Ryan Jo Summers, author of Shimmers of Stardust, When Clouds Gather, and Whispers in her Heart, is on Carly Jordynn’s Corner today. Thank you for joining me, Ryan.
CJ: Tell me a little about yourself.
RS: I live in Western North Carolina with my pets; 5 cats, 1 newly adopted collie, 1 macaw and several fish. My hobbies, when not working or working, include caring for said pets, going to the nearby National Forest, bird-watching in my yard, tending an obscene amount of houseplants (40+), yard plantings, and gathering with friends. I love to write poetry and paint as creative outlets and coping methods. To relax, I read or work wiggly word-find puzzles. Cooking and baking are quite enjoyable too. I don’t know what the word ‘bored’ is.
CJ: What got you into writing?
RS: Fate. Happenstance. I wrote my first book at age ten, based on a family situation. I drew colored illustrations—stick figures mostly. It was my way to give voice to something I did not understand. That book led to others. It wasn’t until my teen years I figured out people actually did this sort of thing for a living. Wow! Sign me up! After that, I wrote imaginary things for submission and told everyone I was going to be a veterinarian and writer. I did work as a veterinary technician for many years, and my first published piece of non-fiction wasn’t until the early 2000’s and my first fiction was 2012. It’s been a long road.
CJ: What is your writing routine? Is it daily? Do you have a set amount of time to write each day?RS: I write daily, in the mornings. Once the fur & feather kids are taken care off, I take my coffee and head to work in my study. I log about 6 to 8 hours writing, catching up on social media, doing blogging work, researching for writing or promoting sites, etc… until it’s time for lunch and off to the ‘day job’ which is a second shift security job.
RS: Plot all the way, to begin with. Once I have a solid story line, and get into the daily grind, it can be a good mix of follow the plot until the characters take over. Then I fly by the seat of my pants to see where they’re leading me.
RS: It used to be easy because I used to just write one book at a time. Now I have three published novels, contracts for two more books, two current WIPS and various assorted short non-fiction assignments. With so much up on my desktop, sometimes I just stare at the page and say to myself: “And who is this again?” I talk about one story to friends and forget their names. So I have yet to figure out how to keep it all straight.
RS: Writing for me is not an option. Even when I try to go periods without writing, because I might be busy with life episodes, things come along that lodge in my mind and take root, creating stores unto themselves or parts of set aside WIP. It then gnaws until I take pen to paper and let it flow. Only then can I feel a sense of peace, mixed with accomplishment. Also, I try not to take myself or my work too seriously. Some work is good, some terrible and some with potential I have all those moments in my life too—good, terrible and with potential.
RS: Yes, I spent some time in Ireland, a few months. My dad lives in County Clare, Ireland and I like to go visit whenever I can. With work, pets and the amount of time spent simply traveling, it’s kind of hard to arrange but always worth it.
RS: Two things, having people stop me and say they either read something about me in the paper or read something of mine in a periodical. That’s pretty cool to get that kind of instant feedback when you are not expecting it. Also, one day I went to our local library and there was my first print book on the end of a shelf. What a thrill that was!
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:
WEBSITE: http://www.
BLOG: http://summersrye.
FB: www.facebook.com/pages/Ryan-
BLOG: http://summersrye.
FB: www.facebook.com/pages/Ryan-
BUY LINKS:
Thank you, Carly. for having me on your blog today. Hopefully your readers will take away a little something from it.
ReplyDelete