About Ruby

I write romantic suspense with a twist of medicine and mystery. My experiences as a certified registered nurse anesthetist practitioner are reflected in my characters and  stories. I earned a BA degree from Stephens College in Columbia Missouri, a  MS degree from the University of S.C in Columbia and graduated in Nursing and Nurse Anesthesia from the Medical University of S.C. in Charleston. Texas has been my home for over 20 years. When not writing, I love traveling to other countries. Now after years of being on 24 hour call, my present life allows me to switch from putting people to sleep with anesthesia to waking them up with words.. I am a member of Romance Writers of America, North Texas Romance Writers, and  Yellow Rose RWA.

30 Things About Me

1. I live in Keller Texas, but I grew up in South Carolina.

2. In high school, I wanted to be a journalist.

3. Then I went to college getting  a BA, BS and MS Degrees in Nursing, Nurse Anesthesiology, and Health Education Administration.

4. I got married, then spent the next 20 years traveling to every state in the US and 11 foreign countries.

5.  I love, love, to read, but lately I’ve become irritated with e-books with no plots, grammatical errors and poor sentence structure.

6.  John Hart is my favorite author.

7.  I need to work on my patience level and this is shown in my cooking. If there are too many steps, I’ll avoid cooking the dish.

8. If I could change careers now, I’d be a tour guide. I like to travel.

9.  I once had dinner in the same restaurant as Cary Grant.  I was a young teen when I saw Elvis in person. I went to a Tom Jones concert and almost hit someone who stood in front of me and blocked my view.

10. Easter is my favorite holiday, and spring is my favorite time of the year.

11.  I have always been very self-conscious about my height. I am short and can never reach anything without a stool. My husband was 6’3” and said I married him because he could get things for me from the top shelves of cabinets.

12.  When I was a teenager, I thought I might write a novel one day. I did write short stories and medical articles.

13.  I played basketball in high school and I was  good at free throws.

14.  I can’t sing but I made the glee club in high school.

15.  I don’t like cats very much but I always seemed to have one.

16.  I am a major Duke fan but I don’t like professional basketball.

17.  My best friend in high school was a talented pianist. I always envied her ability.

20.  I want my grandson to grow up to be as loving and supportive a man as my husband was.

21.  I worked on Ronald Reagan’s first campaign and got invited to his inauguration.

22.  I enjoyed lobbying for nurse anesthesia and visited Capitol Hill to speak with Senators and Congressmen from two states over the years.

23.  I totally love watching English mysteries and historical dramas, especially Midsummer Murders and Downton Abbey

24.  As an anesthetist, I anesthetized CIA employees, embassy employees,  the President of Peru, and thousands of other wonderful patients.

25. I have a totally type A personality – I’m very much a perfectionist. There’s no room for error in anesthesia. An error can kill a patient and/or be a career Ender.

26. I am NOT a morning person which is crazy considering I’ve spent years getting up at 4:30 AM  for early surgeries!

27.  Ok, this one’s funny – I can’t roll my tongue!  This made speaking Spanish a bit difficult.

29.  I wasn’t the district spelling bee champion in elementary school. I missed first place when I spelled onion as union.

30.  I’ve been on a roller coaster once. Don’t plan on getting on one again. They scare me to death, plus, it took me a week to straighten out my neck.

31. I entered the Winter Rose Writing Contest and was first place before it went to an editor. Then I went from first to third.