From the
Bethany House website:
Rene Gutteridge has been a writer and a Christian since she was a child. Even before she could write, she would draw pictures that would tell stories. When her parents bought Rene her first computer, she began writing novels and soon became interested in screenwriting. While in college at Oklahoma City University she earned her degree in Mass Communications and specialized in screenwriting. After graduating, she intended to move to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a writer in the film industry.
Immediately after college, though, God called Rene into the ministry, where she served as the Director of Drama for five years at First United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City. There she wrote, directed, cast, produced, and occasionally acted in two pre-sermon sketches a week. Over thirty of her scripts are published, and she has written over 450 of these as well as three full-length plays.
While in the ministry, she met her husband, Sean, who is a praise and worship leader. After marrying in 1996, they formed their own theater company, a traveling drama troupe called The Christian Theater Company that is still ministering today. When it was created, she served as an actor, director, and playwright, but today is serving only as playwright.. Her husband, a theater major, has taken over the directing side of the company and continues to be a lead actor. In May of 1999, their first child, John-Caleb, was born, and in January 2000 Rene left her full-time position with the church in order to stay at home with her son.
Her first novel, Ghost Writer, established her as a writer to watch and her latest effort, Troubled Waters will impress fans and new readers alike. In it, Macey Steigel, a successful TV news anchor, intends for her fast-paced life to slow only a little in the aftermath of her estranged father’s death. But on returning home, she finds her mother in desperate need of help and finds herself unable to turn her back. All the reasons for leaving home soon reappear, and she finds herself caught in a struggle she thought she’d buried. Will she find the strength to restore the shattered relationships of the past and renew a faith too-long ignored?
She currently lives in Oklahoma City with her husband, son, and daughter.