Richelle Renae
In 2015, Richelle Renae, age 46, finally made up her mind. She sat in front of her computer, put actions behind her dreams and not long after, emerged as an author of her first novel, yet to be released, Argent Glass. One year later, in four short months, she wrote, edited, formatted, created book covers and published four short stories. That’s quite impressive for the soccer mom who’s now working on her second and third novels and another whole set of short stories.
Renae’s published works are in a Read Write Ponder short story collection. The assemblage of books are not the normal fiction stories; they have a unique purpose. She explains, “Each book includes a short story, discussion questions, and plot devices for creative writing tasks. My goal is to turn 9 or 10 of these books into a workbook and develop a creative writing course for my local Community Ed.”
The entire collection focuses on key elements of writing that are embedded between the lines of enjoyable heartfelt stories. The books are available on Amazon for only .99¢ and can be purchased with one click on any image below. Renae offers her most recent books for free on Smashwords and they can also be found on all the other popular platforms including iTunes, Nook, Kobo, and more.
Interviewer: Give us insight into the main character of your latest book. What does he/she do that is so special?
Renae: My latest published story is a tragic short story called, Sheltered Hope. The main character is a young boy who takes a stand against his father to rescue an abandoned puppy that he names Hope. Hope wriggles her way into the family and shows us that even the hardest heart can't resist the love of a pet.
Currently, Renae is working on a YA novel called, Shakespeare in the Woods that has a gritty murder mystery plot. “The main character is a tomboy named Rae, who climbs trees and is experiencing those feelings of love for a boy for the first time. She's fallen hard for the star quarterback after hearing him read poetry to his deceased twin under her favorite tree in the woods.”
Barely slowing down since her first four released, Richelle has written another novel that is waiting for its next destination. Like her first novel, it is a Young Adult Sci-Fi story, and she says that it is “horrible”. She shares her comedic side when she describes the story. “It's drivel and has no chance of being published. I started down an exciting path of a musically talented teen discovering a young boy locked in the basement of a warehouse, and then the characters took over and ran rampant, as children often do. I'm putting that one on the shelf to teach them a lesson. I hope they sit there and think about how their behavior has impacted when they get published.”
Producing a book is not as simple as sitting in front of a computer and typing thoughts from the mind of the creator. Many story lines require a ton of research that goes along with creating a believable story. Renae takes researching very seriously. “I'm pretty sure my first novel, Argent Glass, is the one that put me on the FBI's list. I researched military grade guns, how to create explosions large enough to blow up a building the size of a football field, bullet wounds, and government conspiracies. It really doesn't look good, does it?” Although she jokingly enlightens, the research is real and makes you wonder if the investigation that goes into an author's work really does put them on the CIA or FBI watch list.
What changed in Renae’s life that caused her to finally publish the stories she’d sheltered?
“I have story ideas written on slips of paper, napkins, journals, and whatever I could find to write on…. Someday finally came when I edited a friend's novel and then watched her take it all the way to publication. Alexandria Sure invited me to join her and sign up for NaNoWriMo in November 2015 and that got me 50,000 words closer to the completion of my first novel.”
Renae spent the last 20 years as the creative brain behind her companies' intranets and document production software. That’s how she pays the bills. However, she’s constructed a two-lane highway to get to her destination and her writing is in a lane of its own. With a full-time job, Richelle can only dedicate part-time hours to write. She said her favorite time to fully commit to creativity is on Saturday mornings when her family is usually still in bed. “I can get more done in three hours on a Saturday morning than I can at any other time of the week, so I try to take advantage of that.”
With four sons, whose ages range from 10 to 22, the owner of two big dogs, the role of wife to her husband, and an IT career dominating most of her time, Renae has learned to improvise. To continue growing her writing vocation, she uses the leftover hours of her busy day to build her social media presence and take writing courses.
This busy writer says there is “No such thing...” as relaxing. Her life makes it difficult to find the time to take a break. Today, Renae is driven by what inspires her, that voice inside that whispers “…a din so loud” that she could not ignore it if she wanted to.
Richelle is so busy, one would wonder where she pulls her artistic inspiration from. She says she typically extracts her story ideas from dreams. “I almost always wake up before my alarm goes off and this gives my brain time to percolate and play out whatever dream is slipping away back to the ether.” She doesn’t hesitate to write down the gifts that her dreams leave behind, and allows the ideas to marinate “…while in the shower and driving to work.”
As if any obstacle could break the walls of her creative world, the writer who wakes up with story ideas finds it difficult to implant strong emotions inside her characters. “I have a lot of empathy, but all those other mushy emotions, like ew, love, are a struggle, and it shows in my writing.” Renae loves stories that show “…real people doing unexpected things” and those that end with a creative twist.
Renae has let nothing stop her pursuit of the ultimate goal to one day produce a best-selling novel. Not even a recent broken finger that made it difficult for her to type. Writing is a serious business for her, and she approaches her dream through a business lens:
"Writing for me is more of a business than a hobby. I won't spend money until I've convinced myself my work will make money, so I haven't spent anything on setting up a business name, purchasing a domain name, etc. I've only spent money on copyright fees and business cards, and the business cards were only purchased for the ease of sharing info when people seem interested. I paid $8 for 250 of them and still have most of a full box."
Interviewer: What tips would you give to others to help them overcome writer's block?
Renae: Keep all ideas, even just snatches of conversations or descriptions, written down somewhere. I have a notebook that had the phrase "cotton candy sky" written down from a night when I was staring into the setting sun while waiting for one of my boys to finish practice. I ended up using that phrase in one of my short stories after browsing my "thoughts."
To aspiring authors, Renae says, “Don't give up and don't try to cheat. It's a competitive market and you might have a great story, but if you skip the hard work of editing, or worse yet, decide to not publish because you don't want to go through the pain of editing, you can't find true success.”
There’s so much more to learn about Author Richelle Renae and the links below will invite you into her world of creativity.
