#WriterWednesday Interview with Linda Lovely

I’d like to welcome the fabulous Linday Lovely to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

Things you never want to run out of: Coffee to wake me up each morning, and toilet paper (TP wasn’t on my essentials list until we ran out during the pandemic).

Things you wish you’d never bought: Uncomfortable shoes and all the specialty facial washes, moisturizers, and cosmetics collecting dust under the bathroom sink.

Things you need for your writing sessions: Quiet. No radio, TV noise. My husband and I quickly learned we couldn’t share an office.

Things that hamper your writing: Phone interruptions and the urge to get up and do something constructive (like making cookies or cleaning the bathroom) when I’m having a bad day.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Social media promotion to sell books, though I really enjoy in-person meetings at book clubs, libraries, etc.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Finding ways to “disappear” or humiliate the type of characters who annoy you in real life.

Words that describe you: Determined, optimistic, easily amused.

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Old, wrinkled, overweight.

Favorite foods: Chocolate, Eggs Benedict, almost any Italian dish.

Things that make you want to gag: Vegetables overcooked until they’re slimy.

Favorite smell: Cookies or cakes baking in the oven. My answers to these questions seem to explain why one of the words I use to describe myself is overweight.

Something that makes you hold your nose: People who douse themselves in perfume.

Something you’re really good at: Cooking.

Something you’re really bad at: Holding my tongue. I tend to say what I think and offer my opinion even when the wiser course is to keep my mouth shut.

Things you always put in your books: Smart women.

Things you never put in your books: I’m tempted to say smart men—but that’s not true! My real answer is I don’t like excessive gore or torture scenes and avoid those.

Favorite books (or genre): Mysteries, thrillers, suspense.

Books you wouldn’t buy: Most celebrity-written bios.

Favorite things to do: Read, go on long walks, play tennis, swim.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: Attend an opera or a rave. Hate huge crowds and loud noise.

Best thing you’ve ever done: Married my husband, my best friend. Approaching our 50th.

Biggest mistake: Years ago, my husband and I bought a franchise that we quickly discovered was a huge mistake. But we gained skills that we’ve been very thankful for—so the mistake eventually yielded a happy ending.

Besides writing, what’s the most creative thing you’ve done: Oil painting, playing with food recipes.

A project that didn’t quite turn out the way you planned it: Some of those “let’s see what happens if I add this” recipes.

About Linda:

Linda Lovely’s A Killer App is her eleventh published novel. A journalism major in college, Lovely spent decades handling corporate PR, including penning hundreds of feature articles for business, trade and travel magazines. Today, her focus is fiction. Her mysteries, historical suspense and contemporary thrillers share one common element—smart, independent heroines. A member of International Thriller Writers and Sisters in Crime, she also serves as secretary for Mystery Writers of America’s Southeast regional chapter. For many years, Lovely helped organize the Writers’ Police Academy.

#WriterWednesday Interview with Linda Lovely

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I’d like to welcome author Linda Lovely to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

A few of your favorite things: Sweets, mystery/thriller novels, classic movies.

Things you need to throw out: Worn-out socks and undies. Out-of-date cosmetics and pills.

Things you need for your writing sessions: Quiet and a comfortable chair.

Things that hamper your writing: Noise & @#$#@ software updates.

Things you love about writing: Killing off characters who get away with bullying in real life.

Things you hate about writing: When the right word escapes me. Drives me nuts.

Hardest thing about being a writer: The need to constantly promote your books.
Easiest thing about being a writer: When you’re in your characters’ heads and the scenes practically write themselves.

Things you never want to run out of: Toilet paper! Never would have answered it this way before the pandemic shortages.

Things you wish you’d never bought: A battery-pack edge trimmer. Too heavy!

Words that describe you: Stubborn. Determined. Optimistic.

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Overweight. Over the hill—not saying which hill.

Favorite foods: Blueberry pie (my fave at the moment because I’m picking blueberries in our backyard). Wintertime I’d say vegetable soup or chili & any dessert with chocolate.

Things that make you want to gag:  Vegetables cooked into mush with a side of grease. Raw oysters.

The last thing you ordered online: an ebook. Okay, multiple ebooks. (I buy my paperbacks from indie bookstores.)

The last thing you regret buying: Spoiled ground turkey. Thought the smell was off, but invested the time to make meatloaf, then one taste and I threw it all away.

Things you’d walk a mile for: Exercise. My husband and I have a six-mile route we walk together four days a week.

Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: Pontificating, condescending zealots (of any stripe).

Things you always put in your books: sides of humor and romance
Things you never put in your books: gore and torture

Things to say to an author: I couldn’t put your book down. When’s the next one coming out?
Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: I don’t read women authors. Men write better mysteries, suspense, thrillers.

Best thing you’ve ever done: Married my husband 45 years ago.
Biggest mistake: A business venture that I won’t name. But the experience encouraged me to learn new skills that I use to this day.

 

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About Linda:

A journalism major in college, Linda Lovely has spent most of her career working in PR and advertising—an early introduction to penning fiction. With Neighbors Like These is Lovely’s ninth mystery/suspense novel. Whether she’s writing cozy mysteries, historical suspense or contemporary thrillers, her novels share one common element—smart, independent heroines. Humor and romance also sneak into every manuscript. Her work has earned nominations for a number of prestigious awards, ranging from RWA’s Golden Heart for Romantic Suspense to Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion for Best Cozy Mystery.

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