About Ruth . . . Ruth Kaufman left her corporate America day job negotiating contracts and training other attorneys to use online legal research products to pursue writing and acting full time. Her motto: 'someday is now.' When she's not working on her next novel, she's auditioning, performing or making sarcastic comments about mid-life dating. She has completed eight novels by "flying through the mist," though she admits to fruitless attempts to plot and write a synopsis first. Four of her manuscripts have placed in a total of eighteen contests, including runner up in American Title II, Dorchester Publishing/Romantic Times BOOKreview's national contest. Past-president of Chicago-North Romance Writers of America and member of Chick Lit Writers, Hearts Through History, and the Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal chapters, Ruth writes for publications including RWA's Romance Writer's Report. She presents workshops at writing conferences, such as the 2006 RWA National Conference, and serves on two national RWA committees. Ruth has completed the multi-level improvisation training programs at Second City and iO (formerly ImprovOlympic), where she performed with a comedy team. She has talked very fast on America's Funniest People and appeared in venues from community theatre to the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She has worked as an extra on more than fifty films and TV shows, and can be glimpsed in many, including Flags of our Fathers and a deleted scene in The Break Up. A frequent host of The Chicago Bar Association's cable program You and the Law, Ruth has had roles in numerous educational videos and done various voiceovers. She received her J.D. from Syracuse University College of Law and an M.S. in TV/Radio from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, and B.A.s in Communications and Economics from the University of Michigan.