Meet Hazel Mattice North Dakota Author and Storyteller

I grew up on a farm near Wimbledon, North Dakota when hair was big and shoulder pads were a fashion statement. I milked cows and had no fashion sense or time to fix my hair. What I lacked in style, I made up for in imagination.

Saturday mornings meant cartoons and falling in love with the neighbor boy. I remember thinking, “I will marry him one day.” That never actually happened.

Then one fateful day, my dad threw out the TV. I was certain I would not survive. For about a week.

One night, close to midnight, I snuck into my sister’s bedroom and read my first romance novel. It was love at first sight. I remember sighing, “I will write my own gut-wrenching love stories one day.”

In 2011, I woke from a dream and wrote my first novel, The Dark Days. Writing it was more devastating than I expected. A scientist I knew read it, stayed up all night, and encouraged me to publish. It first released on Kindle in 2014. After that, I was hooked.

The Chosen Five series grew out of my life in the 80s. Bent Trees came from events at a grocery store near me. Conventional Pursuit was inspired by a close friend and a duck hunter’s group. Many settings in my novels come from people at the dinner table, in restaurants, at the gym, and in the library.

I feel deeply. I weave those emotions, both good and bad, into every character.

Writers like John Saul, James Patterson, Tedd Dekker, Sandra Brown, and Denise Hunter inspire my pacing, intrigue, and the emotional tension I love creating.

If you enjoy heartfelt fiction rooted in real life, you are in the right place.