Author Interview ~ Linda Hall

Linda Hall is the award-winning author of twelve novels and many short stories. She has worked as a newspaper reporter and feature writer and now writes fiction full time. Both Sadie’s Song and Steal Away were short listed for the Christy Award. She has received the Word Guild award a number of times both for her short stories and her novels. She would invite you to her website: www.writerhall.com

What new book or project would you like to tell us about?

I think I’d like to talk about my Fog Point books. The first one in that series, Dark Water came out last April and the newest one, and second in the series comes out in March of ’07. Black Ice.

Black Ice continues with the stories of the people who inhabit my fictional coastal town of Fog Point. In Black Ice, a girl’s body is found against a snow bank behind a town’s bed-and-breakfast.




Tell us about your publishing journey. How long had you been writing before you got a contract? How did you find out and what went through your mind?

I began as a journalist working for several newspapers as a feature writer. I also wrote lots and of freelance articles for magazines like Focus on the Family. I began my first novel in 1990 and it was accepted by the first publisher I sent it to, and was published in 1993. I thought, “this is easy” But then, reality set in and it’s not been that easy since.

Do you still have self-doubts about your writing?

Oh, of course! Every time I sit down to write a book I don’t think I can do it anymore. Halfway through a book I’m always thinking it’s the worst thing I’ve ever written! There are many times when I’m not very kind to myself in the middle of books. I say to myself things like, “what makes you think you are a writer? What makes you think you can actually to this?

Yes, I go through all sorts of self-doubt. But somehow, long about the fourth or fifth – or maybe it’s the twentieth draft - I’m going through and thinking – “Hey, maybe it’s not as bad as I thought!”

Was there ever a time in your writing career you thought of quitting?

No, that has never even been a possibility. I can’t NOT write. If I found out today that I would never, ever be given another publishing contract, I would wake up tomorrow and begin working on a synopsis for a mystery. I’m happy to write. I’m happy to be doing what I like doing.

What mistakes did you make while seeking a publisher or agent?

I wish I had gotten an agent sooner. I had written ten novels before I began even looking for an agent. I think I would be further ahead in my career if I’d secured the services of an agent sooner. But that too, becomes a kind of self-doubt – if only, if only, if only. I have to realize that God brought me to the right agent at just the right time, and all of this is in God’s hands.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve heard?
Know what you write.

What’s the worst piece of writing advice you’ve ever received?
Write what you know.

Do you have a pet peeve having to do with this biz?

Oh my goodness, don’t get me started, I guess my pet peeve IS this biz and how money driven it is.

What do you wish you’d known early in your career that might have saved you some time and/or frustration in writing? In publishing?

It doesn't get any easier. With almost anything else you do, practice makes perfect. For some mysterious reason, this doesn't seem to be true in writing! Maybe because each story becomes a new thing, it’s not like redoing a task over and over again.

Was there ever a difficult set back that you went through in your writing career?

I didn't have a book out for the three years between 2003 and 2006. That was difficult, because in this business, you’re only as good as your last book, and your last book better not be any older than a year, or you’ll be forgotten.

I went through a difficult time with this, and a winter of depression, but I can see God’s hand on me all through this ‘forced’ sabbatical. A long time ago I heard Anne Lamott say that writing has to be about the writing, and not about publishing. I remember her saying something like, “The publishing industry will let you down.”

Its not that it might let you down, or maybe it could let you down, but that it WILL let you down. I needed to come to the place where my trust and love and my life was based totally on the Lord, and not on the publishing industry. They are not my god anymore.

What are a few of your favorite books?

Oh, I have so many favorites. I love the books by Jane Kirkpatrick. The Ivy Malone mysteries by Lorena McCourtney are also favorites of mine. I love some of the mysteries of authors like Laura Lippman.

On the nonfiction scene – lately I’ve been blown away by Randy Alcorn’s Heaven. Every Christian should own and read this book. It’s been a great comfort to me.

Two of my all time favorite books are The Stand by Stephen King and A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.

What work have you done that you’re especially proud of and why?

This is a difficult question to answer because all of my books are my children and how to do choose your ‘favorite’ child. I on the other hand, I was especially proud of Sadie’s Song, about the Christian woman who was methodically abused by her Christian, on-the-church-board husband.

Having said that, However, I am very much looking forward to the release of Black Ice in March. It has some themes that are very close to my own heart.

Do you have a scripture or quote that has spoken to you lately in regards to your writing?

The last two chapters of the book of Revelation.

Can you give us a look into a typical day for you?

Up around 8 or 9 – write steady at the computer in the morning. Then my wonderfully retired husband will call me in for lunch, where he’s prepared a lovely meal all set out (we often have our big meal at lunchtime). In the afternoon I may run up to Starbucks or another coffee shop with my work and revise what I wrote in the morning, or do other busy work. Or I may meet writing friends in the afternoon for coffee. That’s always nice. I belong to a local group of romance authors and we enjoy getting together.

Do you have a word or page goal you set for each day?

Not really. But I do like to write a full scene per day. If I’m racing toward a deadline it ends up being two or three full scenes per day, but that is hard and exhausting work. One scene a day is wonderful, and then I can revise it in the afternoon.

Are you an SOTP (seat of the pants) writer or a plotter?

Both. Can a writer be both? I used to think I was a total Pantzer – but I recently got a contract from a house that requires a full synopsis of the story, and I found that that worked for me.

What author do you especially admire and why?

This is the only question I can’t answer, because so many people have influenced me through the years. Early on Janette Oke and Maxine Hancock were writers that I looked up to tremendously. Now, there are so many writers I admire.

What is your favorite and least favorite part of being a writer?

Least favorite – First drafts – where you are trying to take words and ideas out of thin air and putting them down on paper

Most favorite – when the book is almost there and I’m editing it. I love the editing process.

How much marketing do you do? What's your favorite part of marketing?

I have a website and a newsletter, and visit bookstores, and I attend a couple of mystery writing conferences per year. I think my favorite part is answering reader emails.

Do you have any parting words of advice?

Read, read, read and write, write, write. Never stop reading and never stop writing. And also, make it more about the writing and less about getting published.