Susan Pope Sloan was born into a family of singers and storytellers with a strong  evangelical heritage. She first sang in church at age three and has been singing ever since. Her parents participated in various gospel groups during the 1950's, and her father composed more than two dozen songs during his lifetime. Her brother came along in 1963 and joined the family group at an early age also.

The Pope family loved sharing poems and stories whenever they gathered, and Susan's favorite memories include listening to her aunts tell the same humorous tales. One aunt also served as Susan's Sunday school teacher during her teen years, a time when she learned to love memorizing passages of Scripture.

Through high school and college, she "dabbled" in writing and succeeded in getting some articles published. During her prolonged college career, she worked as a lab technician and secretary in three different chemical companies. She met husband Ricky Sloan while working in the Church of God International Offices in Cleveland, Tennessee. After the births of their son and first daughter, they moved to Susan's hometown of Columbus, Georgia. 

In 1996, Susan went to work as an Instructional Designer at Total System Services, which allowed her to finally put her English degree to good use. She also wrote feature articles for the local newspaper, church periodicals, and a short-lived sports paper focused on youth sports. When she retired in 2017, she finally could concentrate on her dream of writing historical fiction.

"I need to write from the framework of a true event," Susan says, "and history provides so many choices." She enjoys bringing life and love into focus along with the facts. Her Rescued Hearts of the Civil War series begins (and ultimately ends) in her home state of Georgia with references to lesser-known events of that period. 

She and husband Ricky live near Columbus where she participates in Word Weavers and, American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). She still sings in church and with a seasonal group, and also volunteers at the National Civil War Naval Museum. With their children living in different states, she and Ricky make a few trips to visit each year and use Facebook to keep up with their awesome grandchildren.