Welcome to the "UnOfficial" Website of Xenia Ruiz

Cyber readers have been intrigued with Xenia Ruíz’s work since her essays were published online in 2000 (see "Links" page).  Born and raised in Chicago, Xenia Ruíz was educated in the public school system, attended Loop (now Harold Washington) and Wilbur Wright City Colleges, and graduated from Northwestern University with a bachelor’s in sociology and a minor in writing.  Her first short story was published in Kaleidoscope: Women at Work in 1991.   Also, in 1991, she started writing “her great American novel,” In the Picture I Have of You, the story of a woman coming to grips with her father’s abandonment and death after the suicide of her brother.  Although she had an agent, the novel was rejected by four publishers; one major publisher offered to publish it—if she changed the format to their specifications.  She refused and put it on hold.  In 1997, her short story “Pops” won the First Prize Golden Pen Award in Northwestern University’s 59th Annual Iota Sigma Epsilon Fiction Contest. 

Sometime in October 2002, Ruíz came across one of her novels-in-progress which she started writing several years before.  From this 10,000-word rough draft, a more spiritual, 120,000-word in-depth novel evolved, which ultimately became Choose Me, the story of a woman and a man who explore the possibility of a relationship without sex.  Although she was originally discouraged by the rejections of her first novel, she truly believes God intervened so that she could complete Choose Me.  It took her nine months to complete Choose Me while it took her years to finish In the Picture I Have of You.  In October 2003, she submitted Choose Me to Warner Books/Walk Worthy Press; one month later, she was offered a two-book deal.  Her second novel (which is ironically her first) will be published by Warner/Walk Worthy Press in 2006.  Ruíz lives with her family in Chicago where she is simultaneously working on her third and fourth novels.

Q.       What do you consider your greatest professional achievement?

 A.       Getting my bachelor’s degree because I did it while working full-time and raising my kids.

Q.       What is the trait you most deplore in others?

A.       When people say they have (insert race here) friends they’ve never invited over for dinner.

Q.       What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

Q.       What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

A.       Honesty.

Q.       What is your idea of perfect happiness?

A.       I don’t know if there is such a thing.

Q.       What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

A.       Atheism.

Q.       What is the quality you like most in a person?

 A.       People who stand by their principles and convictions.

Q.       What is it that you most dislike?

A.       Lack of compassion for fellow man.

Q.       What is your most marked characteristic?

 A.       My independence.

Q.       What historical figure do you most admire?

A.       Jesus.

Q.       What is your most treasured possession?

A.       My life.

Q.       What is your motto?

A.       I have two: 1) Never allow anyone to define or validate you.  2) It’s better to be alone than in bad company (Mejor sola que mal acompanada).