Today we’d like to introduce you to Hilary Ritz.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I was inspired to write by my father, who is a writer, poet, singer, songwriter, and musician. Because of his example, I felt writers were the smartest and coolest people in the world! And I loved books. My family was somewhat isolated, and I spent hours every day reading. Books were entertainment, a source of wisdom, an avenue of freedom, and a place I could find friends of a sort.
There was rarely a time in my life that I didn’t think about being a writer. For many years, however, I didn’t take the time to focus on it. I thought about writing much more than I wrote. But writing kept calling me. In my early twenties, I tried to make it go away by deciding that I would NOT be a writer. I couldn’t think of a realistic way to be sure of making a living at it, so I wanted to abandon the idea. But it wouldn’t let me go.
Eventually, I gave up on giving up. I accepted the fact that I was a writer, albeit an infrequent writer, and perhaps not a particularly good one. And that acceptance changed something for me. After that, I finished my first novel, then another. And my craft began to improve.
My first book – a classic dystopian story in the tradition of Brave New World, 1984, etc. – was published by new indie publisher Grey Gecko Press, which was an exciting start for me. They also published my next two, which were near-future sci-fi books. Now, I’m pitching my first fantasy manuscript to agents under a different pen name, and I’ve self-published a series of murder mystery novelettes under yet another pen name. I’m also writing a free web serial – a sci-fi retelling of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, set in a failing space colony. It’s called Star’s Tempest.
I’m an active member of two critique groups, attend writers’ groups and workshops, host a monthly writers’ salon at my apartment, and meet my writer friends for write-ins at coffee shops every week. I enjoy speaking on literary panels at Comicpalooza and other conventions. I love the writing life I’ve put together, and I’m lucky to be able to pursue it.
Please tell us about your art.
Every project is different for me. That’s part of the beauty of being a writer – the possibilities are limitless. My cozy murder mysteries are light and silly and are written to offer escape – which I feel is a critical human need, not to be scoffed at. That said, each novelette has an explicitly stated “moral of the story,” which I enjoy offering up.
My near-future sci-fi stories are much more serious. They’re about heroism, about finding hope in hopeless worlds, so they’re all dark. But each book has a different purpose. The Lightbringers is a cautionary tale about the dark side of positive thinking; Absence of Mind is about the emotional and social distance that technology can cause; The Robin Hood Thief is an exploration of meaning in the face of death.
Star’s Tempest I don’t know well enough yet to be able to concisely state what it’s about – I’m only about 15,000 words into it – but it’s packed with serious themes, including mental illness and physical abuse. It’s probably the darkest of my projects so far. I’m writing it simultaneously with my light and silly cozies, and it’s an interesting experience to switch back and forth between them!
Choosing a creative or artistic path comes with many financial challenges. Any advice for those struggling to focus on their artwork due to financial concerns?
I know how hard it is , I was working full time and writing at the same time for a while, and it was tough. Writers have to wake up early to write before going to work, or else they write on their commutes or during their lunch breaks or immediately after work or after the kids are in bed. My suggestion is to choose the time you’re going to write each day, then also come up with two back-up plans. So, Plan A might be to wake up early and write. If you don’t do that, Plan B is to write on your lunch break. If that also doesn’t happen, Plan C is to write as soon as you get home, for just fifteen minutes – because those fifteen minutes are SO MUCH better than nothing.
By the way, I don’t think it’s mandatory to write every day. The standard advice is to write daily because then, in reality, you’ll probably write at least a few times a week. And that’s enough to sustain a writing career. So, don’t feel bad if you don’t check that box every day. I certainly don’t.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
My Amazon author page is here: https://www.amazon.com/H.-C.-H.-Ritz/e/B00ASRB2LQ/
My free web serial, Star’s Tempest, is at http://www.manyworldsfiction.com
My main website is http://www.hchritz.com.
I have a Patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/hchritz ; my patrons get acknowledgments in everything I publish and early access to everything I write.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.hchritz.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HCHRitz/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/hchritz/
Image Credit:
Josh Mitchell, photographer
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