Detailed Bio
N. J.
Lindquist is a multi-talented Canadian woman who has always made serving
God the highest priority in her life. For nearly 40 years, she has been
successful in a number of careers from wife and mother to teacher, church
and community leader, writer and publisher to speaker.
An only
child raised in the small town of Souris, Manitoba, where her dad owned
a clothing store and her parents attended the United Church, N. J. grew
up with a very strong faith, which she believes was God’s response
to the prayers of several remarkable women, including her grandmother,
mother-in-law and birth mother. From the age of four, when she was first
told she was adopted, N. J. rested in the assurance that God had put
her exactly where he wanted her.
N. J.
was also very young when she discovered that books were her best friends,
and that she liked to make up her own stories too. Her first published
piece – and an early indication that her faith and her writing
ability would one day merge – was a letter to the editor of the
Souris Plaindealer when she was 12. The letter questioned why
anyone would reject the Christian message, and urged people to trust
God.
Although
her own parents had no understanding of what it meant to have a personal
relationship with God, and she received very little concrete discipleship
from the church, N. J. continued to read her Bible daily and to ask
God to guide her. She was a quiet, introverted child, feeling different
but not sure why. In second year university, she discovered the reason:
she was both highly gifted and highly creative.
Intending
to become a teacher, N. J. double-majored in Psychology and English
at Brandon University, winning the Gwyneth J. Griffith Scholarship and
the English medal. She also taught grade three in Sunday school and
became a leader in IVCF, through whom she discovered and delighted in
the writings of C. S. Lewis, Paul Little, John Stott and other Christian
writers.
N. J.
was given a teaching fellowship to the University of Manitoba to take
a master’s degree in psychology, but dropped out after a week
because she believed God was telling her to leave. Through a series
of remarkable circumstances, she ended up at Winnipeg Bible College
(now Providence College) for one year before earning a Certificate of
Education in three summers at the University of Manitoba. It was at
WBC that God gave her what she considers her life mission – to
make disciples. At WBC, she also met her future husband.
N. J.
taught high school English in Roblin, Manitoba, for two years. She also
led an ISCF group and was active in many other student activities. She
received a Teacher of the Year Award in 1972.
After
her marriage to Les Lindquist in 1972 and several moves, N. J. began
what was to be the norm for the next 30 years. They both served on the
leadership teams of four different churches in Regina, Sask., Mississauga,
Ont. and Markham, Ont. (including two church plants), with N. J. taking
on four or five roles at any given time: Sunday school superintendent,
small group leader for both women’s and mixed groups, women’s
fellowship leader, CE director, adult Sunday school teacher, junior
church coordinator, youth worker, camp director, outreach chair, and
one-on-one discipleship leader (initially using Nav 2:7 and then subsequently
developing her own programs).
During
this time, N. J. gave birth to four healthy, gifted sons, each one a
unique individual. With the support of her husband, she homeschooled
each of them until he went to grade 9.
N. J.’s
writing during this time was sporadic. Shortly after her marriage, N.
J. took Norman Rohrer’s correspondence course in writing and wrote
one novel and most of a second, but she had no idea how to find a publisher.
In 1979, she attended the Decision School of Christian Writing in Calgary,
but had no time to do anything except organize her files before her
third son was born. In 1988, she attended the God Uses Ink Christian
Writers' Conference for the first time. The following year, when her
two oldest sons went to high school, she was finally able to take out
her old manuscripts and use a book she had purchased during God Uses
Ink to look for potential markets. The first two articles she sent out
were accepted by Confident Living and Teen Power;
she was a Judge’s Choice in the Toronto Star’s short
story contest in 1991; and her first book, Best of Friends,
a novel for teens, was published in 1991.
To date,
N. J. has had more than 100 articles and short stories published, and
done four stints as a columnist—including her That’s Life!
column in the Markham Economist-Sun—and the award-winning
“The Inside Story,” in which she profiled Canadian Christian
authors for ChristianWeek. She also has written three one-on-one
discipleship manuals for teens (one co-written by her second son), published
by High Impact Ministries in the US. For five years, she edited a quarterly
16-page newsletter for Canadian cell churches called Cell Life FORUM.
In January of 2000, N. J. released four novels: an adult mystery, Shaded
Light; a new teen novel, In Time of Trouble; a revised
version of Best of Friends, N. J.’s first book; and its
sequel, Friends Like These. Friends in Need and More
than Friends followed.
In order
to publish the novels for teens, N. J. and her husband Les created a
publishing company,
That’s Life! Communications. In 2004, they also released an
edited trade paperback version of Shaded Light through their
imprint, MurderWillOut Mysteries.
More Than Friends and Shaded Light each won two awards.
A second mystery, Glitter of Diamonds, is scheduled to be published
in the spring of 2007. N. J. also is working on a book based on one
of her writing workshops for new and aspiring writers titled "Getting
to Know The Writer in You"; the sequel to In Time of Trouble;
and a one-on-one discipleship manuals for adults.
N. J.’s
life-long confidence in God was affirmed in 1999 when she met her birth
mother for the first time and learned that not only is she a descendent
of William Tyndale, but that her very birth was the catalyst that caused
her birth mother to accept Christ and later become a pastor’s
wife. N. J. also saw both of her adoptive parents accept Christ in their
later years, her father just ten days prior to his death in 1992.
Since
December of 2001, N. J. has been executive director of The Word Guild,
an organization for Canadian writers and editors who are Christian that
she co-founded. During that time, N. J. and Les (who has been with IBM
for more than 30 years and who plays a key role in The
Word Guild as the treasurer and a board member) gradually have been
starting Joy Equipping Ministries.
Its mission is “releasing stifled Christians to serve God effectively
and joyfully”—a mandate they believe encompasses their involvement
with The Word Guild, too. N. J. has had a number of opportunities to
speak in new ways on old topics including leadership, discipleship,
outreach, prayer and creativity.
Since August 2005, N. J. has been the spokesperson for a project called
Read For Life, an initiative
to encourage reading and provide other help for Canadian youth who are
struggling to find their place in this world. Read for Life was envisioned
after the editor of Maranatha News, Johanne Robertson, read
N. J.’s book, In Time of Trouble, which deals with a
troubled teen. A number of other organizations, including Tyndale University
College and Seminary, have become sponsors of the Read for Life program.
N. J.
has also participated on panels with the likes of Nancy Pickard and
Harlen Coben at mystery conventions, and is in demand with both secular
and Christian audiences as a writing teacher and motivational speaker
on a variety of topics from Raising Gifted Children to Discipleship
101.
Besides
The Word Guild, N. J. is a member of The Writers’ Union of Canada,
Crime Writers of Canada, Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America,
Independent Mystery Publishers, Advanced Writers and Speakers Association,
Christian Writers Fellowship International, InScribe Christian Writers,
and Writers’ Information Network.
N. J.
and her family continue to be based on Markham, Ontario, where N. J.
and Les have recently been helping with discipleship in an English-speaking
Chinese church plant. Two of their sons are in the computer industry
and one is a veterinarian.
Current
Positions
•
Founder (former Executive Director) of The Word Guild
•
Co-director of Joy Equipping Ministries and LoveJoy Ministries
• Business partner in That’s Life! Communications
Formal Education
•
BA in Psychology and English from Brandon University
- Silver medal in English from Brandon University, 1969
- Gwynfred J. Griffith Memorial Scholarship in English, 1967
• Winnipeg Bible College (now Providence College) 1969-70
• Certificate in Education from the University of Manitoba, 1972
Published
Work
Schedule
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