This is the opening line of my first full length play, C. Writ. 101, which I wrote in college. The play was based on a dream I had about the magical experience of writing, the beauty of words, and the power of Story to bring people together – in short, my vision for life.
These words, spoken by the main character, are also a fitting description of me. I decided I wanted to be an author at the age of nine. My brother, a gifted writer, gave me a large black sketchbook that Christmas, inscribed with a quote from John Bunyan’s Author’s Apology at the beginning of Pilgrim’s Progress:
“Thus I set pen to paper with delight,
And quickly had my thoughts in black and white;
For, having now my method by the end,
Still as I pulled, it came; and so I penned
It down; until it came at last to be,
For length and breadth, the bigness which you see.”
I have a Bachelor of Arts in Music and Theatre and a Master of Fine Arts in Acting. I have been an active participant in the world of the arts, performing, directing, teaching, and writing for both musical and theatrical organizations. Somewhere along the way, I discovered that these passions were not in competition. On the contrary, each was simply another way of fulfilling my nine-year-old dream.
I am a storyteller: a joy-seeking minstrel who loves cultivating wonder and conveying it to others.
I still remember my exact location when I finished reading Lord of the Rings for the first time. Caught between euphoria and desolation at being shut out from Middle Earth, I couldn’t move. Tears streamed down my 12-year-old face as I reflected on the truth of C.S. Lewis’s words: “Here are beauties which pierce like swords and burn like cold iron.”
I already knew that I wanted to be a writer. In that moment, Tolkien’s influence refined my artistic mission statement. I didn’t just want to write. I wanted to create immersive worlds in which readers could get lost, and characters they could love as keenly as I loved Frodo. I wanted to tell stories that made people feel like this.
Furthermore, I want to help other people tell their stories.
Over the past ten years, I have built a freelance writing and editing business, acquiring a varied clientele by word-of-mouth. In addition to writing copy for jewelry websites and turning donor interviews into compelling stories, I have walked multiple authors through the publishing process, both self-publishing and traditional. I have served as the developmental editor, writing coach, proofreader, formatting expert, querying consultant, marketing advisor, and cheerleader. These projects ranged in content from parenting guide to personal memoir (written by an author for whom English is a second language); from YA fantasy to a self-help motivational planner/journal; from middle grade historical fiction to a suicide grief counseling handbook. Regardless of the subject matter or the size of my role, my goal in the editing process is always to empower the author—not to impose my own voice upon the work, but to help them find their own, that they may be equipped to continue sharing their story in innovative ways.
Whether writing, editing, or engaging in any form of communication, I look forward to spending the rest of my life telling stories. It is my fervent goal to open gates of wonder for anyone who encounters my stories, that all might gain a glimpse – and, with the glimpse, a deeper understanding – of “the bigness which you see.”
~ Ruth
R. A. (Ruth Anne) Nelson lives with her husband and inimitably adorable dog in South Carolina. When not writing, she can be found reading voraciously, cooking creatively, entertaining lavishly, running avidly, editing assiduously, watching movies thoughtfully, or enjoying a good cup of tea or glass of wine – blissfully.
