Author Interview: Sally Ramsey

Dark Awakening by Sally Ramsey

Publisher: Snow Leopard

Genres: Fantasy / Vampire

Brook Cottage Books is thrilled to welcome Sally Ramsey to the blog. Thank you Sally for agreeing to appear on the blog.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

Do you write under your real name or is this a pen name you use?

I write for Snow Leopard under my real name, Sally Ramsey. I also write other things as Cheerful Chemist or CheerfulChemist.

Where are you from? 

I was born in New Jersey, spent my teens in New York City, went to college in Ohio, grad school in Iowa, then got married. After that we lived in Minnesota for two years, then Southern California for twenty-five years, and have lived in Ohio for about the past fourteen years. I suppose the short answer would be: I’m from the United States.

List 3 interesting facts about yourself. 

I’m a chemist with about seventeen patents worldwide.

I have two sons with autism.

I spent many years as an advocate for my sons and many others with autism, and I write cookbooks for the autism community.

What was the first thing you ever had published?

My mother worked as an editor and when I was in high school I became her ghost writer for puzzles and blurbs in margins of textbooks. I wrote a glossary for a textbook when I was in college. My first actual sale was an eight line poem, about thirty-three years ago. I still have the acceptance letter framed on my wall.

Do you have a writing routine?

When I get up at six A.M., I edit a chapter of fiction that I wrote previous day and post it to the web. Then I take care of household chores and my paid chemistry work before writing another chapter and working on one or two other writing projects. I usually write well into the night, three hundred sixty-five (or this year three hundred sixty-six) days a year.

Do you have any writing rituals? 

I keep notebooks with characters, ideas, and plot lines. I usually write in pencil out of habit because the chemicals I’ve worked with in the laboratory dissolve ink. The notebooks stay by my bed in case I get an idea in the middle of the night and I always have some way of making a note in case I’m out and about.

Where did the idea for your most recent book come from?

It is about an autistic vampire. The autism part comes from my experience and I’ve liked vampires ever since I saw Frank Langella play Dracula. 

Who was the first person you shared your book with?

I shared ideas with my husband. No one actually read the whole thing until I sent it to Marc Estes at Snow Leopard.

Do you have a current work in progress?

 I have more than one. I’m working on a sequel to Dark Awakening. I also have a science fiction short in the works and I put out a chapter online every day.

Do you have any advice for budding authors?

The only way to be an author is to write.

About the Author

Born in New Jersey, Sally Ramsey lived in Manhattan in her teen years and resided in Ohio, Iowa, Minnesota, and Southern California before settling in her present home in Northeast Ohio. As the mother of two grown sons with autism, Sally spent many years as a disabilities activist and advocate. She ran both a support group and a disabilities ministry as well as re-founding her local chapter and serving as president of her state chapter and as national president of the Autism Society of America. Writing has been her special love and a potent refuge, from the moment she was able to hold a pencil. She has published poetry, non-fiction articles, and special needs cookbooks. In her day job as a chemist, Sally is the sole inventor on multiple patents and has received awards for the development of environmentally friendly technologies. She has drawn on all her life experience in both the autism community and the laboratory to create Grayson Miller and his unique story.

Book Blurb

After growing up autistic, Grayson Miller PhD. was a solitary soul, with only his work and his love of anime to fill his time. When he was transformed into a vampire, the easing of his symptoms seemed miraculous. His speech became more fluent, and his senses no longer screamed. Physically weak throughout his life, he was now strong. But Grayson was too scrupulous to kill, and feeding loomed as a huge challenge. He overcame it, building a new business procuring blood for himself and other vampires by recycling expired supplies.  A new and wondrous love grew between Grayson and brilliant scientist Dr. Tina Chow, but an evil more ambitious than any Grayson could ever have imagined, imperiled it. The darkness threatened to take everything Grayson's new life had given him, including Tina.  Together, Grayson and Tina were forced to join a vampire revolution and develop a potent weapon against ancient and powerful forces.

AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER HERE!!