Can you believe Janet Syas Nitsick’s cold and heartless response to my audition? I was awesome, but she totally failed to see it.
I mean, after her mean reply to my wonderful audition, she forced her way into my house and threatened me!
Janet ready to clobber Ruth on the head with a hairspray can
And I was like:
Ruth scared for her life
And I said, “Use your words, not violence, woman!”
So then she said:
“You’re not actor material, Ruth. Stick with what you’re somewhat good at: writing books.”
But I didn’t get to where I am today by giving up. Â I’m the same author who started out with historical romances so modern people thought I chose the wrong category when I published them. Â I even went through the process of making them contemporary until those who loved them convinced me to make them historical again.
This is just another bump in the road like what I faced early on with my historical romances.
I got better with writing historical romances, and I know I can get better with an audition tape. Â So that’s what I’m going to do. Â I’m going to send out a second tape, and this will be better than the first.
*The whole thing with Janet ready to hit me with hairspray is fiction. Â The part about the historical romances, however, is true. đ
Ruth Ann Nordin's Author Blog 
You write VERY good historical romances. Both western and regency. đ
Thank you, Lauralynn. It was definitely a process to get the feel for the time period I was writing in, and there were some setbacks, but it was worth the struggle. đ
Ruth, you are a very funny lady! I enjoy your blogs as well as your books.
Thanks, Glenda! I’m glad you’re enjoying them. đ Thanks for letting me know.
Dear Ms. Nordin, I so enjoyed your audition video and the bloopers! And your Regencies are awesome! đ I can’t wait to read “His Wicked Lady” and the rest of this series.
You know, I also love your contemporary stories. đ For example, “Runaway Bride” and “His Abducted Bride” are among my always favorite books. đ The “Enchanted Galaxy” series has also a rich imagination and romance. â¤
I have bought, but I have left for months now in my to-read list your contemporary "Just Good Friends". On purpose so that I can savor it for last, after reading some of your other books! đ Probably I will enjoy it this Holidays. ^_^
I hope you will write some contemporary books in the future. đ
Hi Wo Ai Ni!
I’ve been asking people what kind of romances they enjoy, so this has come at a great time. Mind if I ask what it was specifically you enjoyed most about “Runaway Bride” and “His Abducted Bride”? You mentioned contemporaries being among your favorites, and I can certainly try to come up with something from a contemporary angle. Are there certain kind of contemporary romances you like most? Are there certain plots you enjoy more than others? I’m working on a list for 2017. I already got 2016 set up, but I do need to think ahead since I’m doing pre-orders and would appreciate any feedback so I can try to write a book that would most appeal to you.
I’m glad you enjoy the videos! They were a lot of fun to do! đ
Thank you for your kind answer! I am happy to hear that you plan to write some contemporary too. ^_^
In the “Runaway Bride”, I liked that the hero was waiting patiently for the heroine until she made up her mind to be with him. The scene in the shop, where Mark comes behind Lexie and kisses her, is very very tender and romantic in my opinion. Thank you for this scene. Since it’s a contemporary story, we can relate with the nice feeling when your man comes with you during shopping. đ
In “His Abducted Bride”, I also liked the patience and persistence of the hero, as well as his sacrifice in the end to save his wife. Let alone the ingenious plot about book characters coming to life. In both stories, the tension or even the quarrels between the two modern women and the two men who come from another world is mostly enjoyable!
Maybe I like to read about gentlemen who still exist in 21st century. đ It’s a bit rare to find them nowadays. Why? Because, among other character traits, I personally support a marital relationship after marriage. That’s a huge reason why I love your books. đ
About certain plots: I think the usual suspect in contemporary romance is marriage of convenience or marriage by mistake. Generally, something confusing and funny. It’s always great to see two characters who initially quarrel, but then they cannot resist to fall in love. Your current Recency series also follows this path, that’s why we all like it!
It’s so nice and thoughtful of you to ask the opinion of your readers! But please don’t feel pressed, follow your publishing schedule as you wish. ⤠Thanks for being awesome!
