Mandy's first publication, at the tender age of nine, appeared in Cricket Magazine.  It was a pencil drawing of a scared little piglet, stuck in a farm fence.  She was compensated with a tin of high-end Swiss colored pencils.

In middle school and high school, Mandy's poems and stories were selected by teachers to appear in various publications, such as her school district's literary magazine and her high school literary journal.  

Mandy spent several years writing articles for nonprofit newsletters and self-publishing her own newsletter for fellow home schoolers.

In 2004, Mandy entered the WORLDview Fiction contest, cosponsored by WORLD magazine and Westbow Press (a division of Thomas Nelson).  Out of more than 1000 entries, Mandy's short story, "Never Another," was selected as a top ten finalist, which led to its publication on the contest website. 

In May, 2007, Mandy received an honorable mention in the Spring 24-Hour Short Story contest at the Writer's Weekly website for her short story, "Into the Sea."

Mandy established a blog entitled "For Better, For Worse, For Life" in the fall of 2006, which she updated almost daily for a little over a year.  It was one of the fastest growing blogs on Wordpress.org for several weeks, and was the featured blog on more than one occasion.  Mandy stopped daily updates on the blog in the winter of 2007 so that she could focus on article and fiction writing.  The blog will remain up indefinitely, and the archives are searchable.  Mandy occasionally adds new content when the blog muse whispers in her ear.

Mandy was a frequent contributor to Marriage Partnership Magazine (a publication of Christianity Today that ceased publication after its Fall 2008 issue).  The Spring 2007 issue included Mandy's article, "Stop, Drop, and Kiss". The Winter 2007/2008 issue included Mandy's article, "The Packer Game Incident". And in the Summer 2008 issue, Mandy scored her first feature with her article entitled "Spouse, Interrupted".

Mandy's personal story, "Adoption Means ...," is included in Chicken Soup for the Adopted Soul.  And Chicken Soup: My Resolutions includes another of Mandy's stories, relating to a resolution she made in the way she relates to her husband, Pete.

After four years of writing and rewriting, Mandy's novel, Cloud Hunting, was completed in the fall of 2008.  It is currently under review by select literary agents.

Mandy continues to seek publication in both nonfiction and fiction venues.  And she has begun work on her second novel, with the working title, Gathering Summers.