A few weeks ago I promised to introduce you to some of my fellow writers and let them share their secrets of what it’s really like to be a writer. Today I’d like to introduce you to Ruth Axtell Morren. I know you’ll enjoy learning about where she lives and the research she does. Here is a picture of her at a booksigning.

Ruth, introduce yourself-where you live, what you write, your family. 

I write inspirational historical romances. Presently, my husband and two of our children live in the Netherlands, but we’ve lived on both sides of the Atlantic and will probably soon be moving back to the coast of Maine, where we have another teenager.

What brought you to writing? If you’ve always wanted to write, why? What is it about writing that pulls at you? Did you write in secret early in your writing life?

I’ve probably wanted to write since I was about 11 or 12 and began to live in the world of books. I began writing my own teen romances back then, in secret, of course.

I think it’s the story that pulls me to write. I’ll get an idea about two characters and just begin weaving more and more details about it. Even with books that others write, I’ll continue imagining what happens after “The End” for a few days after reading it.

Describe your writing area. Is there something special that seems to encourage you to write? Perhaps a memento that has special meaning, something that triggers your muse. Is there something people would be surprised to see?

 In our house in Maine, my husband and I shared an office overlooking a large front yard and evergreen forest beyond. Now, in Holland, I have a cramped corner of the bedroom. I’ve put up some maps of Europe and England, since many of my stories take place in England and made the space my own, with a bookshelf near at hand.

What is the wall paper on your desktop? Why?

A view of Mt. Katahdin in Maine, Maine’s tallest mountain and part of the Appalachian Trail. My daughter and I took a trip there the summer before last and did some hiking, though we didn’t hike all the way to the top. It was part of a research trip of mine for The Rogue’s Redemption, so it is a memory dear to my heart, both because of my daughter’s company and that of my characters.

This sounds like wonderful fun.

Do you have little routines you follow in your writing time? Special music, special tea or coffee, certain cup or pen or color of paper you prefer.

 Right now, there’s too much Internet, a habit I’ve got to cut down on soon! That’s the blessing and bane of having high-speed internet. Wait till I go back to Maine with either dial-up or hopefully, something a little better.

I do like to listen to Christian CD’s during the first draft phase. Sometimes, it will be one artist’s CD which will get me through many scenes. Lately, I haven’t done so much, maybe because deadlines have been drawing closer-so many books, heroes, heroines, the music starts all jumbling together.  I did listen to a lot of Church of England services on BBC Radio over the internet with their hymns for this last manuscript which features an Anglican curate as the hero. It was very inspiring. It drew me back to my roots in the Episcopal Church, which I haven’t been to in years.

Do you have a favorite dead author? Favorite research or reference book that is always at your fingertips?

Right now, it’s Grace Livingston Hill. Also, George MacDonald.  I just discovered Sorrell and Son, by Warwick Deeping’s 1925 moving novel about a father and son in post World War I England. Loved it!

Okay, let’s be brutally honest. What is your biggest distraction, perhaps self-made, during your writing time?

 As I said above, the Internet! Checking emails, etc. In defense of this, writing is such a lonely occupation that the Internet is our way to connect to other writers and the publishing world as a whole.

What is your favorite thing about being a writer? It could be flexibility, informal dress requirements, creating stories-anything that comes to mind.

The thrill of hearing from a reader who got as involved in your characters as you did while you were writing about them.

Your least favorite?

Slogging through those scenes where the ideas and words don’t want to come.

Is there something you secretly would like to change about your writing live? Perhaps the surroundings, the chair, anything.

Have enough money and time to travel more for my research.

Thanks for sharing. We’ve enjoyed getting a glimpse of your writing life.

You can find out more about Ruth by following these links.

http://www.ruthaxtellmorren.com/

http://ruthaxtellmorren.blogspot.com/

Below is the cover for Ruth’s book, Hearts in the Highlands, a Love Inspired Historical due out in April. Be sure and pick it up. The second cover is her February  book with Steeple Hill, The Rogue’s Redemption, that she mentioned researching with her daughter.

Ruth is giving away a free copy of each of these books to two lucky readers. In order to get your name into the draw post a comment on this blog. 

