ABOUT
Rebecca Belliston loves books and music. Even more, she loves to write both. As an author, she writes clean romances with heart-pounding suspense. She also composes piano and vocal music. When she’s not writing, she loves tennis, graphic design, and cuddling up with a good book—usually not at the same time. She and her husband have five children and live in the beautiful state of Michigan.
unofficially
Welcome to my little corner of the world! I love a lot of things--especially to write. I've been surrounded by books and music and creativity since childhood because of my awesome parents (Gerald & Lynn Lund). A native of Utah, I started playing piano before I can remember and was composing little songs about purple unicorns by elementary school. As a teenager, I taught my first piano students, sang in choirs, took guitar lessons, and basically fell in love with music in every form. In college, I took music theory, orchestration, and sound engineering, giving me a greater appreciation for the mechanics of music. At the same time, I fell head over heels for another music nerd and agreed to follow him to the ends of the earth, which meant moving to the distant land of Michigan.
I've spent countless hours composing classical-style songs, arranging hymns, teaching piano, and pounding out Beethoven Sonatas. You could say that I live, breathe, and eat music (minus the eating part). And yet . . . in 2008, I decided one random morning to write down a story that had been stuck in my head for months. Three weeks later, I had the first draft of a novel, and I couldn't get enough of creating fictional stories and characters. Now I read everything, analyze movie plots to the annoyance of my family, and jot down book ideas on random pieces of paper. To me, the best stories include a great love story, so I write romances (clean romances) with heart-pounding suspense.
Sadie, my first novel, is a contemporary Christian romantic suspense novel published by Deseret Book on 11-11-11. It spent three months on their bestselling fiction list. The sequel, Augustina, was released in August '13. My dystopian trilogy, Citizens of Logan Pond, came next. My latest novel, Heart of Red, Blood of Blue, is a YA medieval story about an albino princess. To go along with it, I've composed 11 original songs, like a soundtrack of sorts, combining my passion of books and music.
Well, I'm sure that's more than you ever cared to know about me. Thanks for reading! If you have questions, shoot me an email. I love hearing from people.
questions
WHAT'S IT LIKE WRITING BOOKS & MUSIC?
Quite similar. One tells a story with words. The other tells a story with notes. I love both and bounce back and forth between the two, depending on my mood. :)
RANDOM FACTS:
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Two fictional characters have been named after me: Rebecca Steed in The Work & the Glory series, and Becky Lloyd in The Alliance; my father's books. A few words are direct quotes of something I've said, often embarrassing—the joys of being an author's daughter. :)
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I have perfect pitch (as does my husband, a few of our kids, and my mom)
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I've taught piano continuously since I was 16.
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I have many, many, many (seriously too many) hobbies, including graphic design, genealogy, playing tennis, diy house projects, studying and teaching the scriptures, playing board games, and doing puzzles, especially solving Rubik’s cubes of all sizes (my fav is the 7x7).
FAVORITE WRITING & MUSIC QUOTES:
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"The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon." - Robert Cormier
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"Good books aren’t written. They’re rewritten." - Michael Crichton (My father adds, "...and rewritten, and rewritten...)
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"Writing is wretched, discouraging, physically unhealthy, infinitely frustrating work. And when it all comes together, it is utterly glorious." - Ralph Peters
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"Bach gave us God's Word. Mozart gave us God's laughter. Beethoven gave us God's fire. God gave us Music that we might pray without words." - German Opera House
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"A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence." - Leopold Stokowski
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"I have a therapist. Her name is music."
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"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." - Aldous Huxley
other projects
HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS
I've always considered myself a student of the scriptures. My dad is a gospel scholar and passed on his love of the scriptures to me. He took us to Israel when I was 14, and I completely fell in love with the Holy Land, its history, and its people. In 2000, we went back, that time with my husband. And in the summer 2023, we were able to take all our kids, and they too fell in love with the land of Israel. To say that Israel is my favorite place on earth is not an exaggeration. I even titled one of my original piano pieces "Jerusalem."
I've taught the gospel for many years in my church, including 8+ years teaching seminary. In all my studies, I've desperately searched for a way to read the Four Gospels chronologically, side-by-side, verse-by-verse. My dad gave me a handout that had some chapters like that, but not all.
I wanted more.
I wanted to read the story of Jesus calming the storm in Matthew, Mark, and Luke to study the different insights in each version. And the last 24 hours of His mortal life? Each account gives different bits and pieces. But I couldn't find it laid out how I wanted to study it: side-by-side, verse-by-verse, in chronological order.
15 years ago, I started building it in an Excel spreadsheet. It took a LONG time. But once I finished, I wanted to share what I had in case others wanted to read it in the same format. But it's too long and too cumbersome to be in book form.
So the harmonyofthegospels.com website was born.
But that wasn't enough. I wanted to study all the scriptures chronologically. For example, I attended a bible study with a friend, and we'd jump back and forth between the book of Acts and the Pauline letters. What a cool way to study Paul's life, right? But it wasn't easy to find what came next. And when I went back to study the book of Acts a few years later, I found myself scrambling for which letters matched which part of the story.
That's when I expanded the website.
With lots of work, studying, comparing resources, and doing my own digging into archeology and secular history, I've created this website to include:
All in chronological order
Or at least as close as I could manage since the scriptures aren't meant to be historical books. They're spiritual. A lot of times, details aren't given about when a particular book was written (I'm looking at you, book of Joel). I studied different gospel scholars to create my timeline as best as I could.
Now I love it!
It's incredible to read about King David escaping Saul and then immediately read the psalms he wrote while hiding in the desert. Or to read about Jeremiah in prison and then Lehi escaping Jerusalem. And as I mentioned, the most important for me—and what started this project—is reading the Savior's mortal ministry side-by-side, verse-by-verse.
In addition to the scriptures, I have also included a general timeline and list of main people in the scriptures, including links to references so you can study more about them. I plan to include places next.
Anyway, if you can't tell, I'm very passionate about this project. So if it sounds like something that might interest you, check it out and let me know what you think! :)
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