#ThisorThatThursday with Linda Norlander

I’d like to welcome Linda Norlander back for #ThisorThatThursday.

Favorite thing to do when you have free time: Read. I usually have two books going—my book to read during the day and my book to I read before going to bed. One is always a mystery of some sort and the other is whatever I’ve pulled off the shelf at the library.

The thing you’ll always move to the bottom of your to do list: A trip to IKEA. The last time we went, it took us 40 minutes to find a place to park!

Things you need when you’re in your writing cave: A laptop and quiet.

Things that distract you from writing: All those “to do” items that haven’t gotten done.

Things you will run to the store for at midnight: Midnight? Who’s up at that hour? 6:00 PM, and I might do a potato chip run.

Things you never put on your shopping list: Anything that can only be bought at IKEA.

Favorite snacks: See above plus I just rediscovered ice cream Drumsticks

Things that make you want to gag: Anchovies, of course.

Something you wanted to be when you were a kid: I wanted to be a ballerina. Mother sent me to tap dancing class and I flunked out. My brain and my feet have always been very poor communicators.

Something you do that you never dreamed you’d do: Figure out how to set the clock on the car. Thank goodness for YouTube. Once, instead of resetting the clock I accidentally reset the speedometer to kilometers/hour. I only made that mistake…ah…twice.

Something you wish you could do: A graceful leap.

Something you wish you’d never learned to do: I worked for many years as a nurse—I have a long list of things that most people would prefer not to do.

Last best thing you ate: An ice cream Drumstick

Last thing you regret eating: Baked sole. Very badly done in my oven. Don’t trust all the recipes you find through Google.

Things to say to an author: I just bought your book and told all my friends to do the same.

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: I could write a book. It looks easy.

The most exciting thing about your writing life: Those characters who suddenly pop in unexpectedly and demand to stay.

The one thing you wish you could do over in your writing life: I wish I’d known about word count expectations years ago. I couldn’t figure out why my 35,000-word mystery novel never excited anyone until an agent I queried kindly directed me to a site with information on typical word counts for various kinds of books. Who knew?

About Linda:

Linda Norlander is the author of A Cabin by the Lake mystery series set in Northern Minnesota. Death of a Fox is the fourth in the series that also includes Death of an Editor, Death of a Starling and Death of a Snow Ghost. Each mystery takes place in a different season. The first book in her new series, Liza, Mrs. Wilkens and the Ghost Mysteries will debut in October 2023. Norlander has published award winning short stories, op-ed pieces and short humor featured in regional and national publications. Before taking up the pen to write murder mysteries, she worked in end-of-life care. Norlander resides in Tacoma, Washington with her spouse.

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