It’s Easter.

I love Easter. It seems like all good things come together this time of year.

Spring is sprung. Although Easter is too early this year, normally there are flowers in abundance outdoors. Tulips and daffodils poke their heads through the cold ground and say hello to the warm sun. My favorite flower is the wild crocus that grows in abundance on the prairie.

Easter is also my wedding anniversary. We were married (many, many years ago) on the Friday preceeding Palm Sunday. Can you guess the era by the hair styles and glasses?

But the real reason we celebrate is the best thing about Easter. At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus but on Easter we celebrate his death and resurrection. Thankfully the season has not been ruined by total commercialism.

Happy Easter. Rejoice, celebrate and enjoy.

Do you have a job (or several) you hate to do?

For me, it is bed making after washing the sheets.

I used to procrastinate, bribe others, complain and whine. One day, in a fit of pique, I decided to time myself. I was hoping to justify my bad attitude about the job. Imagine my shock and chagrin when I realized it took 5 minutes to do the job. Yup. Five minutes which triggered an hour of moaning and groaning. Now I wish I could say that in a wonderfully mature fashion I decide to never again complain. I didn’t. However, I do now manage to race to the bedroom during commercials and whip a bed together. Most commercial breaks are longer than 5 minutes.

There are other things I hate doing-or at least starting. Every morning I procrastinate about jumping into writing.

I know why I have this problem. It’s because I enter a different world, I get involved with my characters. I get so involved with them that I often emerge from a writing session wrung out emotionally to the point of exhaustion. I can sit and stare at the TV for long periods of time as I shift into my own world (the real one) again. It’s the investment of my emotions that makes it hard to cross that barrier into the other world.

I read a quote that describes my struggle. “At the moment of beginning, almost anything is more interesting than writing.”

Aristotle said ‘Well begun is half done.’ However he did not say how to get well begun.

I have yet to find a satisfactory way of getting past that barrier. I have lots of little tricks but I know they are tricks. Sometimes I fool myself with them. Sometimes I don’t.

To borrow a famous trademark slogan, I just need to do it because I know there’s a story that needs telling.

 ”I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” Michelanglo

I’m no Michelangelo but perhaps I have a job to do-setting my story free from my beleaguered brain.

 What makes a heroine? Strength, moxie, a sense of humor? You can probably add to the list. But do you think historic heroines were fluttering females? Sometimes I think that we think they were because of the restraints of their society. But have we considered what it was like to cross the prairies in a covered wagon? Raise children without aid of medical care? Be spies during times of war? There women were incredible. They make us look like wimps.

A few days ago on a trip to Banff (see previous blog for more wonderful details) I went to an exhibit about such a woman.

Mary Schaffer was a Quaker lady from Philadelphia but she was also an artist, a photographer and a writer with a particular interest in wildflowers of the area. None of this was unusual for an adventuresome women of the Victoria Age.

But Mary was given a crude map by an Indian friend, of seemingly little more significance than mindless doodling on a paper napkin. But her friend said it led to Chaba Lake, never, to her knowledge, seen by a white man or woman. She spent the season of 1907 and 1908 searching for this lake. Now bear in mind there were no roads, no helicopters, no radios, no cell phone-nothing but what they took with them. And if a packhorse drowned or fell off the side of a mountain they lost their supply of flour, or the only change of clothes they’d brought along, or the tent that provided their only shelter when they camped. (click on photo for better view).

A picture of her camp. She’s in the white shirt in front of the tent.

 They found the lake and explored it. Mary later returned to map it. She wrote about her adventures in a book called, Old Indian Trails. And she took lantern shows around to show what she’d done. Here is a glimpse of some of her work currently on display at the Whyte Museum in Banff.

Now that’s a heroine to admire. If you want to read more about her, I recommend this excellent book.

She later married one of her guides, Billy Warren, and they built a home in Banff known as Tarry A While, which still stands and is a bed and breakfast.

So what characteristics make for a worthy heroine in your view?

P.S I apologize for the fact the pictures are inserted rather randomly. It’s not me I’m told. There is a problem with the program that will be fixed at some point. (I hope so.)