(and cross your fingers that my attempts to puy the jpgs in the correct spots actually worked. Apologies ahead of time, Linda, if I messed up....)
My name is Linda O. Johnston, and I’m delighted to have been invited to guest blog here at the Mid-Willamette Valley RWA site. I have been a member of RWA for many years and love the organization. I live in L.A. and belong to two chapters: Los Angeles Romance Authors and the Orange County Chapter of RWA.
This is a busy year for me. I write in multiple genres, and will have four books (my books # 21-24!) and one e-novella published this year. My most current one, a June release, is a Silhouette Nocturne: BACK TO LIFE. It’s the story of a K-9 cop who has Valkyrie powers of restoring life to people close to death... sometimes. She saves a sexy SWAT officer early in the story, and the repercussions are nearly too hot to handle! I also had another Nocturne published in January, ALPHA WOLF, part of my Alpha Force series about a super secret military force of shapeshifters. ALPHA WOLF features a hunk of a soldier who shifts into a wolf, and the lady veterinarian who saves his life. Yes, I guess lifesaving females are a theme running through some of my stories! My Nocturne Bites, also published in January, was an e-novella called CLAWS OF THE LYNX, featuring a member of Alpha Force who shifts into--what else?--a lynx.
So why do I believe I have multiple personalities? Well, in addition to the dark and sexy Nocturnes, I write light cozy mysteries--the Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter series. The Kendra stories are written in first person, and she’s distressed by being a murder magnet. She and many of her friends become murder suspects, so she has to solve the mysteries to clear their names. And, yes, the stories all involve animals. Kendra happens to have a tricolor Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Lexie, and coincidentally, I do, too. We both also live in the Hollywood Hills, and we are both lawyers. Of course her law practice is a lot more interesting than mine. She’s a litigator, and I’m a transactional type, specializing in real estate. Another difference is that she’s also an avid pet-sitter, and loves it. Plus, I fortunately don’t stumble over dead bodies.
One of Kendra’s stories, NEVER SAY STY, was an April release, and the next, HOWL DEADLY, will be published in December. NEVER SAY STY features potbellied pigs, and HOWL DEADLY involves baby wolves at a wildlife sanctuary. I’m also working on a spinoff series from the Kendra books that will involve a pet rescuer introduced in HOWL DEADLY.My legal career is the other factor to my multiple personality. I also write contracts. They’re much dryer than my fiction... although some people would say that contracts are just another form of fiction. Either way, it’s a tangent I enjoy.
So how about you? Do you find that your love of writing and/or reading fills your life with multiple personalities?
Please come visit me at my website: www.LindaOJohnston.com
I also blog weekly, on Thursdays, at www.killerhobbies.blogspot.com
12 comments:
Hi Linda. Thanks so much for being with us today!
Alice did a great job inputting your covers, and they're great covers at that. Very striking! They're all really good!
Ah, multiple personalities. I suffer too. Not only from the number of characters roaming around in my head but from the different genres I write in (RS and paranormal). Though I'm not a lawyer by day, I do have three young kids...and oh boy, that chaos would lead anyone to multiple personalities, don't you think?
Thanks again for being here with us! I'm off to check out your websites!
Welcome Linda! I'm not big into the paranormal though I have written one, but I love the animal stories!
I also write multiple genres. Western historical and contemporary romance as well as a historical paranormal. I also have ideas for two mysteries/intrigues that are brewing in my head.
The day job for me is writing, freelance editing, and farm duties.
Thanks for hanging out with us!
Hi Linda, thanks for blogging with us!! I definitely feel like I have multiple personalities. I think I always have, writing just helps me feel like I'm not crazy :) I love that I can explore different things, with a purpose. Writing is the best medicine :D
I'm impressed with Alice's techie expertise, too, Elisabeth. And I'm not surprised, with little ones at home and writing in different genres, that you identify with my multiple personalities!
You sound as if you may have multiple personalities, too, Paty, with all you're doing. Writing and editing as a day job, multiple fiction genres and farm duties? That's great! My husband grew up on a farm and now is a farmer once more, since he and his brother help their mother in Ohio, now that their dad has passed away. They visit a lot, but much of what they do is remote management.
