I am so glad to welcome author Linda Ellen today!
Last year, I read and enjoyed her Soldiers of Swing series, and I am looking forward to trying her other books. I hope you’ll check them out as well.
About Linda
Linda Ellen is an historical romance writer who made her debut with Depression Era romance, rich with history, love, heartache, and real life.
Linda was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, where she resides with her husband of thirty-eight years
She began her writing career penning articles for a small neighborhood newspaper, The Southwest Reporter. In 2009, as a labor of love, she began writing fan fiction, under the pen name Linda4him59, based on the Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman television show, stories that were well received thanks to Linda’s talent for upbeat narration, good-natured humor and heart-thumping romance. Twenty-eight short stories and four novels later, she decided to try her hand at writing a ‘real’ novel.
The novel Once in a While is loosely based on the author’s parents’ romance in the late ‘30’s. Wishing to give her readers the most accurate account of the time, place and mood, she extensively researched details regarding the 1937 flood that incapacitated the entire Ohio Valley. The Flood plays a large part in the early chapters of the book.
The local newspaper did a story on her, her mom, and the book – click here: http://www.courier-journal.com/story/…
When she isn’t busy writing stories to enchant her readers, Linda, a born-again Christian, and her family are faithful and active members of Evangel World Prayer Center in Louisville, KY. She is very involved in the prison ministry at her church, where she is the office manager and in charge of facilitating a large correspondence course operation with a sizable number of volunteers, serving inmates in all 50 states.
Interview
What is your favorite part of writing?
When things start to come together and flow, it gets very exciting and really gets my heart pumping. Then, there’s that moment when an idea for a scene or plot twist takes flight, my fingers just seem to glide over the keyboard with the words and when I come to the end of the scene or chapter, I just sit back and sigh, “Yeah, that was good.” It’s the best feeling! Another thing I love is the editing/beta-ing process with my wonderful editor, Nessa. She and I go back and forth on each chapter and really have a ball with plot points and humorous lines.
What is the most interesting thing you came across in researching your book?
That’s a bit hard to pin down since I’ve come across some interesting things for each of my books. During my research for the SOLDIERS OF SWING series (my WWII books), I was fascinated by the history surrounding Fort Knox, the Indiana Army Ammunition Plant, and Bowman Field Airport. Then as I dug into my historical novel SWEET LOVE AT HONEY LANDING, I couldn’t get enough of the treasures from the past that I’d uncovered about the actual house I’d used as an inspiration for my location. Plus, discovering cool things about my city and how things were in 1870. For my PROXY BRIDE books, I chose a real town in Nebraska that is still there and only has 400+ people. I chose an existing building that was once the Lone Tree Saloon as the basis for my hero’s home in the first book. After that, I stumbled upon the little town’s historical information website, and that was a goldmine of ideas! I scoured different websites regarding the history of the town and found so many nuggets, I just had to work most of them into the plots.
Of your published books which is your favorite?
And why/what makes it your favorite? I have 11 published right now but I guess the first one is still my favorite, because it was a labor of love. The title is ONCE IN A WHILE, and it’s my own parents’ romance set in a fictional format.
Out of all your characters which is your least favorite?
Hmm, that’s a hard one. I guess maybe the hero’s father in HER BLUE-EYED LIEUTENANT, the 3rd book of my WWII series. He gave Gary, my hero, such a hard time. Although I tried to let the readers see the dad’s POV, with Gary being his only son, writing their arguments really took a lot out of me. I’d usually have to get up and go do something else to get my mind out of their emotions, lol. I did, however, redeem the dad in the epilogue, lol.
What is it you want to do when you get a chance to rest?
Read!
Have you always wanted to write?
No, not really. I’ve always loved to read, from the time I was in grade school, one of my favorite places to go was the library that was six blocks away. But I only dabbled in writing until I was in my 50’s.
How do you develop your characters?
Different ways. Sometimes they are loosely based on people I know, or maybe a character from a tv show or movie. Then once I establish in my mind what they look and sound like, I start to give them backgrounds and personalities. Many of my male characters somehow end up resembling in some way my husband, sons, or brothers. I wonder why that is, lol.
Her Blue-Eyed Sergeant
He has his life all planned out – until one night at a dance at the USO in town, he meets her…
A secret blurted out in a moment of anger had turned Staff Sergeant Eugene Banks’ life upside down, but he moved on and made a good life for himself. At the moment, he’s concentrating on solving a mystery he had stumbled onto at his job over the motor pool at Fort Knox.
Vivian Powell is contented with her life; she has family, friends, and a good job as a bank teller. Although she was nursing a broken heart, she has since moved forward and isn’t looking for love. At the urging of a friend, she decides to join the war effort by becoming a junior hostess at the local USO…
These two people meet one fateful night at a dance, and their lives are everlastingly changed. What follows is a beautiful courtship, while dodging the fact that she signed an agreement to be available every Saturday night to dance with dozens of soldiers, and in spite of two confusing mysteries that refuse to be solved. Beautiful, that is, until Vivian catches Gene doing the very thing that he swore he would never do, and it nearly rips their romance in two!
If you love stories about WWII and the “Greatest Generation” that read like you’re watching a classic movie, with handsome soldiers and beautiful girls-next-door, then Her Blue-Eyed Sergeant is for you!
This is the first book in the Soldiers of Swing series. Get it now and meet Gene and Viv.
Book 2 will be Her Blue-Eyed Corporal, and Book 3 will be Her Blue-Eyed Lieutenant.
These are clean romances that contain no profanity or illicit sex.
Abigail Kay Harris 
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