A Blue Million Books: FEATURED AUTHOR: LINDA O. JOHNSTON

Friday, May 13, 2016

FEATURED AUTHOR: LINDA O. JOHNSTON

INTERVIEW WITH LINDA O. JOHNSTON

Linda, how did you get started writing?
I've always written! Even as a child I would save essay topics for the next time I had to write something for English class. I started writing a sci-fi saga that never got finished as a teenager. And when I was an adult, I started writing mystery short stories and time travel romances, then mysteries, and just kept going!

What's your favorite thing about the writing process?
I get to let my subconscious mind take over and run!

Do you have a writing routine?
Sort of, although it changes. Mostly these days, I get other stuff out of the way in the morning, then write or edit during the afternoon.

Do you write every day?
Absolutely—although I'm saying this after returning from the Malice Domestic conference where I didn't get an opportunity to write or edit. Let's just say I write every day when I'm home.

How often do you read?
I read every day, although the amount of time I get to spend varies.

What books do you currently have published?
 I don't think you want me to list all of them here. There are 42 of them.

How do you feel about Facebook?
I really like Facebook, although I keep telling myself it's time to start an author's page.

What do you love about where you live?
It's Hollywood! What's not to love about that?

 What's the biggest lie you ever told?
Who me, an author, lie? Never!

 What’s your favorite beverage?
I admit to being a coffee addict.

What drives you crazy?
Lots of people do. That's one reason I love dogs.

What do you like to do when there’s nothing to do?
Hug my dogs.

Do you give your characters any of your bad traits?
Not exactly, although Kendra Ballantyne, the protagonist of my Pet-Sitter mysteries, was a lawyer who lived in the Hollywood Hills with her tricolor Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Lexie. At the time, I was a lawyer, I live in the Hollywood Hills, and my older Cavalier is a tricolor named Lexie. But fortunately I've never stumbled over dead bodies.

Do you procrastinate?
I didn't mean to, but I didn't start my responses to my current blog tour as quickly as I should have . . .

What’s one thing that drives you crazy?
Traffic! And I know it well. After all, I've lived in Los Angeles for a good many years.

What is the most daring thing you've done?
I'm not sure it was daring, except for the fact that I'm not much of a swimmer. But a number of years ago I was researching a book that never got published, but it had dolphins in it—and I made an opportunity for myself to swim with dolphins!

What’s one of your favorite quotes?
"Reality is only for those who lack imagination."

 Where is your favorite library, and what do you love about it?
I haven't been there in many years, but I grew up in Pittsburgh and absolutely adored the Carnegie Library there. It was in a charming old building, and I learned a lot there about books and people who wrote them.

What is the wallpaper on your computer’s desktop?
It's just some standard stuff—a blue background with a rainbow kind of logo. But the wallpaper on my phone is my two wonderful dogs, Lexie and Mystie!

 What would you do for a Klondike bar?
Ah, as I mentioned, I grew up in Pittsburgh, where there were Isaly's stores all through my childhood, and they were the ones who invented Klondike Bars. I've always loved them. Maybe I'd become a child again for a Klondike bar!

What are you working on now?
I'm working on my third Barkery & Biscuits Mystery—title to come. And more stories in this series to come. By the way, To Catch a Treat is my 42nd published novel. I also currently write the Superstition Mysteries for Midnight Ink, as well as for two Harlequin series. Nearly all my stories involve dogs, including the Superstition Mysteries, where my protagonist owns a lucky black and white dog and runs a pet boutique, and my Harlequin Nocturne paranormal romances, the Alpha Force miniseries, about a covert military unit of shapeshifters!