The Write Stuff
RN pursues her passions, juggling dual careers as a school nurse and romance novelist

By Pamela Stone
April 24, 2003

Francis Ray, RN, school nurse practitioner, leads two lives.

By day, she is a school nurse to 550 elementary school children in the Dallas Independent School District. By night, she escapes into the world of fantasy, romance and fiction.

A best-selling author and pioneer of romance novels for the African-American market, Ray, 55, often taps into her nursing skills to create characters for her last 13 books.

Her first book, Forever Yours (1992), made Essence magazine's best-seller list and sold 90,000 copies. Her latest novel, Somebody's Knocking at My Door, was released by St. Martin's Press in March. Ray also signed a two-contract deal for two more novels with St. Martin's Press for a six-figure sum.

Not bad for a school nurse.

But if you talk to Ray, she's soft-spoken and dedicated to her nursing career. "I like my job. It's challenging," she said. As a nurse for three schools, she's the sole medical presence on campus.

In a health care setting, Ray is detail-oriented, disciplined and thorough. A typical day may consist of seeing up to 30 patients. During this time, she takes few breaks and eats lunch at her desk. For instance, if a child has appendicitis, she must make a correct evaluation and call the parents. Her nonstop days are filled with treating and diagnosing illnesses, giving eye tests, bandaging knees or just "being a good listener."

How did Ray get into nursing? "I blame it on my mother," she said, laughing.

At age 8, Ray and her brother were playing with firecrackers, when she accidentally lit herself on fire, burning 80 percent of her body. After her mother observed the kindness of hospital nurses who treated her daughter, she entered the nursing profession.

When Ray was in college, her mother encouraged her to pursue a career in health care. After 20 years of nursing, Ray believes her writing extends her need to be a caregiver.

"In my nursing job, no day is the same," Ray said. "Sometimes in nursing, we feel helpless when we can't fix something-facing situations we can't change. But in my writing, I have the opportunity to solve problems," which keeps her readers happy.

But how does she handle her dual career? After a day of treating children's aches, sprains and bruises, she returns home. There, she shuts the door to her study and sits down in front of her computer, where she feels calm and assured. From 7 to 11 each evening, she takes no calls and limits communication with her family, as she "floats" into a make-believe world. Sometimes, "the characters speak to me," Ray said.

But she never leaves her nursing skills far behind.

In her book The Turning Point, published by St. Martin's Press in 2001, her main character has an optic hemorrhage. After being battered in a carjacking, he becomes blind. "Understanding that ailment helped me create a more realistic character," she said.

Ray describes her writing as a journey. "My goal is to take the audience with me. In my books, I allow the characters time to work out their problems. Like real life, it's the problems that bring the characters together."

Judging from her book sales, Ray's approach seems to be working.

"She has an incredible fan base," said Monique Patterson, her editor. "Francis really knows how to create characters that seem like real people."

Besides her writing, Ray was one of the first African-American writers of her kind on the publishing scene. She was among a couple of authors who broke the romance-book color barrier. Before the '90s, romance books did not cater to African-American audiences, or they made African Americans secondary characters.

Emma Rodgers, co-owner of Black Images Book Bazaar in Dallas, says the romance market accounts for 30 percent of her sales. Readers-ranging from teachers, clerical workers and lawyers to CEOs, judges and political consultants-have one thing in common: "They want to escape."

Rodgers is in contact with more than 100 book clubs that request reading list recommendations. "When Oprah's book club was introduced, there was a new interest in local reading groups," she said.

Because of this, Ray's popularity has grown. With a 95 percent sales record, she's become the darling of local book clubs, as well as independent and national chain bookstores, where she is invited to do readings and book signings.

While writing about middle- to upper-middle class African Americans-such as doctors, lawyers, art collectors or teachers-she reveals African Americans in a more favorable light than the way they often are portrayed in the media.

But that's just one reason why she's popular.

"She's accessible," said Rodgers, who has 31,000 book titles in her store. "She responds to her fan mail, she appears at book clubs, she travels to national conferences and she's approachable and down-to-earth. Readers are able to reach out and touch her."

Ray smiles and admits that it's all part of a nurse's training.

Contact Pamela Stone at Pamstone3@aol.com