BLOGWORDS – Thursday 26 June 2025 – CHAT THURSDAY

BLOGWORDS – Thursday 26 June 2025 – CHAT THURSDAY – RUTH DOUTHITT

June 26, 2025

BLOGWORDS – Thursday 26 June 2025 – CHAT THURSDAY – RUTH DOUTHITT

CHAT THURSDAY – RUTH DOUTHITT

Please give a warm feathered welcome to author and friend, Ruth Douthitt.

rem: Hullo Ruth, and welcome. Tell us three random things about yourself.

RUTH: I’m a native Arizonan, I’m allergic to cherries, and I’m a huge Star Wars fan (the original trilogy)

rem: I love the original Star Wars trilogy. What is your favorite quotation and why?

RUTH: The world does not need more Christian literature. What it needs is more Christians writing good literature. C. S. Lewis

I love this quote because it is so true! We Christian authors need to put Christian principles in all our stories, no matter the genre.

rem: Absolutely, yes and amen! When reading, what makes or breaks a story for you? Your fiction pet peeve?

RUTH: Pet Peeve: A slow story. I have a short attention span, so I need the inciting incident right away and it needs to be interesting. What makes or breaks a story for me: Lack of believability. I can’t stand reading a romance or suspense that is too incredible or difficult to believe.

rem: Fiction is not the same as fake! LOL What are you reading right now?

RUTH: Unfortunately, I am not reading anything right now. I am busy writing a book. But I was listening to Patricia Bradley’s Lethal Standoff on my walks. A very good suspense book!

rem: You mentioned attention span; I don’t have the attention span to listen to audio books. Tell us a little about your writing journey.

RUTH: I started off by writing a fantasy story for middle grade readers. That turned into a trilogy! I love writing dragon stories and I did so for ten years. Then I switched to writing contemporary women’s fiction and now I write suspense because I love reading suspense!

rem: I love that mash-up of genre you’ve got. What genre(s) do you write and why?

RUTH: I am writing suspense with light romance right now. I really enjoy it! But I’ll always have a dragon story to write, too.

rem: Well, of course, ya gotta have a dragon. Tell us a little about your latest book? What is your current project?

RUTH: FATAL STANDOFF is book two in my Desert Shadows Suspense series. The story follows Emma and Liam, a P.I. duo investigating a missing college student case in Arizona. But when Emma receives strange text messages about her dead parents, she is compelled to investigate. This leads to California where her mother had worked at a big pharma company called Novatera. That’s where she learns her parents may have been killed because her mother was a whistleblower. Now Emma is in danger for investigating.

rem: Oh, wow, you got me hooked. What is YOUR favorite part about the book or why do you love this book? Why should we read it?

RUTH: My favorite part was creating the super villain, Novatera, and the inner workings of this billion-dollar company. I think readers will enjoy the fast-paced story and what Emma and Liam go through to stop this behemoth of a company that might be harming people instead of helping them. There’s a lot of money in keeping people sick.

rem: What is one take-away from your book(s) that you hope readers identify with?

RUTH: I want readers to identify with Emma and Liam’s struggles. Emma’s resilience is inspiring to women. And Liam’s raw battle with PTSD from the murder of his little brother will show readers his resilience, too. I think readers will come away with a better understanding of what it means to trust in God and fight for the truth no matter what.

rem: As you mentioned earlier, “…Christians writing good literature.” One more and then we’ll close. Do you have a life Scripture?

RUTH: Colossians 3:23-24

Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.

For me, these verses have helped me cope when I get down after rejections from agents or from readers. I need to remember that writing is a calling and I do it for the Lord.

rem: And doing for Him is a reward in itself. Anything you’d like to add?

RUTH: Thank you for having me! It’s been fun. I can be reached on Facebook, Instagram, and my website: www.artbyruth.com where folks can sign up for my newsletter. And check out my podcast where I talk about writing and interview best-selling authors: A Writer’s Day Podcast

rem: Ruth, thank you so much for chatting with us on my blog today!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Former writing teacher Ruth A. Douthitt is an award-winning multi-published author and winner of the 2022 Christian Indie Award-First Place in YA, and the 2017 Moonbeam Children’s Books Award-Bronze Medal for Best Book Series. Ruth also hosts A Writer’s Day podcast where she interviewsbest-sellingauthors. She lives in Arizona with her husband and their little dog. When she isn't writing, Ruth loves to run, draw, paint, and garden.

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Ruth-Douthitt/author/B0BJTJFR9R?

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063202599768

https://www.instagram.com/author_ra_douthitt/

A Writer’s Day Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-writers-day/id1472104073