Linda K Sienkiewicz

Writing life, line by line

Why We Write

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“Fiction is supposed to be, forgive me, less shitty than life. Better than life. It is supposed to make more sense than life. That’s one of the reasons we read, one of the reasons we write. We want to feel we are forgiven and that there is hope…. Redemption is and always has been a staple of American fiction.” ~Author Molly Giles, in Odds on Ends, “The Writer’s Chronicle” Noble Reasons? When I … [Read more...]

What, Why, How: Sadira Stone

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What: I write steamy contemporary romance set in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. What does steamy mean? In my case, it means following one couple through the twists and turns of falling in love, including the juicy bedroom bits—not that my couples restrict themselves to bedrooms. Doug and Laurel found bliss in the woods; Elmer and Margot steamed up the cab of his ancient pickup; Clara and Nick had … [Read more...]

How Many Flaming Chainsaws Make a Novel?

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Ever wonder what makes a book catch fire? What makes a book impossible to put down? Flaming Chainsaws I found this gem of an essay on storytelling with an unlikely title,  The Dance of the Flaming Chainsaws, by Benjamin Percy and wanted to pass it along to my readers. Percy wanted to understand how The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which is 672 pages long, was so compulsively … [Read more...]

Reliable babysitter, sort of

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At Fourteen Like a good babysitter, I arrived on time, I put the kids to bed when I was supposed to, and as a bonus, I would wash dishes. I liked kids. I didn't yell at them or slap them in the face, like one sitter did to me when I told her, jokingly, that the cookies she brought were "crummy," meaning crumbly. I thought it was a clever play on words. Obviously she was an idiot. … [Read more...]

A Little Too Quiet

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"Libraries aren’t as quiet as they used to be. A Little Too Quiet is a podcast for library lovers and the library curious. Book chatter with librarians, community perspectives and author interviews" Ferndale Library's Podcast: I had the honor of being interviewed by Jeff Milo for the Ferndale Library's podcast, A Little Too Quiet. We talked about the writing life, art and … [Read more...]