Dandi won her first writing contest as a 10-year-old tomboy. Her 50 words on "Why I Want to Be Batboy for the Kansas City A's" won first place, but the team wouldn't let a girl be batboy. It was her first taste of rejection.

Since then, Dandi Daley Mackall has published over 400 books for children and grown-ups, with sales of 4 million in 22 countries. Her publishers include Prentice-Hall, Simon & Schuster, Dutton/Penguin-Putnam, Harper Collins, Harcourt, Random House/WaterBrook, DreamWorks, Tyndale House, Tommy Nelson, Standard Publishing, Jossey-Bass, Broadman, Shaw, Concordia, Eerdmans, Honor Books, Augsburg-Fortress, Mc-Graw-Hill/Children's Specialty, Landoll's, Prima/St. Martin's, Ferguson, John Wiley, Sourcebooks, Disney, Warner Brothers, and Hanna Barbera.

Teen novels: Eva Underground (Starred review in Kirkus; based on the author's experiences behind the Iron Curtain), Love Rules (awarded Romantic Times' Pick of the Month), Larger-than-Life Lara (Kentucky Bluegrass List), Crazy in Love, Dutton; Blog On! Zonderkidz; and picture books, such as Made for a Purpose, with Intro by Rick Warren; 17 Christmases, The Legend of Ohio, & Rudy Rides the Rails: A Depression Era Story, Sleeping Bear Press; Seeing Stars, and Treetops Are Whispering, Simon and Schuster; The Blanket Show & Gaggle of Geese, I Love You, Mommy & I Love You, Daddy, In the Beginning, A Shepherd's Christmas, & The Three Wise Women, CPH, A Glorious Angel Show, Off to Plymouth Rock, First Day, Are We There Yet?, Silent Dreams, Degrees of Guilt (Silver Medallion Award), Degrees of Betrayal, Until the Christ Child Came, We Needed a Tree for Christmas, Must Be Halloween, Who'll Light the Candles, & Love & Kisses, Bunny, Joseph, King of Dreams, I'm Not Afraid Series with Tommy Nelson, including: No, No Noah; Little Lost Donkey; Don't Cry, Lion; Go, Go Fish.

The holiday books, with CD--Journey, Easter Journey, Off to Plymouth Rock, and Merry Creature Christmas; WINNIE THE HORSE GENTLER, best-selling teen horse fiction series. Other familiar titles include: Kids Are Still Saying the Darndest Things, with intro by Art Linkletter, licensed characters (Scooby-Doo, Flintstones, Jetsons, Yogi Bear, etc.), juvenile mystery series, The Cinnamon Lake Mysteries and the Puzzle Club Mysteries, which have been animated and aired nationally on television; Horsefeathers! series, numerous Little Blessings board books, illustrated by Elena Kucharik, creator of the Care Bears. Portrait of Lies & Please Reply!, creative director for the TommyNelson bestselling series. Dandi has also written articles for Today's Woman, Western Horseman, Cowboy Hall of Fame, Chicken Soup for the Kid's Soul, Family Circle, Parenting, Worldwide Challenge, Guidepost, Power for Living,etc.

Dandi has held a humorist column and served as freelance editor. She's a frequent guest on radio talk shows, has hosted over 200 radio phone-in programs, and made dozens of appearances on TV, including ABC, NBC, and CBS. She was an instructor for Highlights conference and the Institute of Children's Literature. Dandi conducts writing assemblies and workshops across the U.S. and keynotes at conferences and Young Author events. She writes from rural Ohio--with husband, Joe, children--Jen, Katy, and Dan--horses, dogs, & cats.