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Welcome to the early 90s, which the Internet really began to be a part of everyday life. My (now ex) husband and I were early adopters, signing on with CompuServe in the mid-80s. I STILL have hard copies of posts from the CS Literary and Science Fiction forums, where I workshopped a story with Orson Scott Card (then a blond with floppy hair, btw), and saw Diana Galbadon discuss the first chapters of an odd new book called Outlander.
It was a most innocent time.
That ended with my divorce in 1993. He got the CS account, and I spent three years under a rock, doing little more than working and caring for my daughter. No writing. I just wanted to survive. Finally, I started to dig out. I bought a condo, started dating a new guy, and rejoin the web via AOL. Then the dating ended in 1999, and it took everything I had not to return under my rock.
But in April, Warner Bros and Vertigo Pictures released a little film called The Matrix, and my world permanently shifted, as completely as if tectonic plates had opened a new fault in the world.
Y’see, in the years following my marriage, I had walked away from everything important in my life. My faith and my God. My writing. The intellectual loves of my life, including Joseph Campbell’s Hero Quest, on which I’d based my master’s thesis. Now, in one 2-hour rollercoaster ride, God picked me up by the nape of my neck and shook everything free. Over the summer of 1999, I saw the movie 18 times. (Yes, I have serious geek potential.)
And I returned to the world of heroes. Within a couple of weeks, I had dragged out a story that had stalled five years before and finished it. While I tried to sell “Dream Killer,” I turned to fan fiction, renewing my craft and stretching all the dormant writing muscles. The fanfic found a minor home, and I realized it was time to leave behind the science fiction I loved and turn to romance.
I took one of the fanfic pieces, transformed it into a novella and, low and behold, sold that sucker. I began working on two different books, including a 20-year-old story that just wouldn’t leave me alone called Jackson’s Retreat. Following a conversation at CBA that July, I realized that it needed to be a Christian book, and I went back to Chapter One on it.
The road to publication wasn’t easy. Or short. But I’d found my voice and my direction. When I finally submitted Jackson’s Retreat to Steeple Hill, it sold in 6 weeks, and the editor asked for the second book (which she later rejected).
But, by the time Jackson’s Retreat released as A Murder Among Friends, life had changed forever.
Now my heroes were coming to life on a regular basis. Plots began to pour from my fingers like creative rain – which is not always a good thing. The next step was to focus, turn my thoughts toward not just writing but a career, a brand – a serious direction.
As I wrote and plotted and dreamed, slowly I realized that the direction had been there for more than 30 years, since I had, with my childlike glee, typed out a fourteen-page “novel” at the age of 10.
Romantic suspense. With strong men, determined heroines, and a seat-of-the-pants plot.
Sometimes God takes awhile, especially if you don’t cooperate. But, eventually, He gets you there.
Thus, He returned me to the world of heroes . . . . and an odd search began.
3 Comments
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On October 6th, 2008 at 7:42 pm, Ramona said:
Aside: I’m listening to John Denver via YouTube more and more these days as I write (note: blond with floppy hair . . .).
On October 7th, 2008 at 2:23 pm, Jen Stephens said:
Wow, Ramona! THanks for sharing so much of yourself with us! You really have been to the edge and back, haven’t you? I believe that, for the most part, the more experience you have in real life the more full and vibrant your fiction is. The Face is all that . . . and a bag of chips! (I’m still working through it only because I only have snippets of time, not because I’m not captivated.) I still have a lot of life to experience, but I can see where my fiction has grown through personal experiences and through the help, guidance, and support of mentors like you and Joan. Thanks a bunch for being the wonderful you that you are! P.S. Still waiting to see which star has captured your attention in THIS decade!
P.P.S. Still can’t listen to John Denver, but I love him! 
On October 7th, 2008 at 9:40 pm, Marti said:
Gone (apparently) are the days when Ramona’s blog posts were weeks/months apart. I like that, but it makes for a good bit of catchup reading at times!
Wow. I’m not sure even how to respond to all this except to say that’s it’s still Shakespeare vs. Saturday Night Live. But YES, our God is the most seemingly random but awesomely intentional force/PERSON in the universe. And NO, I don’t care a thing about blondes with floppy hair (I’m sure my husband is grateful.
And like Jen, I’m grateful for your honest heart-sharing. That’s the bestest kind!
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