In the dawning age of scrunchies and ‘Hammer Pants,’ a small-town musician with big-city talent found out she was expecting her third child a staggering eleven years after her last one. From that moment on, Susie Waldrop referred to her daughter Elicia as a ‘blessing’ which is loosely translated as an accident, albeit a pleasant one.

In true youngest-sibling fashion, Elicia lived up to the birth order standard by being fun-loving, outgoing, self-centered, and rebellious throughout her formative years. She excelled academically–a feat her sister attributes to her being the only child who was breastfed–but abandoned her studies to live in a tent in the national forest with her dogs: a Rottweiler named Bodhisattva and a Pit Bull named Sativa. The ensuing months were very hazy.

In the late 90’s, during a stint in rehab, Elicia was approached by a prophet who said, “Someday you will write a book.”

She was right.

Now a firm believer in the prophetic word, Elicia Hyder is a full-time writer and freelance editor living in central Florida with her husband and five children. Eventually she did make it to college, and she studied literature and creative writing at the American Military University.

Her debut novel, The Bed She Made, is very loosely based on the stranger-than-fiction events of her life. It is available on all major online book retailers.