Please Welcome My Guest...

Please welcome my guest, multi-published author Linda Swift. Linda divides her time between her native state of Kentucky and Florida. She is an award winning author of published poetry, articles, short stories, and a TV play. Her first two books were published by Kensington. She writes historical and contemporary romance, women's fiction, short stories and poetry (available in e-books and print from Amazon and other distributors) Linda's publishers include Publishing by Rebecca J. Vickery, Champagne Books, Whiskey Creek Press, Whimsical Publications, and Willow Moon Publishing. 

Tell us something about yourself both writing and not writing related.

I enjoy every aspect of writing except promo but my favorite part of the process is editing and polishing the finished manuscript. I also enjoy working with an editor and making suggested changes that fit seamlessly into the story. 

I enjoy cutting out designs in block printing, scraping green ware in ceramics, rearranging furniture, sorting closets.  

My favorite part of the process is editing too. Do you have a writing routine?  Where do you usually do your writing?

Yes, my writing routine is to write every spare moment I can every day. I have often thought I'd keep track of the number of hours spent writing for about a week and get an average, but I'm afraid to. I think I'd rather not know exactly how many hours I'm working. I live in KY and FL and my study both places serves as guest bedroom also. I have always used the guest bed as an "open" file cabinet. That makes information very accessible!

I love the idea of using your guest bed as an "open" file cabinet. I want to buy a dining room type table and use it the same way. First I have to have the room for it though. Why do you write in the genre/sub-genre that you do?  Any plans in the future to write in a different one?

I write in a variety of genres now-historical and contemporary romance and women's fiction; speculative fiction short stories, and poetry. At the moment my focus is on historicals set in late 16th to mid-17th century England but I do hope to write a Regency some day and I'm thinking about a series of historical novellas.

I'm impressed by the wide variety of genre you've written in. How do you stay motivated when writer’s block hits or your muse won’t cooperate?

If I have a block of designated time to write I don't get writer's block. It's only when I have interruptions and other activities occupying my mind that I can't get anything creative going. But in that case, I do some necessary writing-related activity such checking email, posting on FB, doing other promo.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever done in the name of research?

I was writing a short story and needed to know how to make a Molotov cocktail and how big it would have to be to kill four people. This was the days before I used Google so I had to check with law enforcement with the question. Today, I'd probably get arrested for asking the questions I asked! And even then, my name may have been placed on a list of suspects to be watched.

 I wonder what those law enforcement officers thought of those types of questions. What’s the best writing advice you were ever given? 

I was told by a creative writing teacher when I was writing my first short story that the narrator's voice should always be at the level of the characters in the story. I had been using my college educated voice to tell the story of a very uneducated man who was the only character in the story. I changed the voice, and the story won the Fiction Skills Scholarship Award at Indiana U. Writers' Con that year when I submitted it. So I've never forgotten this advice.

That's great advice. I've read books where child characters spoke like adults. What do you like to do in your leisure time?

My husband and I do ballroom dancing which I love. I also enjoy spending time in the condo pool and walking about two miles daily. But my best leisure time for myself alone is to read a good book.

I agree with you. My favorite way to spend my leisure time is with a good book. Tell us about your current release in a couple of sentences.   

Paula's husband left her to "find himself" and she goes back to college to  get certified to teach. She meets a retired Air Force officer there for the same reason and "finds" herself falling in love again.

Can you tell us a little about your next project?

I am putting a book back together that was "splintered" to make it a true romance. Now it will be a women's fiction book again with all its subplots that makes it a fuller, richer story.

Anything else you’d like to share?

I'd love to have readers join me on my FB page or my FB author page or both.  I'd welcome their comments on my books or any topic we might discuss.

Thank you for having me as your guest, Katherine. I've loved answering your questions today. You have a lovely blog and I'll be visiting again to learn more about you and your other guests.

That Special Summer
Published by Rebecca J. Vickery
 When Paula's husband divorces her to find himself, she is devastated. Adding to her hurt and anger, he joins a band and dates a sexy young singer. Forced to start over in the job market, Paula returns to college for a degree in Special Education.

As Paula struggles to cope, her shattered ego receives a boost when two men seek her company – Derek, a retired naval officer in college to qualify for a second career, and Greg, a wealthy businessman and philanthropist. Toss in a Professor with a huge misconception, a campus stalker, and her daughter's upcoming wedding, and Paula's new world becomes more complicated.
But once she unexpectedly finds herself, and falls in love again, starting over proves to be better than she could have ever imagined. 
www.publishingbyrebeccajvickery.com

E-book Available now for $2.99 at the following links:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=That+Special+Summer

http://www.amazon.com/That-Special-Summer-ebook/dp/B00CDSS7EI/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1366158143&sr=1-1&keywords=That+Special+Summer  

The paperback copy can be purchased at https://www.createspace.com/4244657
or at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=That+Special+Summer+by+linda+swift  

For more information about Linda and her books, check: http://lindaswift.net or

http://www.amazon.com/Linda-Swift/e/B004PGXCTQ/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Linda is giving away a digital copy of  That Special Summer to one random person who leaves a comment. If there are more than 10 comments, she will give away two copies so be sure to leave a comment for a chance to win.