Roseanna M. White

The Air I Breathe

Words are the air I breathe.

This is something I’ve been saying since college. I was a tour guide for my school, and it was pretty common for people to ask, “So what do you plan to do after you graduate?”

I would always answer the same way. “I’m a writer. Words are the air I breathe.”

In the nearly-fifteen years since I graduated (sheesh, where has that time gone??), I’ve managed to make books my life. I homeschool with a literature-based curriculum. I’m the managing editor here at WhiteFire. I design book covers. And, of course, I write. I’ve had the privilege of publishing with some of the most amazing houses in Christian Fiction, and I’ve just soaked up all I can from all of them. I’ve learned how to manage the business side of being an author–but for me, it always comes down to the writing.

I’ve been doing it since I was 6. I’ll be doing it as long as God gives me the stories and the means to get them out there. I can’t not. Because stories…stories are a part of my fabric. They’re how I view the world. And I fully believe they’re how I’m called to touch the world. But it’s not even just the stories–which can be told in so many different ways, through so many different arts. It’s the words themselves. I love playing with them, learning from them. Because I know how powerful they are.

God created the world with a word.

Jesus is called the Word.

Samuel, one of the greatest prophets recorded, is described in terms of words: “none of his words fell to the ground.”

Words have the power to create and the power to destroy. It’s why I believe it’s such a calling to work with them, and why I take them seriously. It’s why I bask in them as a reader and spend ridiculous amounts of time searching for just the right ones as a writer.

Words have shaped my life. They’re a part of me. It’s an honor to get to bring them into the world in my books. And they will continue to be that air I breathe as long as the Lord, the Word, gives me breath.

Roseanna’s Chosen Charity

Operation Underground Railroad

 Operation Underground Railroad (OUR) is an organizaion made of military and law enforcement experts who have dedicated their lives to rescuing children from sex trafficing. Working with local authorities both domestically and abroad, this group is passionate about not only saving children from these terrible situations, but rehabilitating them–and serving justice to the perpetrators. Read more about the amazing work this team accomplishes on their website.