About Renee Linnell:
RENEE LINNELL is a former surf model, a professional Argentine Tango dancer, and a serial entrepreneur who graduated magna cum laude from Jacksonville University and received an MBA from New York University. She made her publishing debut in 2018 with The Burn Zone, a memoir of her experience as a cult survivor. She divides her time between Colorado and South Florida.
What inspires you to write?
I love to write. Period. It’s the way I process my experiences in the world. I see Magic and Miracles everywhere. I see people struggling with life, with how to be happy, with how to have more meaning and joy in their day-to-day—and so I write. I know I see the world differently than most and it is a calling deep inside my heart to express the “magic, miracles, we are all one, there is nothing to fear” through writing.
What authors do you read when you aren’t writing?
Rumi, Paulo Coelho, Lee Child, Gregory David Roberts, Marcus Aurelius, Tom Robbins. They all tap into (as Paulo Coelho would say) the Language of the World. Even Lee Child.
Tell us about your writing process.
Unless I have a deadline, I only write when I feel inspired to write. I follow the energy flows. There are stages in my life where I have no desire to write and stages where all I want to do is write. I try my best to honor those. If I have a deadline and am “forced” to write when I don’t feel called to, I sit down and start writing. I know it will be crap at first. But, I also know that if I stick with it, the Flow will happen and I will create something I love. I always ask that the Divine flows through me, so that I may touch my readers with Love, Light, Peace, Humor, Truth, and Wisdom.
When I am inspired to write, I love to be someplace beautiful—like my patio or a café with a beautiful outdoor space. I need quiet. And I need lots of uninterrupted time. Strong coffee and a big dessert help! One of my favorite places to write is in the cafes of Buenos Aires. They have wonderful coffee and desserts and they allow me stay for hours.
Also, I write and write and write. I don’t make outlines. I don’t have a plan. I don’t worry about anyone reading it. I don’t worry about errors. I don’t worry about it going into a book eventually or being a repeat of what I wrote yesterday. I just write what wants to be expressed from my heart or from my mind until the Flow stops and then I save it in a file called “new book” or “blog ideas.”
What advice would you give other writers?
I would tell them to write and write and write and write. Don’t worry if readers will like it. Don’t worry if it will turn into a book. Don’t worry about grammatical errors. Just vomit it all onto the page. Repeatedly. If there is a knowing in your heart that you have something to express through writing, stop making excuses for not doing it and write. We don’t get Talker’s Block, so just pretend you are telling someone a story and write that version. Then trust that it will eventually turn into a finished product that you love. I have found that both of my memoirs took on a life of their own. A wonderful team formed around both of them to help shape them into books I love. My job was to keep writing and to trust the process. Again quoting Paulo Coelho, “ . . . when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I started with looking for an agent and a traditional publisher. Then I realized I needed a marketing platform in order to be appealing to a traditional publisher. So I found a marketing consultant. Next I realized I was compromising my True Self in trying to be appealing to a broad target market and a traditional publisher so I turned to hybrid publishing—where I could be 100% me. I found She Writes Press and they were a perfect fit for me. I loved my experience with them. I planned to publish my second book with them, but miscommunication resulted in my publishing date being pushed back a year and then another six months so I decided to start my own publishing company and publish through that. I was a lot more work than I had imagined. I had to hire a Book Shepherd to help me. I found an amazing editor, proofreader, and cover/interior designer. I used the same marketing and publicity team I used with the first memoir. I also used the same cover designer. All in all, I found publishing through She Writes Press (hybrid publishing) much easier.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I think a lot of people have a lot to say, and that many books are flooding the market. I think traditional publishers are forced to publish well-known authors regardless of quality of work. And I think unknown authors who want to be published can be faced with a seemingly daunting journey ahead of them. However, I believe if we are called to write, we are being called to offer our Divine Gifts to the world through writing and we have to trust that a Path will open for us. We have to treat it all as an adventure and be willing to start in one direction, backtrack, start in another, detour, try another, etc. If we see it all as a learning curve and are willing to keep walking forward, we will get our writing into the hands of those who are seeking it. I realized I had to believe in myself, in what I had to offer, in my writing style, and in my story—and I had to fight for all of it. I had to grow into a much more confident version of myself in order to pull off getting my books into the world.
What genres do you write?: Healing after trauma, Self-actualization, Self-realization, Women-biography, Self-help, Memoir, Personal growth, Self-esteem, Self-worth, Travel, Relationships, Empowerment, New age thinking
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print, Audiobook
Website(s)
Renee Linnell Home Page Link
Link To Renee Linnell Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
Twitter
Instagram
All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
