“When women help each other, beautiful things can happen,” said Laurie Reese, a resident of The Village at Castle Pines since 2024. Laurie began writing as a creative outlet when her youngest children started kindergarten. Fifteen years later, a chance encounter led to her first book deal and her debut novel was published in 2023. Laurie’s eighth book arrived in October, completing her second series, and she has no plans to stop now that she and her husband, Bryan, are empty nesters.

Laurie grew up in Huntsville, Alabama, and attended Auburn University. Laurie met Bryan on a flight from Dallas to Atlanta. “We sat next to each other in the very last seats at the back of the plane. I offered him a piece of gum because I wanted to get a better look at him. We talked the entire flight,” Laurie said. She soon left for Paris to work as an au pair, and Bryan deployed to Mogadishu, Somalia, but the two kept in touch through letters and a few visits. They later got engaged and have been married for 31 years.

Laurie’s early jobs all involved writing: news reporter, advertising producer and press secretary for a state senator, but when she and Bryan started a family, her full-time job became caregiving. Laurie moved in with her mother, who had cancer. “I put my 2-year-old on my mother’s lap and carried my two-week-old twins while pushing my mom in her wheelchair to chemo appointments. It was a hard eight-month period,” Laurie shared. Shortly after Laurie’s mom passed, her younger brother died in a car accident and she went to care for her grandfather before his passing as well.

“I had been through this intense period of grief where I really had lost myself,” Laurie said. “My husband gave me the best advice I’ve ever gotten: do something you’ve always wanted to do now that you have the gift of time.”

Laurie chose to write about the Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center, a sanctuary in Georgetown, South Carolina, that had captivated her since her freshman year at Auburn. The day her twins started kindergarten, Laurie began writing her first book, The Firefly Jar, under the pen name Laurie Beach, her grandmother’s maiden name. Laurie’s characters always have a growth arc with a happy ending and a strong element of romance.

For 15 years, Laurie queried publishers about her book and kept writing. “Writing is essentially self-care for me,” Laurie said. Then, at a fateful Christmas party, a woman asked to read her book and loved it; that woman had a friend in publishing who felt the same way. “It was perfect timing; all of a sudden, I had a contract. I had my absolute dream job,” Laurie exclaimed.

These days, when she is not writing, Laurie plays mahjong with friends, goes kayaking and travels to see her four grown children in Castle Rock, Colorado Springs, California and Australia. She has one grandchild. Laurie and Bryan have a weekly date night and love to dine at local restaurants.

Laurie’s advice: “If you have a strong desire to do something, I believe you also have the ability. Just get out there and try it.”

For more information, visit lauriebeach.com.

 

 

By Lisa Nicklanovich; photos courtesy of Laurie Reese