Ask the Author: Lynne M. Spreen
Answered Questions (16)
Lynne M. Spreen
Hi Joanne, I'm sorry this question was hidden from me for so long! My stack of TBR is really high but I will try! Best wishes.
Lynne M. Spreen
Hi Gilbert, I tried to find your books on Goodreads and Amazon and couldn't. If I couldn't, can prospective buyers? Anyway, send me a link to your Amazon page and I'll take a look. PS One quick observation is that your invented genre is hard to understand. It sounds like old people acting like juveniles. Is that what you intended?
Talk soon,
Lynne
Talk soon,
Lynne
Lynne M. Spreen
Thanks, Leslie Ann! I love doing reviews. Since I read a book every few days, I forget what I read, and the reviews help me remember/revisit. Everything is good on my end. Getting ready to publish my 7th book! How are you doing? Still writing?
Lynne M. Spreen
My readers! Every time I put out another book, they ask for more stories about middle-aged people seizing the day. Also my characters. I feel as if they live in some other dimension, but can only be "seen" in my novels.
Thanks for asking.
Thanks for asking.
Lynne M. Spreen
And thank you for writing it! I am embarking on a five book
silver romance series based in the Red Rock country of Sedona, Arizona. Hope to have it completed by the end of 2019. Every character will be at least 50, and some much older. Wish me luck!
silver romance series based in the Red Rock country of Sedona, Arizona. Hope to have it completed by the end of 2019. Every character will be at least 50, and some much older. Wish me luck!
Lynne M. Spreen
How nice to hear from you, Will. I very much enjoyed The Long Walk Home, and appreciated that the main characters were older. I'll be including it on my FB collection of midlife fiction: https://www.facebook.com/pg/LynneSpre...
Best wishes.
Best wishes.
Lynne M. Spreen
I would go to Lonesome Way, the Montana town in Jill Gregory's cowboy romance novels, sit on the front porch of A Bun in the Oven, eat a homemade cinnamon bun and ogle Travis, Rafe, Jake, and the rest of the men who populate her books!
Lynne M. Spreen
I once dreamed about a murder of a head of state at the Kremlin. When I awoke, I went outside to retrieve the morning paper, and found there had been a coup in Russia. Gorbachev was missing, and this all happened while I dreamed it! The mystery deepens because in the previous 4-5 days, I'd been on vacation in a remote area with no news of any kind. Plus, this was before cellphones, so my mind was clear when I went to sleep that night. So the plot might be: middle-aged woman develops psychic powers and is forced into service to her country. You fill in the rest!
Lynne M. Spreen
Wow, what a fun and challenging answer. I'm 62, so there are a lot of books in my head to comb through. On Goodreads alone, I've listed 421 as read. So I went to my author Facebook page where I list Midlife Fiction to see if my heart beat faster at any of the titles, in response to your question. (Here's that link: https://www.facebook.com/pg/LynneSpre... )
I think I have to say that Julie and Romeo of the books written by Jeanne Ray are my fave fictional couple, at least of the first ones to leap to mind. The reason is, they're both my age, and they are funny, happy people who are dealing with the mixed blessing the things happening at their age. They fall in love, they have sex, they get caught by their adult kids, and the generations-long feud is reignited, just like in Shakespeare's original story. Also, I like the idea that Ms. Ray is Ann Patchett's mother, and she wrote her first novel in her sixties.
In fact, I had to do a little research and I found a blog post by Jeanne Ray from a couple years ago, saying why she wrote the first book: she was mad that people over sixty weren't seen as vibrant, sexy, fun, happy, alive. I never knew that was her mission, and am happy to say it mirrors my own, in writing my three books (and now I'm starting a Silver Romance series.) So thank you for asking, dear Reader, because you have added to the enjoyment of my writing career. I hope you enjoy my answer.
I think I have to say that Julie and Romeo of the books written by Jeanne Ray are my fave fictional couple, at least of the first ones to leap to mind. The reason is, they're both my age, and they are funny, happy people who are dealing with the mixed blessing the things happening at their age. They fall in love, they have sex, they get caught by their adult kids, and the generations-long feud is reignited, just like in Shakespeare's original story. Also, I like the idea that Ms. Ray is Ann Patchett's mother, and she wrote her first novel in her sixties.
In fact, I had to do a little research and I found a blog post by Jeanne Ray from a couple years ago, saying why she wrote the first book: she was mad that people over sixty weren't seen as vibrant, sexy, fun, happy, alive. I never knew that was her mission, and am happy to say it mirrors my own, in writing my three books (and now I'm starting a Silver Romance series.) So thank you for asking, dear Reader, because you have added to the enjoyment of my writing career. I hope you enjoy my answer.
Lynne M. Spreen
Hi Jim! I was going to give you a funny, smarty-pants answer to this but then wanted to tell it truthfully: when my critique group is happy with my weekly chapter. That's when I feel like I'm halfway good. Thanks for asking.
Lynne M. Spreen
See writers' block, above.
Actually, I don't have to get inspired, because I love the whole gig, everything about it. Writing is like playing a game, putting a puzzle together, solving a conundrum, running a small business, undergoing counseling, creating art, and astral traveling. And you get to be part of a club where you can gather with other writers and do primal screaming together.
Actually, I don't have to get inspired, because I love the whole gig, everything about it. Writing is like playing a game, putting a puzzle together, solving a conundrum, running a small business, undergoing counseling, creating art, and astral traveling. And you get to be part of a club where you can gather with other writers and do primal screaming together.
Lynne M. Spreen
Updating Middle-Aged Crazy, the short stories; also, I'm outlining the sequel to Dakota Blues. It'll be called Tropical Blues and is set in Florida and the Georgia coast.
Lynne M. Spreen
Don't do it for the money. Do it because you love it. And have a job. I mean, you know, one with a paycheck.
Lynne M. Spreen
Getting nice reviews from people who dug what I wrote.
Lynne M. Spreen
Sometimes I get writers' block because I don't know what I'm doing. In that case, I walk around my house or neighborhood talking to myself. "What are you trying to say? What the heck is your point?" I wave my arms around a lot and mumble audibly.
Then I go back in my office and draw diagrams on the whiteboard. Maybe boxes with arrows, depicting what happens first, then next, then next, etc. If none of that works, I turn to alcohol.
Then I go back in my office and draw diagrams on the whiteboard. Maybe boxes with arrows, depicting what happens first, then next, then next, etc. If none of that works, I turn to alcohol.
Lynne M. Spreen
I grew up in a tough situation, and it affected my choices as an adult. I wanted to write about breaking free from self-imposed limits, and seeing the world in a new, powerful way.
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