Rusty Blackwood, Author

I was born at the old St. Thomas General Hospital (no longer used as a hospital) in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada. I moved to the Niagara Region in 1985 and to St. Catharines in 1987.

That’s a long time ago in which to digress, but I remember loving Storytime, where my teacher would read selected books to the room. I took my entire elementary years in the same one room country schoolhouse that my father had attended in south-western Ontario. I was captured by the words my teacher, Mrs. Gladys Carroll, would read; the descriptive passages that pulled you into the story and let you take part. I found it fascinating that someone had written those words that could give such wonder and enjoyment to the listener and reader. I wanted to do the same, and that is both where and how my love of written word began.

There are too many to name just one. However, I didn’t realize at the time just how fortunate I was to have grown up where I did. I could run and holler to my heart’s content without worry of sound restrictions, nor constant traffic noise and congestion. I had the entire eighty-acre farm as my playground. I adore farm animals and spent countless hours with them. I fed chickens and gathered eggs. I helped my father with barn chores, and I remember sitting in the barn loft granary with my aged grandfather, munching on walnuts and listening to the wonderful stories he told. I loved riding horses and would do so every chance I got. It really was a charmed place, and I think of it often.

When I was in high school in the early 1960’s, there were only three career choices for women and writing was not one of them. I continued to write short stories, as well as keeping a daily diary, but I was never professionally trained in the Literary field. However, I always did well in English, both Literature and Composition, and possessed an uncanny ability to write and express my thoughts and feelings as any trained writer would do. My life took me in a different direction, and it wasn’t until the fall of 2001 at the age of fifty-one that I decided to see if I could write a full-length romance novel. I would write after work, and on weekends, until I finished my first manuscript and from there decided to see where it could take me. I had also written numerous poems and decided to get my feet wet in the publishing world by releasing my first poetry collection in 2009 titled Feelings: A Rhythmic Journey in Thought. This was how I began.

The main lesson I learned was that not everyone is a winner. I learned how to do the best I could but not be upset if I didn’t win. I learned that second or third place was nothing to be ashamed of, and I learned how to take criticism. I did earn first place a few times, and was pleased with the fact that I did, but I also realized it came from trying my best to always improve on my last try.

I was blown-away. I won bronze for the 2005 poem, Desire. There again, you never know where a venture like that can lead. I am still pleased about that and keep my medal on my desk to remind me to never be hesitant to try something new.

When I write a poem it usually comes quickly. I have experienced times where a few lines come and then nothing more that day, but usually it comes together quite quickly. Most of my poetry is traditional, four rhyming lines in a verse and usually four or six verses in a completed piece. I have written Contemporary where the poem consists of rolling thought with little rhyme, but I prefer Traditional prose.

I believe it is the topic, or subject of the piece. To me, a poem is a condensed story written in rhythm and rhyme, revealing the story as the piece progresses to the end. I usually like to reveal the subject in the title and then try and use the title somewhere within the poem.

The story revolves around a young Kentucky woman whose name is Autumn Leeves who is born to an unwed mother who struggles to make ends meet. Through trial and error mother and daughter finally find their way and things eventually grow better. Young Autumn becomes a nurse and after a brief stint at two separate Lexington hospitals, she is sent on assignment to care for the terminally-ill wife of an English equestrian master who owns and operates a thoroughbred racing stable that has a lot of ensuing fray taking place. Autumn arrives and is quickly caught up in the unsettling happenings.

Ottawa is a beautiful city, the capital of Canada, and a most educational place to visit. I toured the city in the summer of 2008, first time I had been there, and I was pleasantly surprised to see how clean and organized it was. When I decided to write Willow’s Walk, I thought how lovely it would be to have her live there. At the beginning of the novel, Willow lives in Smith Falls in the Ottawa Valley, not far outside of Ottawa, but I would have her move to Ottawa with her second husband.

The character of the multi-dimensional Derwood Tugbottom came from my brother Rick’s active imagination, and the story, the first in an ongoing comedy series featuring the character and his many adventures, is based on an actual phone call made to my eldest daughter-in-law as a silly prank. When the phone call began, my brother was ‘in character’ of Derwood Tugbottom, an eccentric retired City Hall Official who decides to take his retirement in Canada. My brother, in character tells my daughter-in-law, who is the official chauffer for a posh retirement center in my city, that he had disembarked from her shuttle after a tumultuous ride about the city and was checking a back tire for damage, when she inadvertently backed over his right foot, pinching his toes, and ruining his shoe. He is calling to demand restitution and will not settle for anything less. Finally, my daughter-in-law, who has call display and knows who it is, tells the faux Derwood the jig is up, and they have a good laugh. She later told me about this phone call, and as Christmas was nearing and she always gave my brother a gag-gift, asked if I would write a short story based on the phone call, which I did. It went over well. Following this, I decided to expand the story and publish it, which I did. Derwood Tugbottom has become one of my most celebrated and loved characters, which is wonderful when you think of how he came to be. The Misadventures of Derwood Tugbottom is the first of three in the comedy series, being followed by Derwood Returns, and Derwood Goes Caribbean. I will be writing a fourth installment titled Derwood Comes Home.

I released Passions in Paris: Revelations of a Lost Diary in 2013. This totally revamped story is a grand scale novel and combines parts of the original two-part Passion in Paris: Connections to the Past & Directions of the Heart, respectively. The same characters act out the often-intense romantic drama that revolves around star-crossed soulmates, Canadian author Joy Wychmere, and Irish actor/musician Cullen Malone, and takes place in festive Paris at the cusp of the 21 st . Century. The story that happens in Passions in Paris is based on a discovered diary and accompanying manuscript, found in 2040 by Joy Wychmere’s grown grandchildren upon her death as they gather to plan her memorial. The reader is thrust back to 1999 Paris where the touching story is told through the eyes of the grandchildren as they read the diary and manuscript. The only challenge I faced was combining the two-part story into a totally revised version.

I am always making notes, and the same is true when I get an idea that I feel would make a great read. Notes are most important for me because they not only keep ideas fresh, but they keep them remembered. I never throw anything away, and as I think about a certain topic, I can always refer to my notes.

Quarantine is now over for me and lockdown is greatly lifting where I live. We are now in stage 2 of reopening, but when quarantine was in full effect, I found myself sleeping more. It helped with the boredom I was experiencing in not being able to go anywhere. I was finding it difficult to find a proper mindset in order to write, as I draw from my life experiences as well as my emotions when working a title, but because nothing was known about the virus at the time, my worry was high, especially for my family. But now more is known, and along with that comes a better understanding, and no fear.

I was first introduced to All Author in the early spring of 2019 by Catherine Townsend Lyon of Lyon Media Services not long after I released The Perils of Autumn. She was representing me at the time and introduced me to many wonderful online book sites. I very much enjoy All Author and opted for the Pro Plan quite some time ago. I find it helpful with tons of great ideas and user-friendly programs to promote one’s work. I have entered the cover of The Perils of Autumn as well as Willow’s Walk and Passions in Paris into the monthly Cover of the Month contest and have used many of the tools to create ads and interest in my work. I plan on sticking around for quite some time to come and would recommend this site to anyone looking for a great promotion site.