Susan and John Ruff, Fantasy Authors

  • Writing Inspiration Destination: Venice, Italy

    (This is part 6 of the series describing places that have influenced my writing.) In June, I wrote a blog post entitled “Five Places to Inspire Writing.” In that post, I briefly mentioned Venice as… Read more

  • Killing Characters in Novels: Red Shirts or Dead Ponies?

    Many years ago, I read a short story in school about a kid and his favorite pony. Bad stuff happens to the pony and the kid goes through herculean efforts trying to save it. In… Read more

  • Writing Inspiration Destination: Granada, Spain

    (Note: as mentioned in an earlier blog post, one of my friends suggested that I write about some travel destinations that had a direct influence on my writing. This is part 5 of the series.)… Read more

  • Time for a Second Edition

    If you are an Indy author who just published your latest book, should you consider a second edition of your original novel to clean up the formatting problems with the first edition? In my case,… Read more

  • Writing Inspiration Destination: Balboa Park

    Sometimes, you don’t need to go any farther than your own hometown for writing inspiration. This becomes much easier, of course, when your hometown happens to be a major tourist destination with beaches, parks, culture,… Read more

  • Writing Inspiration Destination: Santorini, Greece

    (Note: as mentioned in an earlier blog post, one of my friends suggested that I write about some travel destinations that had a direct influence on my writing. This is part 3 of the series.)… Read more

  • Writing Productivity vs Burn Out

    Being an Indy author is tricky. You must learn to market your own novels. You need to find others to help with proofreading and editing, and you need a circle of friends to encourage you… Read more

  • Writing Inspiration Destination: Heidelberg, Germany

    (Note: as mentioned in an earlier blog post, one of my friends suggested that I write about some travel destinations that had a direct influence on my writing. This is part 2 of the series.)… Read more

  • Writing Update for July 2021

    A lot of exciting news from Emerald Cove today. First and foremost: John and my new fantasy novel Prophecy’s Malignant Son is now for sale on Amazon. You can find it at: Amazon.com: Prophecy’s Malignant… Read more

  • When Travel Influences Fantasy Literature

    A friend (who also loves to travel) suggested that it might be fun for me to blog about how I draw inspiration for my fantasy stories from the real-world places that I visit and photograph.… Read more

Welcome to Susan’s Monthly Blog!

On the first Friday of every month, Susan writes a short post about our books, the craft of writing, upcoming projects, travel, writing inspiration, and similar topics that strike her fancy. We hope you enjoy reading them.

Feel free to leave a comment. Susan loves hearing from readers!