Ruth Ann Dell writes from her home in a sunny South African suburb. She has lived in England, Rhodesia, and South Africa. She and her husband are currently renovating a cottage in the heart of Ireland. They enjoy spending time with their three adult children, two sons-in-law, and two granddaughters. Ruth, a preschool teacher for 11 years, has had children’s stories published in South Africa and is a freelance writer for Scripture Union in the UK. Her desire is to write novels that tell a gripping story and draw readers into a closer relationship with God. She is currently trying to keep up with Ellie Lombard, the sleuth in her cozy mystery, as she solves her first mystery.

My name is Ellie Lombard, and I have a confession to make. I started life as a cardboard character. Ho hum. Shallow. Flat. Even I found myself boring. Not once did I rise off the pages Ruth typed.

Who’s Ruth? Oh, that’s Ruth Dell, my creator. I’m the protagonist in her cozy mystery, Polka Dot Feathers. Ruth lives in South Africa, so her characters and setting started out South African. That was part of the problem. Not only did she want me to come to life, but she needed Americans to identify with me because she was targeting the Christian fiction market in the United States.

“I have to write what I know,” she explained. “That’s what my writing books tell me. Now, Ellie, if you’d just get real and . . .”

I sank through a monotony of pixels on her computer screen to a state of blissful slumber.

“The trouble with you is that you have a stiff upper lip,” Ruth said when I surfaced again.

Well now, what else did she expect? My face was made of cardboard.

“You just don’t care! You never laugh, cry, stamp, or shout. In fact, you never do anything at all. Between your lack of response and your blank face, you’re a dead loss,” she said.

Ruth decided she had to find a way to bring me to life. One of the challenges she faced was the lack of resources for Christian writers in South Africa. No conferences were available where she could go to learn her craft. Outside the virtual world, she had nowhere to meet writers, agents, and editors; however, she did have access to the Internet, and while I napped, she spent many hours searching it for help. She found blogs, international critique groups, and other online loops, which helped her to develop her writing.

As she put her newfound skills to work, I sparked and tingled. A slew of emotions and sensations coursed through my body, animating me and jerking me out of my lethargy. One day I caught sight of myself in a mirror. Yuk! I looked so scruffy in my old PJs I wore day and night. After that I got up and dressed every day. I also discovered I had a talent for making earrings. I experimented with materials like tiny keys, knobs of driftwood, stripy porcupine quills, and white spotted guinea fowl feathers. Oh, I had fun!

Ruth’s next step was to join an online group, the American Christian Fiction Writers. What a difference this made. She made writer friends, had fellowship, and gained a wealth of information

and help, and she was able to take online workshops. She spent hours at her computer, reading and learning more and more about novel writing.

This went on for months until one day I burst out, “Why are you reading all the time? You should be writing! You know I’m going to be flung into jail if I don’t find the murderer soon––that detective thinks I did it.”

There was a hush for several seconds, then she exclaimed, “Ellie, you’ve come to life at last! And you’re right, I have to finish your story. After that we’ll look for a publisher in America.”

“America? Why not here?”

Ruth slumped back in her chair. “I looked in our Bible book shop last week. There were shelves and shelves of novels. Only four titles were written and published here, and they were translated from Afrikaans. All the rest came from the United States. We have to aim for the American market.”

A time of intense research followed. Several people in the know, including an acquisitions editor, told Ruth she could set her book in South Africa, but if she was writing for the American market, she had to make me a “transplanted American.” Would this be possible? Could I become an American? Could Ruth pull this off? After all, she had never set foot in the United States.

For a while we were daunted by this new challenge. Again the Internet proved to be an invaluable source of information. Ruth plunged into the necessary research with the help of cyber and real-life friends.

We discovered that I grew up in Ohio and met Steve, a South African, on the Internet. Steve and I e-mailed each other, became friends, and eventually fell in love. I immigrated to South Africa as his bride. Ruth also met some of my relatives who soon made themselves at home in her novel. Like my Aunt Vicky, who’s coordinating the painting of a string of quilt barns in Ohio.

I chanced to overhear Ruth chatting to Aunt Vicky this morning. “I love your quilt barn photos, Vicky. I’m going to use them in my book; they could even provide a clue to the identity of the murderer. I wonder what Ellie will think of that.”

I feel a grin stretch across my face as I listen to their conversation. Hold on for a surprise when you see what happens in your book, Ruth. I’m not cardboard anymore, remember? I have my own ideas.