About Linda Crowder:
Linda grew up in Loveland, Colorado as the sixth of six children. She moved
with her parents to California when she was 16 and spent the next 16 years
of her life in the Bay Area before moving home to Colorado.
Linda devoted 20+ years to nonprofit human services before deciding to
take a new direction in her life. She founded Focus Forward, LLC to do the
things she most enjoys – management consulting for small business owners
and nonprofits and career coaching.
In 2012, Linda realized a life-long dream when she published her first book,
“Life Isn’t Just Luck: Getting from where you are to where you want to be.”
In it, she explores what keeps us from achieving our goals and identifies
strategies to overcome these roadblocks.
In 2013, Linda published her first mystery novel, “Too Cute to Kill.” This was
followed by “Main Street Murder” in 2014 and “Justice for Katie” in 2015.
Linda lives outside Casper, Wyoming with her husband, ten cats and one
incredibly patient dog.
What inspires you to write?
I love to read! I have been reading mysteries since I was doing summer reading programs at my local library as a child. I started with Nancy Drew and worked my way up to my all-time favorite – Agatha Christie. I love writing mysteries because I love creating a puzzle where all the clues are there for the reader, yet the goal is always to have the reader surprised by the revelation.
Tell us about your writing process.
With my first book, Too Cute to Kill, I developed the plot as I went along. I knew somewhat where I wanted to go with it, but when I settled on the outcome I had to go back and re-write sections to make sure the clues were all pointing in the right direction. Now writing my fourth book, I have mapped it out a little better though I still like the spontaneous plot twists that Jake and Emma suggest.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I have quite a bit of dialog with my characters before and during the writing process. I run scenes in my head over and over, working out details and dialog before I ever write a word. In this way, I get to try out interesting bits and see how to weave them into the story. I like my characters and I enjoy seeing what they’re up to.
What advice would you give other writers?
Don’t read your reviews until you develop your voice to the point where you won’t be second-guessing yourself with every negative comment. You’ll never write a book the whole world loves, so write what you love.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I researched publishers and self-publishing options before deciding to self-publish. The “big five” are not falling over themselves to work with unknown authors and small houses seem to still require me to do most of the work to market the books. I also like the freedom to control the content of my books. I write “clean” cozy mysteries and I don’t have any desire to re-work them with the graphic sex and violence some publishers seem to think readers want.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I think we’ll continue to see growth in self-publishing and print on demand publishing. I think that a commitment to professionalism will set serious authors apart from the sea of people who just slap something together and call it a book. Readers will continue to be savvy consumers when it comes to the books they choose and this will drive the market.
What do you use?: Professional Editor, Professional Cover Designer, Beta Readers
What genres do you write?: Cozy Mystery
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Linda Crowder Home Page Link
Link To Linda Crowder Page On Amazon