I agree, Lisa, that writing helps with whatever ails a person's psyche. And it is great fun to be able to snoop into anything and call it research!
Thanks again for inviting me to blog...
--Linda
This is where I have to shamefacedly admit that with the Mac, I just click and drag photos onto my desktop and import them as needed. I can't run a washing machine, so this is good. And okay, I can run a washing machine, I just choose not to unless it's absolutely unavoidable, so there.
Multiple personalities. Hmm. I did think of Lisa when I read your blog, Linda, because she's toying around with a pen name to use with writing as she plans to be a professor in the other part of her life. How do you do it? Have you ever found being a lawyer with the same name as a romance, etc... writer to be an issue? Or do you use another name as a lawyer?
I have to admit right now that other than the roles we all play, wife, mother, sister, daughter, etc... I'm kind of a one note song. Maybe I need to change that! My dream is to write a cozy series but so far, no huge idea has bitten.
And by the way, I love the cover and the title of Never Say Sty. LOL!
Welcome Linda! Thanks for joining us today.
I so identify with the multiple personalities thing. I've been trying to figure out in which genre I fit best -- cozy? paranormal? SF romance? none of the above? -- but maybe I shouldn't be worrying so much about trying to pigeonhole myself! LOL. It's nice to have yet another example that writing in one genre doesn't preclude writing in another.
I'm curious, since you write in such different genres, did you ever consider or ever have it suggested that you use a different pen name for each?
Mac secrets or not, I'm still impressed, Alice!
I love the cover, too. I've been very fortunate with the great covers I've gotten.
And both Alice and Deborah--I've been attempting to brand myself, using my real name and showing versatility. That was also my agent's suggestion, so I've run with it. So far, it hasn't had any effect at all on my law work--certainly not like the economy has!
My dream these days, in addition to continuing to write the kinds of stories I have been, is to also do something way different--a dark and emotional thriller. I may consider a pen name then, since I want everything about it to be different... I think. I'll decide for certain if and when I sell it!
--Linda
Hi, Linda! Whoa, that's an awesome Nocturne cover. Va-va-va-voom! :) And what a fabulous theme for a mystery series, pets. I could definitely go for that. My friend Diane Mott Davidson (we were neighbors when I lived in Evergreen, Colorado) really got into that niche mystery thing with her caterer Goldy. Diane's one hell of a cook.
I admit to multiple personalities myself. My fiction is urban fantasy mixed with steampunk, though I have a couple of romantic suspenses published with The Wild Rose Press. I'm more comfortable with paranormal/supernatural, though the romance is just a subplot. I've thought about trying a Nocturne someday, but haven't been able to come up with any great ideas that fit the line.
I'm also a graphic designer, which is how I've been making my living for the past 30 years. I just started dipping my toes in freelance article writing, so I'll see where that takes me.
I'm thinking of getting into agility training with my dog. She's a Border Bully (Border Collie/Pitbull mix) and extremely athletic. I'm hoping she'll help me burn off the excess pounds I've accumulated over the past year or so.
Nice to meet you, and thanks for sharing your cool books! I'll be on the lookout for them. :)
Welcome, Linda! Congratulations on your busy year! Your books sound really interesting and, like others, I'm a sucker for pets.
Sounds like multiple personalities are normal for writers. :)
I don't write in lots of different genres--contemporary romance that tend to the dramatic and sometimes spills into humorous. I also do Web and graphic design, as well as have a herd of doggies who are eagerly waiting for me to find some property so we can have a dog sanctuary that's not in the middle of the city.
Once again, congratulations on your releases!
Yep, I've been lucky with my Nocturne covers, too, Karen. Agility training looks like fun, but my dogs usually train me instead of vice versa. And I love your multiple creative ways of making a living--a graphic artist and writer.
You, too, about the other creative outlets, Genene. And if your writing focuses on romance, that's a great place to be! You also sound like a potential resource for my next mystery series, which will be about pet rescue.
--Linda
Hey, Linda! I'd be happy to help if I can--or come up with others who can give you info. Always glad to help out another pet lover!
Thanks, Genene!
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