We recently carried out an exclusive interview with Amazon bestselling author Ruth Kaufman to find out about her and her books, including her latest, My Once & Future Love. Read on to learn what the award-winning author, who also happens to be a voiceover and on-camera actor, had to say.
Please tell us about you. Where are you from? What is your professional background and how did you become an author?
Thank you for interviewing me! I’m from Chicago, and have lived here most of my life. For more than 15 years, I worked in corporate America sales, marketing and training while pursuing acting (mostly voiceover and on-camera work with some improv) and writing on the side. I read so many romance novels (mostly historical and paranormal) that I finally decided to write my own. I didn’t think I could write as well as most of the authors on my keeper shelf, but I thought perhaps I could write as well or better as other authors.
Ten years ago, I decided “someday is now,” and quit my job to act and write full-time.
A version of my first medieval, AT HIS COMMAND, won Romance Writers of America®’s national Golden Heart® Award for unpublished manuscripts, so I hoped that meant I was closer to selling it. The publisher I intended it for sent two revision letters over two years, but ultimately passed. So I tried something a bit different and self-published two versions—one with closed bedroom doors and a faith element, the other with open bedroom doors and no faith element. The latter, the Historical Version, is now a finalist in the Booksellers’ Best Award’s Best Historical and Best First Book categories.
What types of books do you write?
I currently write medieval romance set in 1460s England and paranormal medieval romance. I have written a couple of humorous women’s fiction books and a time travel to Elizabethan England, but haven’t released them…yet?
My first three books, which stand alone, also comprise my Wars of the Roses Brides series. The connection is the underlying history and actual historical figures rather than the fictional characters. Though a secondary character who appears in my first book is a more important character in my new release and may get a book of her own!
Could you please tell us about your most recent book, its overall plot, and the main characters in it?
My fourth release is MY ONCE & FUTURE LOVE (Unsung Knights of the Round Table #1). I’ve always loved Arthurian myths, and books and movies about them (I’ve seen Excalibur dozens of times!). Most people have heard of Lancelot and perhaps Percival and Gawain, but I wondered, “What if there were knights no one has heard of?” I decided to tell their stories.
In MO&FL, Annora of Amberton’s uncle claims she’s a lunatic so he can take control over her and her lands. Her maid helps her escape so she can seek proof that she’s not a lunatic. But she’s not having much success.
Morgan ap Myrddin is also on the run. He needs to rescue his father, Merlin, from imprisonment. But enemies have wounded him, draining his powers.
He stumbles upon Annora’s cottage. She’s wary of helping a strange, powerful man, but must choose between him and soldiers he claims are his enemies. As he helps her in return, undeniable desire and respect spark.
But he won’t succumb to the lure of a mortal woman as his father did. She’s wary of caring for a man who refuses to discuss his past. When he finally tells her he’s a Knight of the Round Table, she fears he’s the lunatic as danger, secrets and destiny thwart the power of love.
Are you working on any other books(s)? If so, can you please tell us what we can expect to see from you in the future?
Yes! I’m working on Unsung Knights #2, which I began during last November’s NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). And I was invited to do a Kindle Worlds novella that’ll be releasing in September. Finally, I may release those humorous women’s’ fiction novels.
Can you please tell us about your approach to writing? For example, do you follow structures and writing rules? Or do you write in a free flow way? Do you have any particular time of the day you like to write? Or any specific environment you prefer to sit down and write in?
I’m a pantser, which means I get an idea and go with it. I don’t plot ahead or outline.
I’m definitely aware of many of the “rules,” having attended many conferences and having read books about writing. But I mostly go with what my characters want.
As a morning person, I feel more creative earlier in the day, and set a weekly page goal when in writing mode. I mostly write at home, where I have two monitors…so one can have the work in progress on it while the other displays research. Sometimes I take my laptop to quieter coffee shops for a change of venue or write with a friend to keep us both on task.
They say content is king these days, so I’m working on writing and getting books out faster.
Do you have any favourite authors? If so, who are they and what do you like about their work?
My keeper shelf includes Madeline Hunter’s, Susan Wiggs’ and Julie Garwood’s medievals. I love the way they blend history with plot and emotion.
Lately I haven’t been making as much time to read as I used to, in part because I sometimes judge writing contests and need to read the entries.
What other things do you like to get up to when you’re not writing?
I’m also an on-camera and voiceover actor, so I spend a lot of time preparing for and doing auditions and working on various projects and sets. For example, I submitted a voiceover audition this morning for a radio commercial, may have a voiceover job on Friday, am awaiting the script for another VO job, and this Sunday I have a small role in an independent feature film. Sometimes I sing in a symphony chorus…we just performed the Brahms Requiem. I enjoy going to the theatre. Fortunately, there are many opportunities to do that in Chicago.
How can people find out more about you?
Thank you for asking! I hope your readers will visit me at www.ruthkaufman.com and sign up for my occasional newsletter. They can also find me at:
Blog: https://www.rjkaufman.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @RuthKaufman https://twitter.com/RuthKaufman
Facebook: Ruth Kaufman Author & Actress https://www.facebook.com/ruthtalks
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7454412.Ruth_Kaufman
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Ruth-Kaufman/e/B00JH7Z40S
Acting: www.ruthtalks.com
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://writingtipsoasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/hv1.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Hiten Vyas is the Founder and Managing Editor of eBooks India. He is also a prolific eBook writer with over 25 titles to his name.[/author_info] [/author]