Stephanie Price Buchanan has enjoyed creative writing since childhood. As an imaginative third-grader, she wrote short stories and in middle school, she discovered a gift for poetry. Throughout her teens, she continued to write stories with the end goal of penning a book.
After graduation from Inglewood High School, she responded to a calling to work with her parents, Apostle Frederick and Dr. Betty Price, at Crenshaw Christian Center. Later, she also became married and had three beautiful children. Yet, the desire to write a book never left her.
This year, her dream became reality with the release of her first publication, ‘Getting to the Heart of It: A Complicated Romance.’ The book is love story that Price-Buchanan describes as, “Girl meets boy, sparks fly and then there’s all the drama trying to keep them apart.”
The novel follows the relationship of Alicia, a single mom and divorcee, who also manages a community center as well as a floral business on the side, with Josh, a single dad and soccer coach.
“Love is on the horizon, but they encounter some bumps along the way with exes, Rick and Eleanor, constantly complicating things. Alicia has her family, best friend and a community of characters to support her as she gets to the heart of what love and standing by someone really means,” explained Price-Buchanan.
In addition to writing a good book, Price-Buchanan’s wanted her novel to send an uplifting message.
“The goal is to show that no matter how bad a former relationship was, that you can find real and true love again. ‘Getting to the Heart of It’ speaks to the topics of single moms and dads, dead beat moms and dads, great family life, close friendships, falling in love and the uncertainty of love,” she said.
“I think both believers and non-believers will like the book. It’s not overtly religious, but it touches on staying pure before marriage, no profanity in the households and going to church because you know you should.”
With her first novel completed, Price-Buchanan has already started on her next book. She shared, “I am working on a totally different story. I’m only in the first few chapters now, but my new main character will be very interesting to read about as well.”
To aspiring writers, Price-Buchanan advised, “Keep writing! If your goal is to publish one day, then keep a journal and write all the time. There are so many online resources to help you with everything from character development to submitting your stories to organizations that will read your work and critique it.”
She added, “Don’t ever give up on your dream. You are never too young or too old to reach your goals. Don’t let anyone talk you out of your dream.
“A favorite scripture that compliments never giving up is 2 Corinthians 4:18 – ‘While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary but the things not seen are eternal.’
“It may look bad now, look like it’s never going to happen or work out, but here is God’s promise to us. It’s just for a season. See yourself successful on the other side.”
