Linda LaRoque in the Author Spotlight

Cate: Please welcome Linda LaRoque. Linda, will you please share a short bio with us?

Linda: Hi Cate. Thanks for having me here today.

Linda is a retired teacher who loves West Texas, its flora and fauna, and its people. Her stories paint pictures of life, love, and learning set against the raw landscape of ranches and rural communities in Texas and New Mexico. Linda is a member of RWA, her local chapter of HOTRWA, NTRWA and Texas Mountain Trail Writers.

Cate: Tell us about A Way Back and where it's available.

Linda: A Way Back is a time travel set in the 1930s oil fields of Texas. It’s available at Champagne Books, Omnilit.com, and Amazon.com.

Cate: Time travel’s so cool. Please tantalize us with a story blurb or excerpt.

Linda: In the 1930s oil fields of Texas, a woman from the future finds new purpose as she helps a banker rebuild his financial empire.

Amber Mathis, a Wall Street investment banker, returns to her office after burying her mother. Distraught, tired of the rat race, she's determined to make a career change. In the elevator she falls and rises to find herself in a vintage lift. The date is February 25, 1930, and a man stands on the window ledge in her office ready to jump.

Wellman Hathaway, owner and CEO of Hathaway Bank in New York struggles to pay his depositors half their losses. A woman claiming to be from the future appears in his office and involves him in a scheme that forces them into marriage. With Amber's knowledge of the financial history of the 1930s, they travel to the oil fields of Texas to recoup Wellman's funds.

Two people from different centuries are thrown together to survive a difficult time. Will they find more than A Way Back to prosperity?

Cate: Love that she saves him from such a desperate time. Can you tell us why we're going to love your hero?

Linda: Amber is out of her element and still grieving, yet she embraces the experience of living in the past. A thoroughly modern woman, she resists the inequalities women often faced in their marriages and in the workplace in the 1930s.

Born into wealth, Wellman is mindful of his place in society, honest and hard-working. As he and Amber work to restore his wealth, he learns to live by his heart rather than by society’s code.

Cate: Tease us with one little thing about your fictional world that makes it different from others.

Linda: Stories abound about the past, but not many touch on the 1930s, a time period graced with many changes. Life was hard, yet people knew how to have a good time without television and the many gadgets we own today. And, for those with money, it was a glamorous era when women wore long gowns to dinner and dancing, and Art Deco was a common art style evident in clothing, art, and architecture.

Cate: Love that period. What's next for you?

Linda: I’m working on a follow-up story to A Law of Her Own, short time travel set in 1889 in the Texas Panhandle. Another project is a romantic suspense set along Route 66 in New Mexico.

Cate: What inspired you to draft your first story?

Linda: In the early 1990s, I went through a period of depression and anxiety. At night I had trouble going to sleep so decided to craft a story in my mind as a distraction. Doing so never failed to put me to sleep. I liked the story idea so much I decided to put it to paper. Fifteen years later, When the Ocotillo Bloom came out with Wings Press and I’ve been writing ever since.

Cate: Do you have a writing routine?

Linda: Unfortunately, I don’t. I write in spurts.

Cate: Where can readers find you on the web?

Linda: www.lindalaroque.com/ http://www.lindalaroqueauthor.blogspot.com/

Readers can sign up to receive my monthly newsletter by completing the form on the either my website or my blog. If you’d prefer, you can sign up by emailing me at linda@lindalaroque.com and put newsletter in the subject line. I’m also on Facebook and Twitter.

I have a monthly ebook drawing on my blog every month and would love to have readers stop by my blog to see if it interests them.

Cate: Is there anything you’d like to ask our readers?

Linda: Yes, I’d like to know if readers like to learn a few historical details when reading a historical romance. Also, do you skim any part of a book and if so, which parts – description, internal dialogue, etc.

Cate: Readers, Linda is giving away a book to a random commenter... so start commenting. She’ll announce a winner Friday morning, Feb. 18th. The winner can select an ecopy of any of my books.

Linda: Thank you all for stopping by today, reading my interview, and leaving a comment. It’s always a pleasure to connect with readers and hear what you have to say. Again, Cate, thank you for having me here today.

Cate: Always a pleasure, Linda! Thanks for being my guest.

Welcome special guest author Linda LaRoque!

Cate: Please welcome Linda LaRoque. Linda, will you please share a short bio with us?
Linda: I’m a Texas girl, but in my early teens a horse tossed me in the road dislocating my right shoulder. Forty years passed before I got on another, but it was older, slower, and I was wiser. Plus, my students looked on and it was important to save face.
I’m a retired teacher who loves West Texas, its flora and fauna, and its people. My stories paint pictures of life, love, and learning set against the raw landscape of ranches and rural communities in Texas. I’m a member of RWA, my local chapter of HOTRWA where I serve as president, NTRWA and Texas Mountain Trail Writers.
Today I live in a small community outside of Waco, TX with my husband and dog Molly. We have two grown children and a grandson. You can visit me at www.lindalaroque.com and read about the books I’m working on now.

