Carrie Beckort has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from Ball State University. She spent seventeen years in the corporate industry before writing her first novel, Kingston’s Project. She lives in Indiana with her husband and daughter.
I was born in Tallahassee, Florida, but before I turned one my family moved back to Indiana. I grew up in Northwest Indiana (NWI) and currently reside in Southern Indiana. If you’re from NWI then you know how significant this is. I never imagined I’d be a Southern Indiana girl. I was going to move out of the state all together. But, it seems there was a different plan in store for me.
I always loved reading. Mostly, I loved stories and was always trying to figure out what was going to happen. As much as I loved the creative world, I felt my analytical side was stronger. Like most kids, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to be when I grew up. One day a group of Purdue students came to talk to my high school math class. They said, “If you love math and science, you should go into engineering.” Sure, okay.
In college, I came to loathe reading. That’s because all I had time to read were engineering textbooks. I don’t think I need to explain the effect this had on me.
My senior year in college I met my future husband. Actually, we met the very first day of class (math) freshman year. On that first day, we were put together in a small group. Our joke is that our first impressions of each other were: I thought he was a dork and he thought I was a snob. We were a perfect match.
We graduated from Purdue University with our B.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and went to work for Cummins Inc. He liked reading those engineering textbooks and went into an engineering program. I decided to go the route of customer support and ultimately ended up getting my MBA from Ball State University, transitioning into Marketing and Sales. Yes, I brought my husband over to the dark side with me.
With all that career stuff going on, my husband and I were in our early thirties by the time we expanded our family. We had challenges, and after three years of a very emotional ride, we finally became a family of three.
After 17 years at Cummins, my husband and I decided that I should take a leave from work to focus on our family. It’s during that time that I finished and self-published my first novel.
I never had any aspirations to write a book. I’d go so far as to say that I didn’t really embrace my creative side until I was in my late 20’s. I’ve come to learn it’s a side of me that I can’t ignore. I need a creative outlet. So how did I move from cross-stitch to writing?
I was at book club one night in the late spring/early summer of 2012. I was missing something in my life. Something for me. My friends understood I needed to be creative. They were helping me by suggesting ways I could expand on things I like to do. Then one of my friends said, “You could write a book.”
It took three weeks and a dream for that comment to transform my life. I woke up one Saturday and had an image of a dream in my head. I thought, “I wonder why something like that would happen.” My next thought was, “Oh, crap. I’m writing a book.” I started writing it that day. I wrote in my spare time, which wasn’t much, but I loved it and couldn’t stop.
Looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing. Every experience I’ve had in my life has made me the person I am today. From engineering to marketing to writing—what a wonderful ride!
I hope you enjoy the experience of reading my stories as much as I enjoy ‘engineering’ them!
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