What?
While I’ve always been a writer, and I write in lots of genres and about lots of topics, these days I am focused on writing emotional novels with compelling Jewish characters that fill their lives with passion, purpose and food. I also write creative nonfiction essays. But really, my main focus is writing novels at the pace of a book a year. My second novel, Cave of Secrets, will make its debut August 27, 2024. It will be my tenth published book, joining two poetry collections, six nonfiction titles and one other novel, Woman of Valor, which debuted in September of 2023. I write about love and passion, identity and exploration, how we fit in the world and why we might not want to.
Why?
I wrote poetry and worked as a journalist for a good chunk of my writing career because I liked those forms, but also because they felt more accessible to me. The brevity of both felt easier to penetrate. And they were compatible – my reporting taught me to search for details and my study of poetry taught me the art of language.
I believe I needed to mature, both in life and in writing, to write good fiction. Though I tried for many years—my first novel was written in 2000 and my second novel got its start in 2011—I was not ready to truly write a novel that could be in the world until I was a half-century old. I worked on my first novel, Woman of Valor, as I turned 50 and it was published when I was 52. My third novel will come out just a few weeks after I turn 53.
I love the freedom of writing fiction. I get to create whole worlds, backstories, winding feeling characters and story lines that feel real but are not. I get to employ my love of research and questioning, I get to visit places to learn more about where I want to set my novels, and I get to study people in real time to build better characters. Mostly, I get to escape into made-up worlds where people who feel real, but aren’t, work out real-world problems in satisfying ways. That’s why I write fiction.
I also write creative nonfiction essays to find answers to questions I have about the way the world is today. I write nonfiction to figure out what I think about something, and what I believe. I write fiction to escape and journey and play.
How?
I write five mornings a week for three hours at a time, take Saturdays off and spend Sunday mornings submitting my shorter pieces for publication. I also spend a half-day each week on the business of writing, whether that’s marketing, booking speaking engagements or something else related to the business of publishing and selling books.
Although I am a born “pantser,” I have converted to plotting—I spend a month fully planning out a book before I begin writing it. That includes mapping out the plot points in great detail, writing in-depth character sketches and conducting research to determine the narrative arc and scene details. It usually takes me between one and three months to write a first draft and then I print it out and devote three days to reading it through and writing in the margins about how to edit and revise. I’ll go through two or three solid revisions before sending the book to my early readers. And then I’ll do another revision based on their feedback and finally send it to my editor. In between book projects is when I write creative nonfiction.
Bio:
Lynne Golodner is the award-winning author of ten books and thousands of articles as well as a marketing entrepreneur, writing coach and host of the Make Meaning Podcast.
After working as a journalist in New York and Washington, D.C., Lynne returned to her hometown outside Detroit to pursue a freelance writing career and teach writing. In 2007, she created Your People, a marketing and public relations company with a focus on storytelling that guides authors in building their brands and marketing their work. In 2023, Lynne founded Scotia Road Books, an independent publishing imprint for women over 40.
Lynne’s writing has appeared in 45th Parallel, Abandon Journal, Moment Magazine, Great Lakes Review, Saveur, the Chicago Tribune, Better Homes and Gardens, Midwest Living, the Detroit Free Press, Porridge Magazine, the Jewish Literary Journal, The Good Life Review, Hadassah Magazine, The Forward, Valiant Scribe, Story Unlikely, The Dillydoun Review, QuibbleLit, bioStories and YourTango, among many more publications. Plus, one of Lynne’s essays was a finalist in the Annie Dillard Creative Nonfiction contest at Bellingham Review.
Lynne teaches writing around the world, leads writers retreats and facilitates The Writers Community and The Book Writing Community. She fuses her marketing expertise with her writing background in webinars and masterminds focused on arming writers with the tools to market their work and build consistent author brands. She has taught writing at University of Detroit-Mercy since 2010 and with WritingWorkshops.com since 2015.
A former Fulbright Specialist, Lynne graduated from University of Michigan (BA, Communications/English) and Goddard College (MFA, Writing) and earned a Certificate in Entrepreneurship from the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program at Wayne State University. She is the mother of four young adults and lives in Huntington Woods, Michigan with her archivist-husband Dan.
Find Lynne: https://lynnegolodner.com, https://yourppl.com, https://scotiaroadbooks.com, https://makemeaning.org.
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Linda K. Sienkiewicz is a writer, poet, and artist:
Multi-finalist award winning novel In the Context of Love
Picture book Gordy and the Ghost Crab
Latest poetry chapbook: Sleepwalker
BUY BOOKS: In the Context of Love | Gordy and the Ghost Crab | Sleepwalker
Connect with Linda on social media: LinkTree