Cate: Tell us about Flames on the Sky and where it's available.
Linda: Flames on The Sky, book two of The Turquoise Legacy, is now available in paperback at www.thewildrosepress.com and www.amazon.com, and barnesandnoble.com

Cate: Please tantalize us with a story blurb or excerpt.
Linda: The Anasazi whispered of this evil and of the woman who could defeat it.
Fire, sky, and stone must unite to fulfill an ancient prophecy.
Madison Evans inherits a turquoise locket, travels to New Mexico, and discovers the stone dates back to the Chacoan Anasazi. When she's attacked, parks ranger Lonan Stone, of Chacoan ancestry, fears Madison's turquoise is a missing twin of the revered Fallen Skystone, an egg size piece of turquoise on display in Albuquerque. The mystical stone is missing two slivers – one’s in Madison’s necklace, the others whereabouts unknown, but if united by evil they can destroy.
Madison and Lonan are part of a 1000 year old prophecy to save Chaco Canyon. Thrust back in time, they meet a witch, solve a murder, fall in love, and imprison a 1,000 year old evil spirit. Their mission complete, can these two people from different cultures blend their lives as the prophecy predicted?

Cate: Wow, very intriguing! And congrats on its listing in the top twenty of Amazon's bestselling new and future releases in Time Travel! Here's the trailer:



Cate: What inspired you to write about the theme?
Linda: Flames on The Sky is set in Chaco Canyon of New Mexico. This story is the second in The Turquoise Legacy, and I wanted the heroine to discover where the turquoise originated. I’d visited New Mexico and the Cerrillos mine area several times. After some research I discovered the Anasazi in 1000 AD held a monopoly on the turquoise trade and it came from the Cerrillos mines. I knew the hero and heroine would travel back to 1000 AD in Chaco Canyon, but with my research ideas grew. I had a wonderful time researching and writing this story.

Cate: I love research too. Any specific inspiration for your characters (an actor/actress or personal hero)?
Linda: No, no one in particular.

Cate: How do you pick the character’s names?
Linda: Picking names for me is difficult. I struggle but with Madison Evans, since she’s just earned her PhD in Shakespearean literature with a minor in music, I decided she needed a classy name. Madison seemed to fit. With Lonan Stone, I changed his name about half way into the story. I can’t tell you the significance of his name as it will reveal too much about the story, but being he’s a rugged park ranger and Native American, his name needed to fit his character.

Cate: Do you feel as if the characters live with you as you write? Do they haunt your dreams?
Linda: Though I do spend a lot of time thinking about my stories, I can’t say they haunt my dreams or live with me as they’re part of my OTHER life.

Cate: What's next for you?
Linda: I’m about finished with a futuristic story with the working title, Born in Ice, set in 2155 when earth is living with the after effects of global warming and a little ice age.

Cate: Great topic. Very timely.
At what age did you discover writing and when were you first published? Tell us your call story.
Linda: I remember writing a short story in 9th grade English class and how much I enjoyed it but didn’t consider writing until the early 1990s. At the time I suffered with depression and had difficulty sleeping at night. An avid reader, I couldn’t concentrate on my reading or sleep at night. To help me go to sleep I decided to write a story in my head about a woman suffering from depression. It helped me sleep and when I was better I decided to put the story to paper. Seventeen years later, in 2007 after many workshops, rewrites, critique groups, and the advice of a mentor, When the Ocotillo Bloom was published by Wings epress. It’s now been republished by Champagne Books.

Cate: Describe your writing in three words.
Linda: Warm, realistic, emotional.

Cate: Do you have a writing routine?
Linda: I wish I did, but tend to waste a lot of time browsing the internet and procrastinating. Once I get started I can work many hours. I like to think of that wasted time as perking, building ideas in my mind.

Cate: What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of writing? Most rewarding?
Linda: For me the most challenging aspect is the plot, making sure all the holes are filled and there are no loose ends. The most rewarding aspect is when I’m writing and the characters and/or story speak to me and the words flow onto the page.

Cate: What’s the most interesting comment you have received about your books?
Linda: “There is realism to the story that only a few time travel authors can bring to the page.” Gail of Night Owl Romance. Comment about A Law of Her Own, a short time travel with The Wild Rose Press.

Cate: Who are some of your favorite authors and books? What are you reading now?
Linda: I grew up on Phyllis Whitney, Anna Seton, Victoria Holt, Gwen Bristow, and others. I love Dorothy Garlock, Steven Hunter, Nevada Barr, Diana Gabeldon, Stephen King, and a variety of romance authors. I just finished reading Ciara Gold’s Julia’s Golden Eagle and am now reading Terry Spear’s To Tempt the Wolf.

Cate: What impact do electronic readers create on the bottom line for authors? Or in people/the environment in general?
Linda: Though I love paper books, I read mostly via my Ebookwise reader. It’s so convenient to use and holds so many books. My husband prefers to read on his Palm phone and I have books on my Palm also. Ebooks save trees. For me they’ve opened up room on my book shelves. They allow me to read all I want and have room keep copies of keepers.

Cate: Where can you be found on the web?
Linda: http://lindalaroque.com Check out the news page for the contest I’m hosting to celebrate the release of Flames on The Sky.
http://lindalaroqueauthor.blogspot.com I give away an ebook every month on my blog. A winner is drawn from those who leave a comment.
http://www.myspace.com/lindalaroqueauthor

Cate: Is there anything you’d like to ask our readers?
Linda: Is there a theme, subject, or setting you feel writers have neglected and would make a good story?

Cate: Readers, Linda is giving away an ecopy of the first book in The Turquoise Legacy, My Heart Will Find Yours, to a random commenter... so start commenting. She'll pick a winner on the evening of Sunday, Nov. 1.