LOL on the man going shopping with us comment. That one made me chuckle. But you’re right. When he’s willing to go shopping, it means he wants to be with us badly enough he’ll sit and wait for us to try on clothes. đ And thank you! I’m glad you liked that kiss!!
Gavin was one of my favorite heroes. The guy was so much fun to work with. My favorite part was when he stood in front of her at the tub without any shame. Thinking of it still makes me laugh. I kind of the like the guy who does or says funny things. I lean toward that in real life.
But my heart is with a man who is a gentleman underneath it all. I agree. It’s hard to find them, but I’ve seen them. I remember one guy who pulled up to the front door of a restaurant in the pouring rain, got out to help the woman into the place by holding the umbrella over her head, and then he parked the car. I thought that was so wonderful. And they were in the their early 20s. So men like that do exist.
So what I’m getting is that contemporaries are nice because it’s taking place in our time. đ
I love marriage, and I think the intimate life is a beautiful thing. It adds to the closeness of helping one another and doing things together outside the bedroom. I’m glad to hear you like the kind of books I write!
Marriage of convenience or by mistake are among my favorites. Oh good! I’m glad you like that with the Regencies. It’s easy to get those types of marriages in that time period because it seemed the simplest mistakes led to marriages.
I appreciate the feedback. It helps me when I’m trying to come up with new books because I do want to make books that will interest you. đ Certain plot ideas are easy enough to work around, esp. with the convenience/mistake marriage, which are among my favorites anyway.
Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions! I appreciate it! â¤
Yes, contemporary stories are nice, because we can fully realise the world in which these stories happen. Lol, shopping for the win! XD
If I could rank the romance genres, I think that I would choose contemporary first, with Regency a very close second choice. (I love a well-written Historical Regency, like the way you do: no rakes and no heroines who have sex with the hero after their first/second meeting. <_< Given the strict morals of that era, it's highly unrealistic and rather depressing to see such plots.) And then I would place Western. Maybe because I am European, I choose Regency over American Western, because it is an era and area closer to us in Europe. Although I have read some Western romances that were amazing. đ
Glad I could help. After all, I am happy to see that you like the same plot too! đ
What I’ve noticed about Regencies is that they seem close to contemporaries. At least from my point of view, it seems the time period aligns closer because of the way people were. They were much more strict in historical western time frame in the US. That’s not to say people still didn’t do things they shouldn’t (because they were still human), but the overall culture had a certain mindset. In Regency, I get the impression the people were more relaxed and enjoyed themselves more, like we do in the contemporary time. I find I lean more towards humor with Regencies for that reason.
I’m not a fan of rakes who sleep around or heroines who do either. That’s never been my thing. There are historical westerns from big publishing houses that have the same thing. The bachelor who doesn’t want to settle down and likes sleeping around. Then there’s the heroine who changes all that, but they typically sleep together before marriage. I started writing romances because I wanted to read romances where the couple both waited until they were married. That’s not to say there weren’t some books I found where they waited, but usually, the guy had a list of other women he’d slept with in the past, and that ruined the story for me.
Have you heard of Rose Gordon? She writes romances, mainly Regencies, and her characters wait until marriage before they have sex. She wrote Intentions of the Earl which is free if you want to check out her style. I think you might enjoy her work if you haven’t read any of her stuff yet. đ
Thank you very much for recommending Rose Gordon. I just downloaded this book and I will definitely read it. đ
Now that you say it, you are right. Regency does seem closer to our era and mentality, kinda funny and interesting. In “western era”, things seemed to be even stricter and rather more dangerous. It’s like only brave people could survive in those years. đŽ
Oh, I agree. It took a tough and brave person to make it back in the historical west. I would much rather live in contemporary or Regency times. đ
When will this second audition tape arrive? I put my hairspray can somewhere and I need to be ready to retrieve it. Ha! Ha! God bless.
I’m working on it as we speak, and you’re going to be so amazed you’ll faint in wonder at my talent! Just wait. đ