What:
When I watched Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED Talk on Creativity, courage surged through me to submit the novel I’d written for publication. I had just retired from my career in education, and publishing that book became my first retirement goal. I was very fortunate and Love’s Destiny was published the next year. My publisher wanted a sequel, and the rest is “a little history…a little mystery…a little romance.”
My stories are as diverse as the characters who whisper them to me, so I write in several genres. Love’s Destiny is a romance set during the American Revolution. It became the first book in The Brentwood Saga trilogy. I’m currently revising it, and it will be available Jan. 2023. I’ll have it up for pre-order soon.
I also wrote The Cavanaugh House, the first in The Finger Lakes Mysteries trilogy (with a fourth bouncing around in my head like a numbered Lotto ball). Invisible Pursuit is a contemporary romantic suspense set in Grand Rapids, MI.
My debut children’s book, The Go to Sleep Tree, came out last April. While most of my career in education was teaching secondary English, for many years I was a media specialist. The four years I spent in an elementary library were some of my favorites. I got to read picture books to kids almost every day. My love for these books inspired me to write several, one of which has been published, five more are waiting in the wings.
Why:
My husband says I get grumpy when I’m not writing, and he’s right. Story ideas and characters show up in my brain unbidden and am compelled to write them down. I feel a responsibility to get my characters’ stories out to the world.
Since Love’s Destiny was originally written because of a bet—and was my first book—the story took quite a bit of time for the first draft. The American colonial period is one of my favorites, so I knew I would set it there. What better built-in conflict than a colonial man fighting for independence and a woman from London, England? And thus, it began.
My idea for The Cavanaugh House came like a string of words drifting to me as I drove the maniacally busy highway through Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. My husband Rich was asleep, and of course I couldn’t write it down. Fortunately, I remembered it and wrote the opening lines to the prologue: This house held secrets…as soon as we arrived at my sister’s house.
It sounds cliché, but I write because I must. Plus I’m grumpy if I don’t.
How:
My fiction stories usually arrive in the idea of a scene or a whispered phrase from Boris, my muse. (see Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED talk on Creativity for more information on muses). I prefer being called a “discovery writer” rather than a pantser. While both terms mean a writer who doesn’t outline her story first but writes “by the seat of her pants,” I find discovery writer fits better. I start out with a scene or a bit of dialogue and write to see where it takes me. I already have a sense of the goal, motivation, and conflict, but even with my mysteries, I might not know how it ends.
All my novels have required research. I’ve interviewed so many interesting people such as a police officer, a hazmat responder, a pharmacist, a linguist, a ghost hunter, and an expert fly fisherwoman (my daughter). And I’ve traveled to the settings of my stories in places like Colonial Williamsburg, VA, Fraunces Tavern in New York City, the Finger Lakes region of New York State, and Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.
Bio:
When Elizabeth Meyette retired from a career in education, she was afraid she’d be bored and sit around eating bonbons while watching black and white movies on AMC. Instead, she started writing. She’s been writing ever since. Her friend said of her, “You haven’t retired—you’ve refired!”
She writes “a little mystery…a little history…a little romance” in genres ranging from paranormal mystery to historical romance to children’s books. Her poetry has been featured in several poetry journals.
Elizabeth lives in west Michigan with her husband Rich who listens for hours as she talks through stalled plots and stubborn characters. She calls these staff meetings; Rich calls them cocktail hour.
Elizabeth is an Amazon Best-selling author, a PAN (Published Authors Network) member of Romance Writers of America and Mid-Michigan Romance Writers of America (MMRWA), a member of Grand Rapids Region Writers Group (GRRWG), a member of Sisters in Crime (SinC), and a member of Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).
Links:
Amazon Author Page
Website
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Thank you for visiting!
Linda K. Sienkiewicz is a writer, poet, and artist.
Learn more about her multi-award winning novel, In the Context of Love.
Learn more about her picture book, Gordy and the Ghost Crab.
Learn more about her poetry chapbook, Security
