About The Author
Lucinda grew up as the eldest of nine children of an Old Order Amish Bishop. Does the outside world serve “A Separate God”?
I Am Lucinda Streiker Schmidt
Talking about her initial story, Lucinda says, “This book was published by a division of Simon Schuster. And they would not let me use my name. They made me take a pseudonym … because the book is very revealing.”
After a pause, she adds, “I spoke from my heart.”
The fictional stories are based on real experiences and situations Lucinda went through or saw first-hand as the eldest daughter of an Old Order Amish Bishop. She left her family and her community to escape the strict male-dominating environment of that time.
Lucinda Streiker Schmidt uses a pen name, Elizabeth Kaiser, in writing A Separate God. In her second book, her publisher allows her to use her real name in continuing her personal story.
“Free will and choice are a God-given right and are not determined by societal pressure and religion.”
“The first thing I did when I left the order, this was years ago, I educated myself,” recalls Lucinda.
“I’m Master’s educated,” she smiles.
“I’m a smart Amish girl,” she laughs. “And one of my master’s was in business management, healthcare management.”
Having won a scholarship through an essay contest through Brown University, Lucinda used her opportunity to attend Notre Dame.
“I could use that scholarship at Ivy League schools. And Notre Dame happened to be on that list. So that’s where I went … So, for many years I traveled. I was a nurse consultant, and I would travel nationwide, and I’d get hospitals ready for surveys,” she remembers.
Eventually, she decided to start writing, using her own life and experiences from her Old Order Amish childhood.
“I used to always ask my mother if people on the outside had a separate God because they could do things we couldn’t do,” she says, explaining how she came up with the name of her first book. “As a very young child, I had this curiosity: Is everyone a fraud? Are we the only ones that are right? That can’t be true. And so consequently, ‘A Separate God: Journal of an Amish Girl.’”
She says, “Free will and choice are a God-given right and are not determined by societal pressure and religion.”
Lucinda does consider small speaking engagements and interviews.