Local author Zan Marie Steadham spent 25 years shaping young minds in the classroom, but her wish was always to one day become a writer.

Nearly six years after retiring from the Douglas County School System, Steadham has achieved her goal with the release of her first book, “The Easter Walk.” As the title would suggest, “The Easter Walk: From Palm Sunday to the Ascension” is religious in nature, a devotional, in fact, that walks Christians through the period leading up to the resurrection of Jesus Christ celebrated with the Easter holiday.

“I knew when I retired I was going to be writing,” Steadham said. “Exactly what form it would take, that’s one of those things you discover as you go. I started in Easter of ’05 when my pastor (at First Baptist Church in Carrollton) really stressed that we spend a lot of time getting ready for Christmas but we don’t spend a lot of time getting ready for Easter. So, my personal way to get ready for Easter that year I took a study bible and went through the events of holy week one by one. Then it hit me, this needs to be shared.”

Steadham, a Carrollton High grad who lives in Temple, first shared her book in pamphlet form with the church in 2007 under a different title, but after getting a lot of good feedback and encouragement she tried to publish it through a royalty publisher. However, even though she never got any negative comments from the publishers, she was continuously told that because it was a seasonal subject and a slim volume they weren’t interested. Her solution was to self-publish the book, which was released late last year and quickly sold out. A new printing is now available through her Web site, www.zanmariesteadham.com.

Though Steadham has written another book specifically for the congregation of First Baptist Church in Carrollton, “Our Foundation: A Children’s History of First Baptist Church,” and co-wrote “A History of First Baptist Church, 1847-2007,” her devotional is the first book she’s released to the public.

“Having the book out there allows me to be a tool and I have no problems letting the Lord use me as a tool,” she said. “That’s part of our purpose, in my opinion.”

Steadham is about halfway through a rough draft for a companion volume to “Easter Walk” about Christmas that will be called “Christmas Walk.” Similar to her recent book, the follow-up will trim away the commercialism of Christmas and get back to the root of the season, what it stands for and how Christians should approach it. The new book is expected to be out in the fall. She is also kicking around the idea of a third volume called “The Valley Walk,” which would guide Christians through life in the down times. She is also working on a novel, the first in a trilogy based in the mythical Georgia town of Cherry Hill, and her long-term project is a science-fiction trilogy.

“Religion is definitely the foundation of my life,” she said. “In fact, I’ve come to realize that even the fiction I write may not be classified as Christian fiction, or a Christian novel, but my characters are Christian. Their actions are based on their beliefs, and their problems based on their actions are reactions to their Christian beliefs.”

The novel Steadham is currently working on involves a character who is a retired school teacher, recently widowed with no children, who gets involved with a foster child she adopts. Steadham said the characters’ response to the world is based on her religion.

Even the science-fiction project she has worked on at various times over the last 25 years revolves around religion with an allegory of justice and mercy.

“I definitely have a religious tinge to whatever I write,” she said. “I believe it’s subconscious because I don’t think I can divide that from my life. It is too important in my life to be divided. At this point in time I don’t see myself writing something that my subconscious doesn’t put that aspect of my life in it.”

Steadham’s love for words came at an early age. Her career choices led her to become a history and Latin teacher, though in college she also minored in English. She used her penchant for storytelling to teach history, a teaching philosophy she believes makes it more easy for students to learn the subject matter than having them regurgitate names and dates.

“I’ve always loved words and have written since I realized that the words I love were written by someone,” she said. “Poetry, prose, verse, lyric — it doesn’t matter what form or genre the words are. Words inspire, entertain, and enlighten. After teaching history and Latin for 25 years, I finally have the time to take delight in writing.”