Need some Sole to Warm you?
December 3, 2007 | Interviews
ST: Good morning everyone. This week we have multi-published Linda Sole with us.
ST: Hi, Linda, welcome and thank you for taking the time to chat with us.
LS: It’s nice to be here! Thank you for the chance.
ST: Tell us about yourself.
LS: I am English, happily married and a dedicated writer. I spend more time than I should at my computer, deserting my poor husband. One of these days I shall slow down, but that is easier said than done. When I do get time to relax, I like to walk, eat out, preferably at a table overlooking the sea, and I enjoy swimming. I love animals and birds and I’m nutty about squirrels!
ST: Your latest novel is out. Let’s show everyone your gorgeous cover.
LS: My latest ebook is Daddy Loves Belinda/Anne Sole/Dark Eden Press, which is a mystery romance. My latest Linda Sole hardback is a crime story/ Justice Is Served/Severn House publishers and my latest Anne Herries is a trilogy about three sisters. Marianne & the Marquis, Married By Christmas and Marrying Captain Jack. These are Regency romances. But the book that I should like to Feature today is the Daddy Loves Belinda/Anne Sole/Dark Eden Press. Here’s the cover;
ST: I like the cover. It looks to be an exciting read. Please tell us about it.
LS: This is a story about Georgie, who is a journalist writing hard, hit you in the face stories, but when she is caught up in a real life drama that brings her grief she is determined to get to the bottom of things. She has no idea of how dangerous that will be or of the secrets she will uncover from the past.
ST: How did you come up with the story line?
LS: I always think this is the most difficult question to answer, because for me writing just comes. I decide what I want to write about, let it ferment in my mind for a while and off we go, sometimes like a steam train for the first draft.
ST: And where and can we buy ?
LS: The ebook Daddy Loves Belinda/ Anne Sole/ is available from Dark Eden Press . My Linda Sole titles are available from Amazon or Severn House. My Anne Herries books are available from bookstores in England for short periods but mainly from Amazon and sometimes the Harlequin website.
ST: How did you and your publisher come together?
LS: I started writing as Linda Sole in the late eighties and wrote for several mainstream publishers like Century and St. Martins Press in USA. Then I sent a book to Severn House and I have been with them for mainstream ever since. I first wrote for Harlequin Mills & Boon in 1979 and I had twelve books published. I moved to mainstream in 1988 but in the mid nineties I began sending to Mills & Boon again, and since then have published in the region of forty books altogether with them. The ebooks are a new thing. I sent my first to Triskelion on impulse because I wanted to publish some books that were not likely to make it into paperback, and since then I’ve sold about eight or nine books to ebook publishers, which are gradually coming through.
ST: What made you decide to be a writer?
LS: I was always making up stories in my head as a child. It was inevitable that one day they would go down on paper. I was blessed or cursed with a vivid imagination!
ST: How long have you been writing?
LS: My first book was published with Robert Hale in 1979. I suppose I had been trying for a couple of years before that.
ST: How many books have you written?
LS: I have about eighty books published, but since I’ve written quite a few that haven’t been published that figure could be considerably higher.
ST: Which is your favorite and why?
LS: That is very difficult to say, because I have done such different stories. My most successful book was Lovers & Sinners/Linda Sole/Century. I earned a lot of money from that one. However, I love some of my Mills & Boon Romances. A Damnable Rogue/Anne Herries won the RNA Romance Prize in 2004, but I think perhaps my favourites are always the ones that I have just finished. At least until the next time. I loved the first book I had published. The Witch Child/Lynn Granville/Robert Hale but it probably isn’t to the same standard as today’s books.
ST: You also write under the name Anne Herries. Why?
LS: Herries came from the Rogue Herries by Walpole that I loved as a young girl. And Anne has always been my favorite name. I use a lot of different names so that all my publishers have their own and there is no conflict of interest.
ST: Does it ever get confusing for you?
LS: Not at all. My various personnas are quite individualized.
ST: Thanks, Linda, for your time. Are you available in the morning?
LS: Certainly, but remember your morning is my afternoon. LOL
ST: Until tomorrow…
Happy Writing!
Sloane
Hi Linda, I think’s amazing how you keep all your personnas separate. I’m thinking about using a pseudonym myself since I have such diverse writing interests. However, I wanted to ask when you write, do you do a complete rough draft first and then proceed with all your edits? Or do you do a couple of drafts, fine tuning the edits from major to little tweaks here and there until you finally have your book? Thanks.
On December 3rd, 2007 at 12:11 pmThank you for your comment, Melissa. I write by the seat of my pants most of the time. When required I do a synopsis, but it always changes! Sometimes I finish a book in rough draft and then begin all the edits, but quite often when I get to a hundred pages I go back and change the beginning and write through to about 200 and then go back again. In the end the book will have been through many drafts. Hope this helps, Linda
On December 4th, 2007 at 11:19 am