Ramona Heikel

 

Tell us a little bit about you:

I grew up in Denver, Colorado, and after the agonizing experience of obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering Mathematics and the joy of living in San Diego for two years, I moved to Calgary, Alberta, where I have lived now for over 28 years.  My two sons and daughter-in-law live here, and I have a 17-year-old cat who loves to walk on a leash.  I currently work for an engineering company as an engineering assistant, tutor children in school subjects, and tutor adults in English as a Second Language.  My hobbies and interests revolve around books, church, photography, hiking, thrift stores, attempts at drawing and playing the piano, volunteering, and making healthy chocolate things with no sugar.

 

What do you like most about your craft?

It enables me to let my imagination run wild, creating interesting and humorous characters, predicaments and happy endings.

 

What inspires/influences you?

Books that change me for the better, brighten my life and make me laugh inspire me to build stories that do the same.  Learning inspires me to teach, and to educate using my stories.  Knowing how much people are hurting and struggling inspires me to write messages of hope and healing.

 

What are you working on at the moment?

I am preparing my self-published print book Adventure Math Stories for electronic publication, looking for homes for my children’s stories and activities, writing book reviews for new and old books, posting on my (and others’) blogs and writing new pieces from writing prompts (which is how “I Guess I Robbed a Bank” got started!).

 

We at Good Guy Publishing are mad on books, what are you reading at the moment?

I am currently reading Nature Nuggets (a gem from a used book sale, published in 1955, about spiritual lessons in nature), A Flickering Light (a historical novel by Jane Kirkpatrick), an old book of folk tales, Poems for a Good and Happy Life, Then Sings My Soul (stories behind the hymns), a number of books about writing and publishing (including Writer’s First Aid and The Write Brain Workbook), and various children’s books.

 

Which three books would you list as your favourite all-time reads?

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis; Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman, by Richard Feynman; and Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen.

 

What are your hopes for the future?

My writing goals are to publish more of my children’s stories and activities; revise and publish my contemporary fiction novel; write practical, helpful, educational and encouraging blog posts, consistently and with more focus; and try to find a way to turn a lifetime of journals into something useful.

 

Do you have any advice for anyone wishing to follow in your foot-steps?

Yes, here is what I would say:  Who you are and what you think is important.  You have a unique gift for the world and there are many people whose lives will be better for reading your words.  Discouragement and rejection are some of the job hazards of a being a writer, so try not to listen to the voices inside you that tell you “it’s no good”.  Connect with other writers, and keep writing and revising and sending out your work.

 

Where can you be found online?

Happilywriting.com