An Interview With Linda Glaz

1) Have you always wanted to be an author? If not, what made you decide to write, and how long have you been at it? 

I started writing really horrible stuff in eighth grade. Fortunately God fine-tuned me. Hopefully the work is better now. I’ve been actively writing for 21 years, took the craft serious for about 6 years (that’s when I realized you needed to write well to get noticed).

2) Have you ever had a funny experience connected with being an author? For instance, has someone ever overheard you discussing the merits of one murder weapon over another or caught you shooting at a can of gasoline to see if you could make it explode? 

Oh, yes. When I was in physical therapy for one of my 25 sprained ankles (way too much karate and soccer), I spoke with the therapist, Mark, about a good way to kill someone using a P.T. technique. About the same time, I was interviewing for a position with a physical therapy company. He reminded me not to mention that I wanted to kill people using P. T. in the interview. However, I did tell the story to the administrator, who I believe hired me because of it. She couldn’t stop laughing!

3) What do you love about being a writer, and what do you like the least? 

Getting the ideas from my head to the paper. Marketing would be the low point of this life. And I know I’m not alone in that.

4) Are you a plotter, a pantser, or a combination? 

Panster! I like for the characters to be able to change who they are. With a plot, that isn’t always possible. I only know them a little bit when I start out. They teach me who they are as we go along.

5) Do you write full time, or do you work it in alongside a full-time job? 

Write and agent full time. For a while I tried to work in the clinic a couple days a week, but once I became an agent, that was impossible, so I retired from that fully in August of this year. Woohoo! Now, I’m only working about 50-55 hours a week. Almost like being on vacation.

6) What do your kids think about your being a writer? 

They are my biggest supporters.

7) How do you get your best ideas? 

I let the crazy people in my head tell me what to write. C-R-E-E-P-Y!

8) What do you do to get past writer’s block? 

I don’t get it. If one story slows at all, before I get frustrated, I move to something else for a while. Or chocolate!

9) What’s your favorite method for keeping a story’s middle from sagging? 

I have trouble there, but again, I simply move to another project for a few days then return, refreshed.

10) Do you write every day? What does your typical writing day look like? 

I wake up, walk at the track, have my iced coffee shake, and check emails. After a few minutes there, I work on my clients’ material. Then a short break, work on my writing, and then to my clients again. I finish late at night on my own writing. It’s about a 2-1 split. The clients winning by far.

11) Do you like to listen to music when you write? 

No, I need noise. Lots of noise. So I have a small TV in my office that runs almost all day long (helps to drown out all those folks yakking in my head, lol)

12)  Writing is a sedentary occupation. What do you do for exercise?
I walk every morning at the old high school track behind my house. Starts my day with prayer, beauty, and wheezing. haha

13) Do you have any pets? Do you own them, or they you? 

A cat we inherited from our daughter and her husband when they went away to school. Now she’s ours, or should I say, we’re hers. She definitely rules the roost.

14) What fun fact would you like your readers to know about you? 

I love to laugh. I like to read humor, write humor, even in intense novels, I like to have bits of humor. And…I’m a size 6 woman trapped in a size 12 body! If stress were calories, I’ll be a size 0!

How about that for starters?

Thank you, Linda, for stopping by to visit us at The Borrowed Book!

Readers, don't forget to stop by tomorrow, when you can enter to win a free copy of Linda's latest release, The Substitute Bride.

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Reinventing Yourself at 60! by Author Linda Glaz

Writing for nineteen years without publication can be a daunting and discouraging thing, but who knows what might be right around the corner?

If I had quit. Had given up. Had become so discouraged that I finally said, “Enough!” I would have missed out on the greatest changes in my life.

At fifty-nine I finally met my agent, Terry Burns, and began in earnest to get my work ready for submission. Rewrites, more rewrites, and then a few rewrites later, Terry sent out my romantic suspense novel.

While we didn’t get any bites on that novel, I did write a short novella, Polar Bear Plunge, that was picked up by White Rose for a Christmas special. I did the edits, saw the cover, and I was hooked.

Around the same time, Terry added me to his “posse” of editorial assistants. For two years, I continued to write and was immersed in learning the industry from the inside.

Shortly thereafter, I contracted with Heartsong for three novels to release in 2013, including August’s release, The Substitute Bride. Then the sequel to Polar Bear Plunge at White Rose, Miss Fishfly. Following the release of the first Heartsong novel, I was contracted for three more to release in 2014.

Why am I telling you all of this? For a pat on the back? No. For sales? No (well, maybe some). Seriously, to let you know one very important thing:

NEVER quit. If you are called, you never know just what God has in store for you. At 59, I signed with Terry. At 60 I became an editorial assistant. At 61, Polar Bear Plunge released and I joined Hartline as an agent. At 62, Heartsong took a chance on this newbie, and at 63 the first book released, a WWII novel, With Eyes of Love, followed by the sequel, Always, Abby.

Life is not over at 60, it is only beginning. And only you can decided what that life will include. Had anyone told me I would be an agent as well as an author with Hartline, I would have laughed. “Are you kidding? I’m 61 years old!” But many wonderful things have been done in the world with folks over 60:

Agatha Christie, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Grandma Moses, George Bernard Shaw, Michaelangelo, to name just a few, all way over 60 when they did their greatest works.

Are you one of them? Are you ready to toss aside age and go for it?

Join me in this exciting writing life. Never give up your dreams. Be open to what God has in store for you, because it’s more than you could ever imagine on your best day.

60? 

Shucks…That’s nothing. I plan to be writing well into my nineties. Maybe more. 

You just never know!

Join me in celebrating my western romance, The Substitute Bride, about a young woman who loses her memory in a train derailment. Will the man waiting for her know who she is? Or will she fight the feelings she has for this total stranger?

Come back Friday for a chance to win a copy of Linda's latest release!

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