#ThisorThatFriday Author Interview with Lynda Allen
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I’d like to welcome the amazing Lynda Allen to the blog for #ThisorThatFriday!
Hardest thing about being a writer: Sending my book babies out into the world and wondering if people will like them and be kind to them and if they’ll make friends.
Easiest thing about being a writer: Talking about the stories. I love to talk to people about why I write about menopause, where the inspiration for Liv’s friends comes from, why I write about Fredericksburg, Virginia, how much fun I have writing the stories, etc. My favorite moments are when I’m at an event and tell a woman that Liv has psychic visions during hot flashes and they just throw their heads back and laugh!
Things you need for your writing sessions: Quiet, except for Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, and water.
Things that hamper your writing: Interruptions. I really don’t like interruptions! Sometimes the view out my window hampers my writing. I like to watch our cat climbing trees and listen to the wrens singing.
Words that describe you: Sarcastic, Jersey yet somehow peaceful, creative, mom, friend, spiritual, kind, heart-centered, post-menopausal but still with a dash of menopause rage. Yes, I realize I’m contradictory, though I prefer multi-faceted.
Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Self-critical, impatient, sometimes Grumpy Gal, self-doubt.
Something you’re really good at: Baking! I love to bake. It doesn’t always come out the way I planned, but it’s usually still delicious. My husband is very sad when there’s a week I don’t have time to bake!
Something you’re really bad at: Keeping plants alive. I swear my husband is green on the inside he’s so good with plants and our garden. I’m sorry to say I am not very attuned to the needs of our plants. And I’m really bad at being on time for things. It’s not a good quality, I know.
Things you’d walk a mile for: Friends, family, my cat, a cause I believe in, peace, empathy, and kindness.
Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: Country music and the sound of Styrofoam being removed from a box!
Things to say to an author: Your story made me______ - laugh, think, feel angry, scared, joyful. Tell us how the story made you feel. And my favorite, because its always a gauge for me when I’m reading a book, “I missed the characters after I finished the book.”
Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: I knew who the culprit was in chapter two. You said her hair was dark brown in the first book, but mousy brown in the second.
Favorite things to do: Read, spend quiet time communing with nature, write poetry, hang out with a few good friends, my daughters or my sisters, float on the waves, watch British and New Zealand mystery shows with my husband, go on vacation with my husband.
Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: I’m not sure there’s anything I’d eat bugs to get out of doing. Ew! But I really don’t like washing dishes or sitting in traffic. Wait, I might actually eat bugs to get out of writing an outline for one of my books!
The coolest person you’ve ever met: John Cusack. I was an extra in the movie True Colors. He was very kind to me while they were shooting the scene I was in. I had to walk backwards down a flight of stairs while looking through the lens of a video camera I was carrying on my shoulder. It was a very expensive camera that I was responsible for the care of because they had borrowed it from the company I worked for. It was a challenge to look through the lens and walk backwards down the stairs without looking at my feet. John Cusack must have noticed because between takes he called the director over and asked him if I could start a bit further down the stairs so I wouldn’t fall. I was so grateful because if I dropped that camera, I was in a lot of trouble! (*See the most daring thing I’ve ever done.)
The celebrity who didn’t look like he/she did in pictures/video: James Spader was also in True Colors. I’m not sure how he looked because he spent all his time in his trailer and didn’t interact with anyone.
Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Ask John Cusack to dance at a wrap party after being an extra in True Colors. He said no because he was there with someone else, but I’ve since forgiven him. “Earn beads” at Mardi Gras – long before gravity took its toll. Quit my job to write the first in my Liv Wilde Mystery series – two weeks later the news about the pandemic broke which definitely had a negative impact on my creativity for a while.
Something you chickened out from doing: When I was a kid we spent a vacation at a place called Callaway Gardens. It had some sort of circus component to it and we had an opportunity to get up on the trapeze. I let a couple of people go ahead of me in line because I was a little wary and then we ran out of time and I didn’t get to try. I still wish I hadn’t chickened out!
Besides writing, what’s the most creative thing you’ve done: Painting. I love to paint and draw! My love for it started in high school. I usually use acrylics. Years ago, I started painting on leather journal covers and leather bags, which is an interesting challenge. Writing has taken up much of my creative energy over the past few years and I miss painting. There’s something very therapeutic and mindful about the process.
A project that didn’t quite turn out the way you planned it: Oh, my gosh my foray into designing merchandise with inspiring sayings on them was a complete fail! I have boxes of t-shirts and water bottles that didn’t sell.
Some real-life story that made it to one of your books: The Drama Flag. When my daughters were teenagers, I got fed up with the bickering and drama (though, to be fair there really wasn’t that much of it) and one day while one of them was being overly dramatic the image of a penalty flag in football popped into my head. One of my daughters is a costume designer so there was always fabric around. I dug through her supplies for a piece of yellow cloth, cut it into a square and wrapped a couple of rubber bands around one corner to give it some weight and the Drama Flag was born! We kept it in the family room and anyone could throw it like a penalty flag when the drama got to be too much. It was a great tool for breaking up the moment so we could take a breath and talk about what was really going on. I loaned the Drama Flag to Liv and it makes occasional appearances in the books.
Something in your story that readers think is about you, but it’s not: Liv’s psychic abilities. I sometimes wish I had psychic abilities (not mind reading though!), but I do not. I’ve had a couple moments in my life when I knew what was going to happen before it did and I do often look at my phone before a text comes through, but that’s about the extent of it.
My favorite book as a child: Any of the Pippi Longstocking books. I think she is why I like stories about strong women and why I wanted to write about them too. Pippi kicked ass and didn’t apologize for who she was. I loved her! I even mention Astrid Lindgren in Flashes of a Dying Hour. It’s one of the fun things about Liv’s character, she works for a small publishing company as an editor and proofreader and I get to make up the projects she’s working on. So, I had her editing a biography about the author of the Pippi Longstocking books.
A book I’ve read more than once: Honestly? The Harry Potter books. I hate to admit it now because of JK Rowling, but because I read them all aloud to my daughters when they were young, I have a positive emotional connection with the books. I also love to reread The Dark Is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper. I love stories about the struggle between the dark and the light. And I’ve read most of Louise Penny’s books more than once because the characters and humor are amazing!
About Lynda:
I’m a storyteller, author, poet, artist, and listener.
I’m the author of the Liv Wilde Mysteries in which menopause is a superpower! Since I had to put up with hot flashes every day, I figured I might as well make them useful!
I proudly infuse my writing with my Jersey Girl sensibilities and aim to create stories imbued with heart and humor.
I live in Fredericksburg, VA, where the Liv Wilde mysteries are set, with my husband, our cat, and the many incredible eagle friends who pay us frequent visits.
When I’m not writing about hot flash-induced psychic visions, I also write poetry and create art.
I began my career in video post-production and documentary filmmaking before focusing my knack for storytelling on writing. I have written four poetry collections, Rest in the Knowing, Illumine, Wild Divinity, and Grace Reflected. I have also published The Rules of Creation (nonfiction) a guide to living from the heart. The Liv Wilde Mysteries feature Flashes of Insight (book 1) and Flashes of a Dying Hour (book 2).
Let’s Be Social:
Website: Lynda Allen – Author - Lynda Allen
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