Featured Interview With Rusty Blackwood
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Each time I do an interview I always try to answer the questions in a new light, different from the previous interview for I think it adds dimension to the entire article, and allows the reader to better know the author. I was born October 5th, 1949, and raised in rural south-western Ontario, Canada. I moved my family to a lovely cottage in a cherry and peach orchard just outside Beamsville in the Niagara region in 1985. In 1987 we ended up moving to the lovely, artistic St. Catharines, located on the southern shores of Lake Ontario. I'm unprofessionally trained in the field of writing, for when I attended high school in the early sixties, there were only three professions offered to girls, secretary, nurse, and teacher. I would have loved to have been a nurse, but I didn't feel I had the ability for the science and biology that was required. I didn't care for teaching, yet as a mother of two now grown sons I was a 24-7 teacher, but when you are thirteen and being asked to decide your future, how many would know what they would choose, but looking back, I may have done all right in the teaching field. I have never enjoyed numbers, accounts, and spread sheets, yet a 4-year secretarial course was what I ended up with. Needless to say, it didn't last and I left school to marry at seventeen and begin a family. I have always loved the Arts in their many assorted forms, and in my youth, worked professionaly in music as a vocalist, bass guitarist, and rhythm guitarist with my family's country music band, The Midnight Ramblers, and later with the country-rock-blues band, MIRAGE. In my mid-thirties, I opened and ran a Residential Home Care Service that I operated for twenty eight years. In my early fifties, I pursued Interior Decorating & Design, graduating with two diplomas, one of which is an Honors that still makes me smile. Writing was something I always loved, and did, right from grade school on up, but I didn't become a serious writer until 2001 at age fifty one. It was then I decided to see where it might take me, and I have never regretted going down that path.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
It was in grade school around grade six. My teacher, the late Gladys Carroll, a wonderful lady, was very much into literature and she saw potential in my way of expressing myself through words. She encouraged me to continue, and to let my inner emotions lead my hands. Looking back, I owe so very much to her. I hope I have made her proud.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I don't have any one favourite. I enjoy so many, especially reading the works of fellow Niagara authors, Gina IaFrate, and Bryan Minnes, whose work never ceases to touch me. I enjoy a well expressed read, vividly projected through words with creative scenes that sweep you along with the story they are telling through imaginative, colourful, and relatable characters in which you can relate.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is titled, The Perils of Autumn, that was published through Tellwell Talent Publishing in British Columbia, Canada, and released late January 2019. This novel was given a 5-star rating by Readers Favorite Books and also garnerned two 2019 'Finalist In Romance Awards' from International Book Awards, and American Book Fest Best Book Awards. I am presently writing the follow-up to this novel, titled Return to Autumn, that is presently slated for release later this year.
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Rusty Blackwood Twitter Account
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