📚 IN DEPTH ✏
AUTHOR OF
ROMANCE, PARANORMAL, POETRY, LITERARY FICTION, HUMOR, CRIME, COMING OF AGE, YOUNG ADULT, INSPIRATIONAL, PHILOSOPHICAL, TRAVEL, HORROR, FAMILY SITUATIONS, BIOGRAPHICAL, AND MORE
RON SHAW
Ron, anyone can read plenty of bios on you at various sites, including Amazon. How about giving us a different one?
I adhere heart and soul to one concept…KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). So, I will.
I write books, danged good ones, too.
Currently, my family, consisting of the boss, Percy our cat, my wife of forty-three wonderful years, Donna and daughter, Amber keep the lights barely on in Snellville, Georgia which is a bedroom suburb of Atlanta.
In October 2013, a miracle was given to me by a higher power. After a near death experience or incredible dream, appeared my initial book, SEVEN FISH TREE. I haven’t stopped publishing novels, novellas, novelettes, short stories, and poetry since that fateful night. Before this life-changing event, I had no plans to publish anything.
I’m still learning and hopefully, my writing has evolved. I can see that it has. I now have some eighteen to twenty published pieces.
I’m a native Atlantan who grew up on the other side of the tracks…oh, I have no allergies to cliches, adverbs, or the occasional useage of the words “very” and “that” which are mainstays of our southern vernacular. I have a BA in English Literature from Georgia State University, and I was an Atlanta police officer for twenty-three years. I retired with the rank of Captain.
I’m about as boring as anyone could be despite being an Internet radio host over at ArtistFirst.com.
Why do you write?
I’m compelled to. God ushered the muses into my life and they’re loud insomniacs. I must give credit where it’s due. They, my muses, are as pushy and driven as any breathing human I’ve known. Once they’ve filled my pen or pushed me to peck away in MS Word, I’ve found great joy in receiving the beautiful responses from my readers about my work in words. Their kind support is the fuel, firing the motor while something or someone else navigates.
Is there another author or authors who you write like?
A number of my author friends have balked, some in disgust, at this question. They’d prefer to be viewed as a unique individual with their own writing style. I’d suggest this is a tad disingenuous. I would like to believe, as writers and readers, we all are influenced to a degree by the great writers of the past and present.
It thrills me to be compared to Charles Dickens, Hunter S. Thompson, Dan Brown, and Lewis Grizzard, to name just a few authors to whom my writing styles have been compared. I’m honored by this. My poetry has also been compared to a number of great poets like Edgar Allan Poe and Robert Frost, among others.
I’ll thankfully take such comparisons, smiling.
What genre or genres do you write?
I’m all over the map. Once the muse is all in, I write what genre(s) strikes my fancy. Testing my writing limits is fun, and after doing so I’ve come to understand and embrace there are no limits. I’m kind of like L. Ron Hubbard, who is the most prolific genre author of all time. I’ve written romance, paranormal, poetry, literary fiction, humor, crime, coming of age, young adult, inspirational, philosophical, travel, horror, family situations, biographical, and more.
I seriously like the diversity.
If you could start your writing career over, would you do anything differently?
Yes!
I’d spring from the starting blocks in full Indie sprint, being a firm believer or convert to the whole DIY spirit of authorship.
Initially, for an extended period of time, I’d write nothing but shorter pieces, short stories, novelettes, novellas, and poems. Gradually, the word count would rise into novels. I doubt if I’d pen anything over 100K words, though. For some inexplicable reason, after about 85K to 90K, I hit a brick wall, my muses take the first train to Memphis, and I’m left waiting for someone to hit Control Alt Delete or Escape.
Do you have a set writing process or pattern?
No way! That would bore me to tears. My writing is spontaneous. When it is flowing, stand back and the words will arrive in truckloads. I don’t have to write a fixed number or certain amount of words a day. This would kill me first and leave my muses homeless. I can’t have that on my conscience.
Of all your books, do you have a favorite?
Yes and it’s always the one I’m dancing with at the moment. My first born will always be special but she isn’t fully mine. She was given to me. So, I’m like her adopted father from her birth.
Of late, I’m partial to my poetry. My poems have the ability to bring me to tears and laughter while writing them, but more importantly, every time I read them or hear them on audio book, the same visceral reactions occur within me. I love my poetry…and every other thing I’ve written.
Do you have any advice for those who wish to become authors?
Certainly.
Believe in yourself.
You CAN do it.
Practice your craft.
Never give up on your gift or your dreams.
Absorb every bit of information you can about the process of writing and publishing.
When you do author a book, know that if you are able to sell yourself, the book sales will follow.
Be caring, giving, and embrace the wonderful people who populate the marvelous community of which you are now a member.
Help others.
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AWARD WINNING RON SHAW RADIO SHOW
MORE BOOKS BY RON:
Cramped Quarters Series;
Mary’s Trunk (Book 1)
Mary’s Journey Begins (Book 2)
Mary’s Journey Continues (Book 3)
Paul’s Story (Book 4)
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Ron has to be one of the most generous individuals in the author community!!
Thanks so much for the fabulous interview Ron!! tf