Friday, August 23, 2019

Friday Linda Griffin is visiting and talking about Who She Was Before #MFRWAuthor #Writer #Librarian


1.       What were you in life before you became a writer? Did this influence your choices as a writer?

      I can’t really say I was a librarian before I was a writer, because I was a writer or “book maker” from the age of six. I was also a born librarian, but didn’t know it until I found out that looking things up could be a real job. I’ve always loved research, and the skills I learned as a reference librarian certainly help with that part of writing. I was also lucky enough to be in charge of maintaining and developing the large fiction collection in San Diego’s Central Library and initiating order lists for the entire system.  Reading book reviews was a major part of my job, and perhaps that influenced my thinking about what makes a good novel.

2.       Are you genre specific or general?
     
       I think categorizing books into specific genres is something publishers find useful, but as a writer I write the story I want to write and worry about the genre later. I’ve written literary short stories and novellas, romances, mysteries, suspense, even a few science fiction and paranormal tales.

3.       What is your latest release?

    

      The Rebound Effect from the Wild Rose Press. It’s categorized as romantic suspense, but one reviewer thought it wasn’t a romance because it didn’t have an HEA ending. I think it does, just not the one the reader might have expected. It’s a cautionary tale of love and betrayal, about a whirlwind romance between a small town single mother on the rebound and a hunky SWAT officer. And then there are the bodies buried at Big Devil Creek…

4.  What am I working on now?

 Guilty Knowledge, a police procedural/interracial romance. I’m not sure yet whether it will prove a good fit with the Wild Rose Press, but I hope it will. It’s written from the POV of a black male police detective and since I am none of the three, that was a particular challenge. I hope I rose to the occasion, but the readers will have to decide.

     
5. Are you genre specific or general? I don’t mean major genres but sub divisions of romance, mystery, paranormal.

My published novels are romantic suspense, but I think I’m open to anything if the story is compelling. I’ve written shorter stories that might be considered sweet romance. Seventeen Days, my first Wild Rose Press novel, was classified as “vintage” because it was set in 1991, but I’m not sure I would ever undertake a true historical, although I would enjoy the research.

6. Did your reading influence your choice of a writing career?

Absolutely! I knew I was going to be a writer as soon as I learned to read. That first book, a Dick and Jane primer, so enchanted me that I read it to everyone in the house. including a captive audience of kittens, and then I read it backward! The Rebound Effect is dedicated “To Dick and Jane, who first ignited my passion for the written word.”

7. Where can we find you?






5 comments:

D. V. STONE said...

When I was a girl, I always wanted to be a Librarian. Great post.

CB Clark said...

Interesting post. What would we do without librarians? Good luck with your release.

Linda Griffin said...

Thank you, Unknown and CB.

C.Becker said...

Linda, you remind me of my sister. She was meant to be a librarian, too. It's nice to see how your love of reading followed with you through your life. Best of luck with your book!

Linda Griffin said...

Thank you! We are the lucky ones, the ones who find the perfect career.