a determination in Brenda to find work she could do from home.

Interestingly, writing wasn’t on Brenda’s radar at all. Growing up, she was far more comfortable with numbers than with creative pursuits. Math and science were her strongest subjects in school, and she chose to study business in college. At 20, she left her academic scholarship at Brigham Young University to get married and start a family. Before turning to writing, Brenda explored careers in commercial real estate and worked as a loan officer.

The decision to become a novelist came slowly. Brenda spent five years teaching herself how to write, emphasizing the importance of reading widely to learn the craft. Her advice to aspiring writers is simple but powerful: “read, read, read.”

After selling her first book, Brenda’s writing career took off. Today, she’s a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, publishing two or three novels a year across multiple genres.

Brenda lives in Sacramento with her husband, Ted, and they are proud parents of five children, three daughters and two sons. Now that their kids have grown, Brenda enjoys spending time with her two grandchildren. Beyond writing and family, she dedicates much of her energy to raising funds for diabetes research, motivated by her youngest son, Thad, who lives with diabetes. So far, Brenda has helped raise nearly $2.6 million to support this cause. When she’s not fundraising or writing, Brenda loves traveling, watching sports, and biking, she pedals an impressive 20 miles every day!

You can connect with Brenda on her Facebook page.