Linda Suzane?
Linda Suzane lives with her husband of over 40 years, her daughter and
husband, her grandson and granddaughter, in a very small town in
rural Oregon.
Writing has been a passion for as long as she has been married and creating
worlds in her imagination even longer. Her biggest success as a writer until the
advent of the Internet and eBooks was working as a ghost writer for a couple of
late night real estate gurus. She always got a big kick out of seeing the guys
holding up the book that she had written and saying, "When I wrote
this..."
In 2000, she began exploring Internet publishing and soon had a book, THE
MURDER GAME, accepted for publication. The fact that the company went out of
business before the book was published didn't deter her. It was soon accepted by
another publisher. In the meantime she finished two other novels, EYES OF TRUTH
and CAPTIVITY: DARKHOUR VAMPIRES, both of which were accepted for
publication.
Dedicated to ePublishing, she started taking classes on web design and
Internet business. She was soon creating her own websites.
Interested in eBooks and vampires, she turned that interest into a column at
Suite101.com, Vampire eBook Authors. She really enjoyed getting to know many of
the vampire authors and their books. She then established www.e-Vampires.net
as a site to explore all the vampire fiction available on the web.
In 2002, a slip in the bathtub brought on problems with arthritis and chronic
pain, which lead to a severe depression. The pain medication and the depression
made it impossible for her to continue writing. For almost two years, she
struggled to regain what was lost. Slowly the depression lifted and she managed
to gain some control over the physical problems and was able to cut back on the
pain medications. With those changes, her ability to work and to create slowly
returned.
She feels very lucky, for despite her health problems, her books were
published and continue to sell. EYES OF TRUTH was even reprinted in Romanian.
Because of her site, www.playmurder.com
and her novel THE MURDER GAME, which is about a murder mystery game designer,
she was approached by www.Host-Party.com
to provide murder mystery games. Her mystery game Killers International has been
a best seller. For the first time in many years, she will actually be reporting
a profit to the IRS.
She has started writing her column for Suite101again,. Recently she had
the chance to interview Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and Suzy McKee Chanas. She has also
been working on updating e-Vampires.net, discovering just how many new vampire
books have been published in the last two years. An avid reader of mysteries and
vampire novels, she now has quite a collection of reviews at www.MidnightBlood.com.
"I have a ways to go yet to catch up with what two years of downtime
cost me. I look at some of the writers who were just beginning to be published
when I started and I am amazed at how many books and stories some of them have
published now. I have seen my books published as eBooks and in print, but I
haven't been able to spend any time promoting them so the sales have been very
poor. There is so much to be done. So much writing to do.
But I give thanks for every day that I am able to sit down at the computer
and work. Having known so many days when I despaired that I would ever be able
to again pursue my one passion, I rejoice in the ability to strive once again
toward my goals. To write is an ability to be treasured "
Linda Suzane
March 8, 2005
It feels strange to read what I wrote over three years ago. It is also a
little frightening. There I was writing again, but it didn't last even six
months, before the medication that had helped me so much was taken off the
market and my arthritis began getting worse and worse, until I ended up in the
hospital because it hurt too much for me even to get out of bed. November 25,
2005, the day after Thanksgiving. This time it was the big pain killers,
morphine and Percocet. It was a terrible time. I couldn't do anything without
help. I couldn't walk. I couldn't even get in and out of bed. Fortunately my
family took loving care of me and gradually I improved. I rejoiced at each
little step along the way. I set myself a goal to walk into the birthing center
to witness the birth of my granddaughter, and I did it July 3, 2006. My new goal
has been to be able to keep up with the growing child. To have the strength to
pick her up, to take care of her. So far I have managed.
The last 2 1/2 years, I have been focused on regaining my health and on
helping take care of my grandchildren. My daughter went back to school and I
became a part-time baby sitter. There was no time for writing. Besides the
opiates really numbed my mind. I couldn't think. I couldn't write. I released doing any reviews, stopped writing for
Suite101, took e-Vampires.net off the web, ignored my websites.
As I have improved physically, I have been able to cut back on the
medications, which means my mind has become clearer. My friend, Walt, sent me a
new version of our romance novel to edit. I really got into editing it. It
didn't require any new creativity, just the ability to look for problems. After
that, I was encouraged to finally finish the expanded version of Killers
International Murder Mystery Game.
It's marketing that sells books. If you don't market, you don't
sell. Over the last 6 years, I have sold no more than 1 or 2 books a quarter. My
publisher for Eyes of Truth dropped the print edition because of lack of
sales. I hadn't sold any copies of The Murder Game. I decided that having
all three of my books with Wings Press and in print would be a good idea. I was
pleased when they were accept for publication in Sept. 2008 and Jan. 2009. So my
new goal is to put my time and effort into marketing my books. I know physically
I can't do a book tour, but I am excited about the virtual book tours and sound
like just the right thing for me.
Working with the cover artist
for the new cover of The Murder Game and doing the research to develop a
marketing plan, I realized something very important. I am once again a working
writer. It feels wonderful and scary at the same time.
Linda
Suzane
July 20, 2008
As 2009 begins, I look back on the last six months with pleasure at once
again being a working writer. Highlight of the six months was breaking through
the last great writer's block to write something new when I participated in the
NaNoWriMo, challenged to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November.
I finished the story, although only 34,246 words. In doing so, I recognized that
besides being physically disabled, I am also mentally handicapped. But like all
handicapped people I have found ways to overcome my disabilities, to compensate.
I wrote about it in depth in my Red
Room Blog.
So I look forward to this year and all that it might bring.
Linda Suzane
January 9, 2009
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