“I’ve wanted to be a writer ever since I could remember.”

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. However, writing has remained my first and primary passion, and I look forward to spending the rest of my life spinning tales, telling stories, and opening gates of wonder for readers, 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 the Hudson Valley. 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