Sandi Rebert of Farmington has combined a dream, a little pressure from her husband’s line of work, and some God-given talent  — oh, and a lot of positive energy — into a successful and busy career as a writer of award-winning books, plays and even a piano course.

Sandi Rebert of Farmington at work. Her many pursuits include being an award-winning author and playwright of Christian books and plays. Submitted photo

Rebert is a graduate of Bob Jones University in South Carolina and the wife of Brian Rebert, the pastor of the New Hope Baptist Church in Farmington. The mother of three adult children and grandmother of three more is also a musician and gives private music lessons. And she owns her own publication company.

How does she do it all, and why? She told us all about it recently.

What is your inspiration to writing books and plays? As a teen, I dreamed of becoming a writer one day. I was also involved in my high school’s dramatic productions and minored in speech in college. Then, when my husband began the New Hope Baptist Church, it became my responsibility to direct Christmas and Easter programs. I was disappointed in the lack of available plays with a strong gospel message, so I combined my love of storytelling with drama and began writing my own. (I also wrote some magazine articles for several national publications, and my first novella was published in 1982.) The plays became more than just seasonal as I added dramas and musicals for our teen group, including one set in Colonial Williamsburg and several Westerns! In 1990, I launched Dramatic Difference Publications to market my plays, etc., to other churches, Christian schools, and Homeschooling groups. God has taken those efforts around the world!

In 2020, when the market for plays dried up because of COVID restrictions, I started turning my most popular dramas into novels! I now have seven books available on Amazon, with the eighth scheduled to be released in May 2025.

Do you find satisfaction in being an author and playwright? Yes. Putting words on paper and watching them come to life in a play or even stepping into one of the dramas to become one of the characters is really fun! As far as the books, I’ve been very privileged and excited to have several of them win writing awards, including first and second places in a national Christian writing contest! My greatest satisfaction, however, is interacting on Facebook in Author/Reader Groups and finding out that something I’ve written has touched someone’s heart in a positive way. An extra perk is that I’ve made friends with wonderful authors and readers across the U.S. and in other countries!

How do you come up with your ideas?  The story ideas are just there! I love history, so all of my works are Christian historical fiction. I’m working on three sequels (in three time periods) and have more plays to turn into novels! The challenge is finding the time to write!

Is it difficult to write a book or play? I find a play easier to write than a book. It’s mostly dialogue with stage directions, so it doesn’t require as much time to create and isn’t nearly as long. In a drama, the audience can see the character’s physical traits, actions, and responses as the plot unfolds. In a novel, however, all those details must be expressed in words. I try to write in such a way that my readers can see, hear, and even feel what’s happening. I make good use of a thesaurus!

What Christian message do you try to inspire in all of your work? My main goal in writing is to share the good news about Jesus Christ, how he, as God’s son, came to earth to die for sinners. I asked him to be my savior when I was only 8 years old, and I love sharing God’s message of forgiveness with others. Besides that, I endeavor to encourage and edify believers through my characters and how they deal with conflict and trials. All of this is woven naturally into my stories — not in a preachy way, but realistically.

Do you publish other works with your in-house publishing ministry, Dramatic Difference Publications? In addition to my plays and books, I publish a piano course, Praising God on the Piano. It incorporates step-by-step lessons with children’s favorites, original songs reinforcing the lesson, classical pieces, music theory, and hymn-playing techniques.