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INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
- Tell us about yourself:
- Where do you live? I live in central western Oklahoma, about forty miles from the Texas panhandle/Oklahoma state line.
- How long have you lived there? I’ve lived in Oklahoma most of my life except for two years in Casper, Wyoming.
- Are you married? Very. We’ve been married for almost 48 years.
- Kids? Three, 11 grandchildren and five bonus. I also have five great grandchildren, including a set of twins.
- Full time job? I teach full time.
- Education? I hold a B.A. degree in English Education from Southwestern Oklahoma State University.
- Who is your favorite author and book? I really don’t have a favorite author or book. I like Jan Karon’s Mitford Series, and the works of Mary Stewart. I like Robert Heinlein and Asimov. I like anything that keeps me reading.
- What is your preferred genre? I don’t think I have a preferred genre. I am eclectic in my tastes and I read historical novels, sci-fi, fantasy, and fast paced thrillers like The DaVinci Code. Any book I read must be well -written and keep me interested enough to keep turning the pages.
- How did you start this journey to become a writer? I was always writing something when I was little. Later I discovered I had a knack for poetry. The concept for my first book, A FAR JOURNEY came to me and so I started writing in fits and starts. I finally finished it after my students told me I should because they thought it was good. One thing led to another, and here I am.
- What have you written so far? I have two books written and published through W&B Publishers:.A FAR JOURNEY and CANDLE OF DREAMS.
- Tell us about your current book. Told in three alternating first person view-points, CANDLE OF DREAMS is set in the last years of the Dust Bowl in western Oklahoma. Three teens, Matt, Coral Lee, and Micah, are drawn into a web of dreams and forbidden love and betrayal that will haunt them all their lives.
- What is the inspiration for your current book? It was triggered by a family mystery and an old photo, but the story is very different.
- Who was your favorite character to write and why? I didn’t have a favorite character for CANDLE OF DREAMS. I did “become” each of them in order to tell the story.
- Is there anything of you in that character? They are the creations of my mind, drawn from a lifetime of observing people, so I guess there’s a part of me in each of them.
- What sets your book apart? It isn’t an ordinary love story. Each character is fully and completely rounded and each has his or her part to play in the story.
- What’s your favorite part in the book? (read it) Coral Lee has met Matt by the cottonwood.
“Micah said you were tied up with chores,” I put my book down beside me, and settled back against the tree, arms akimbo.
“Well, that too. I had a headache by the time I quit,” she hopped off her perch and came over and kneeled down beside me, putting her hand on my arm. “I wanted to come. I really did.” Her blue eyes met mine and dropped, veiled by thick, dark lashes. I was captivated. I reached up and covered her hand with mine. Startled, she looked up again, and our eyes met and held, forming a connection that felt more real than our joined hands. My heart thumped wildly, I wondered if she could feel the pulse of it.
“I’m glad you did,” I removed her hand from my arm, and continued to hold it captive in mine, all the while lost in her gaze.
“Me too,” she said breathlessly and then blushed. She started to withdraw hers and, and I let go, feeling suddenly bereft.
“I guess you think I’m a terrible flirt,” she said, sitting down with a small thump on the grass, eyes averted.
“Are you?” I asked.
“Some would say I was,” She made a business of arranging her skirts.
“Is this meeting just another flirtation then?” I was nonplussed at her honesty, and to be honest, a little peeved at her admission. I wasn’t going to be any girl’s source of amusement. My heart sank.
“I don’t know,” her eyes sought mine again. “I feel different around you. I feel I want to know you better, but I just seem to make you angry.”
“You seem to know how to do that.”
“I don’t mean to,” she said. “Oh, I had a little speech all prepared for you to make you like me, and I thought maybe we could be friends…but now, I wonder if you even want to.” She dropped her head and stared at her hands, which were twisting together in her lap.
“Why wouldn’t I?” I said lightly although my heart protested the word friends. In the innermost recesses of my mind, I had entertained a hope that she would want to be more than just friends—but what was I thinking? A beautiful girl like her wouldn’t really be interested in a nobody like me.
“Look,” I said. “If you want to be friends, we can.” I held out my hand and she took it. I reached out and took her hand in mine. She tried to withdraw from my grasp again, but I stopped her.
“No, don’t draw back. I really want to know you better. I want to know what your favorite color is, what you like, what you don’t like, and a million other things, but I want you to know this: I don’t want to be just another fellow to you. If all you want is another flirtation, then we can’t be friends at all.” Her eyes searched my face as I spoke, and then we were staring into one another’s eyes again with an intensity that was almost like drowning for me. I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to be rescued.
“I would never call you a flirtation,” she said breathlessly. She touched my cheek with her free hand. “I wouldn’t dare.” She laughed a little. The moment was broken, and she looked away. “You are a little intense, you know.”
“Am I?” I let go of her hand and settled back against the tree. “I’ve never been friends with a girl before.” Not one I wanted to kiss, anyway. 12.
What was the most difficult part to write? Since I had to become each character and fully feel their emotions in order to create convincing characters, I think all of it was difficult. I was drained by the time I finished it, but satisfied that it was a quality work.
What was your favorite book to write? I don’t have a favorite yet.
- 12. How do you write? Do you have a set time or place? How many hours a day? I write when the intersection of desire to write and the play of ideas and time allow. I teach full time, so much of my energy goes into that. When I am not writing or teaching, I am thinking of what I will write. I usually sit down at my desk and laptop and write until I’m ready to stop.
- 13. Why did you want to be a writer? I am an avid reader…need I say more?
- 14. How do you get your ideas? They come to me from my subconscious, I guess. A word, a photograph, a sentence may trigger an idea.
- 15. What do you have planned next? A science fiction book for young adults and teens. I have six chapters written, and I am pondering plot ideas and twists.
- 16. What advice would you give new writers? I am an English teacher, so the first thing I will tell you is to learn the proper way to punctuate things. Read, read, read always. Read a variety of styles. Each author has his or her own. When you get ready to write, write it without worrying too much if it’s good or not. When you are finished, put it aside for a few days. Then go back and polish, polish and polish until that grain of sand of an idea produces a pearl. Take criticism as an opportunity to grow as a writer. Above all, don’t quit.
- 17. How can readers get in touch with you? Currently I do not have a webpage, but I can be contacted through my Facebook page: Ruth Ramsey Route 66 Author or my twitter @Authoress 2016