Ryan Phillips, an author of 3 books, discusses her writing, the drive, and God’s purpose. With a 4th book on the way, a 5th in the works — Phillips is accomplished for her tender age of 24-years-old.
Phillips is a native of Chicago, IL with a passion for Christ and writing. She was an avid reader and lover of literature, although writing wasn’t her first passion in life. The most uncommon disease — juvenile diabetes — led her to the career of a lifetime. It literally became the stepping-stone for her writing. Being bedridden for months left her with little to do — but diddle on her mother’s laptop. After indecisively majoring between Journalism to Secondary Education — Phillips had finally found her call. Writing.
Her first novel, entitled “Saving Grace” was published while Phillips was a junior in college studying for a B.A. in English. The book focuses on the life of Grace Cambridge, a young black woman growing up in Detroit. Sheltered and naïve, she takes off into a life of her own. She spirals into one-night stands, stress, pain, let-downs, physical abuse, torn relationships, and family loss. Grace goes through it all and finds that when there is no one else — there is always God.
Phillips says that young adults are her target audience, as young people do face a lot, and more so than not, their facing it alone. “[Growing up] I bounced from one Pseudo-Christian school to another, my mother was at work, my father in a bottle — the only person I had to turn to was God.” Phillips believes in every character lies a piece of her life, and Grace is a reflection of circumstance versus God’s plan.
Artnetta Patterson, 21-years-old is a Elementary Education major at Southeastern University who loves Ryan Phillips novel. Patterson says that, “If she can get me to read an entire novel — and it’s a Christian novel at that — then it must be good.” After reading Saving Grace and Fall from Grace within months, Patterson contacted the writer. And she responded. “She’s mad cool, straight up and saved. I want my nieces to read it because it’s not just silly writing, it has meaning.”
Crystal Davis is a 24-year-old Physician assistant from Lansing, IL. Davis is a native to South Chicago and says that reading a Ryan Phillip novel is like listening to a friend. Chicago and Detroit are the backdrops for most of Phillips’ novels and Davis says the lingo is familiar and the character is engaging. “I felt like I chilled with Grace’s character before and Ryan doesn’t hold back. She doesn’t sugarcoat anything, I love it!”
An outgoing, strong woman of God never came in such a humble package. Ryan Phillips is an inspiration to young writers, black women, and all young people to accomplish their goals. Advice for young writers? One of Phillips motto’s to young writers is, “If God has a message that He wants to convey through your writing, He will — in His perfect time.” Phillips remains blessed, encouraged, and down to earth.
On her newfound fame and popularity: “I remember scouring our [school] newspaper at coffee shops between class. It’s kind of fun to think that the tables have flipped and students will be reading about me!”
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 at 11:32 pm and is filed under African-American writing, Christian writers.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Leave a Reply
February 14th, 2008 at 12:42 am
[…] Lit&Popfiction wrote an interesting post today on Reading RyanHere’s a quick excerptAfter indecisively majoring between Journalism to Secondary Education — Phillips had finally found her call. Writing….Artnetta Patterson, 21-years-old is a Elementary Education major at Southeastern University who loves Ryan Phillips novel…. […]