Guest Author - Linda Glaz

Linda Glaz
 (website)

I'd like you to meet a dear woman and friend that I met at a Faithwriters' Conference. I knew there was going to be an agent there named Linda Glaz, but I hadn't met her yet. On the first day, I entered the elevator to descend to the ground floor (to greet other arriving members) and introduced myself to another woman who entered with me. When she told me her name, my immediate thought was - "I'm in an elevator with an agent - the perfect time to try a pitch for my novel!" Linda listened to me with interest and even asked me to send a proposal to her. (Thanks, Linda, for giving me that great experience and memory! )

Not only is Linda Glaz a literary agent for Hartline Literary Agency, 

she's also an author of a few books 

(Miss Fishfly, Polar Bear Plunge, With Eyes of Love, and others) 

Comment this week for a chance to win a free copy of 

The Subsitute Bride.

Linda, welcome to My Back Door. It's an honor to have you here. As a writer myself, I know I've wanted to write most of my life. How long have you been writing? 

LINDA: I started writing really horrible stuff in eighth grade. Fortunately God fine-tuned me. Hopefully the work is better now. I’ve been actively writing for 21 years, took the craft serious for about 6 years (that’s when I realized you needed to write well to get noticed).

Have you ever had a funny experience connected with being an author? For instance, has someone ever overheard you discussing the merits of one murder weapon over another or caught you shooting at a can of gasoline to see if you could make it explode? 

LINDA: Oh, yes. When I was in physical therapy for one of my 25 sprained ankles (way too much karate and soccer), I spoke with the therapist, Mark, about a good way to kill someone using a P.T. technique. About the same time, I was interviewing for a position with a physical therapy company. He reminded me not to mention that I wanted to kill people using P.T. in the interview. However, I did tell the story to the administrator, who I believe hired me because of it. She couldn’t stop laughing! 

Oh my! Being a writer can be dangerous. I'm glad it turned out well. How do you get your best ideas?

LINDA: I let the crazy people in my head tell me what to write. CREEPY!

That makes life interesting. Are you a plotter (making a detailed outline of your story) or a pantser (writing by the seat of your pants) or a combination of both?

LINDA: Panster! I like for the characters to be able to change who they are. With a plot, that isn’t always possible. I only know them a little bit when I start out. They teach me who they are as we go along.

Being both an agent and a writer, how do you balance both careers? What is your typical day?

LINDA: I wake up, walk at the track, (starts my day with prayer, beauty, and wheezing. haha ) have my iced coffee shake, and check emails. After a few minutes there, I work on my clients’ material. Then a short break, work on my writing, and then to my clients again. I finish late at night on my own writing. It’s about a 2-1 split. The clients winning by far.

Do you like to listen to music when you write?

LINDA: No, I need noise. Lots of noise. So I have a small tv in my office that runs almost all day long (helps to drown out all those folks yakking in my head, lol)

It sounds like a pary! What fun fact would you like your readers and clients to know about you?

LINDA: I love to laugh. I like to read humor and write humor; even in intense novels, I like to have bits of humor. And…I’m a size 6 woman trapped in a size 12 body! If stress were calories, I’ll be a size 0!

Why do you write? What is your motivation to write more books?

LINDA: Honestly, I have to write as much as I have to breathe. I have so many stories rolling through my head, I simply must put them on paper, or keyboard as it were. My motivation is that any time I look at the news, a setting, folks on the street, I immediately start to wonder what their story is. I can remember as child riding in the car, I would look into the car windows next to me and wonder what their lives were like? Amazed at so many other people in the world that I didn't know and never would, but always wondered how they lived, what made them tick? So I guess writing about what I guessed their lives were like was merely the next step. Or as I tell all my friends and family: I write to stop all the voices in my head. LOL

Thanks, Linda. I understand that completely. It's so nice learning more about you (and the characters in you head.) I'm looking forward to reading more of your writing. 

~ ~ ~

Don't forget to comment this week to win a book!
(deadline - Sept.1)