What's your name, and where are you from?
As
you’ve probably guessed by now, my name is Linda Jackson, and I’m from the
teeny tiny town of Rosedale,
Mississippi, population 1,852 (including cats and dogs). I now live in the northern part of Mississippi
just outside of Memphis, Tennessee. My husband and I have also lived in Alabama,
Kansas, and Missouri.
How long have you been writing?
I wrote my first
manuscript 18 years ago. And, no, I didn’t start writing when I was a kid. J
What genre(s) do you write?
I’ve been told that I
have a pretty good middle-grade voice. So I’ll go with that. I’m also published
in Chicken Soup for the Soul. So I guess I write inspirational non-fiction,
too.
What's your current WIP? Can you tell us about it?
I currently have two
manuscripts waiting to be read by a few agents, so I’m not actively working on
anything new right now. I have a couple of stories brewing in my head, but I
don’t know enough about the characters/plot/setting to tell much about them
yet. J
What's your current day job? How does it help or hinder your
writing?
My current day job, hmm…
cook, dishwasher, laundress, taxi driver, butler, housekeeper, CFO, CEO, accountant,
secretary, you name it—I do it.
Frankly, none of these
hinder my writing. My writing is hindered when I don’t make it a priority. I
could choose to write all day if I wanted to, but I don’t. I write in small
chunks of time while living the life around me.
Who is your favorite author?
I don’t have a favorite
author. I just love a good story that pulls me into the lives of the characters
and holds me there until the end. I don’t care who wrote it. J
Favorite book?
Same as above. I just
love a good story with characters I can care about.
What other hobbies or activities do you do outside of writing?
Do talking to my kids
and joking around with them count? I don’t have actual hobbies. But I do love
books and computers. And I like being around people, laughing,
and having a good time.
What is something unique about yourself?
Absolutely nothing.
Seriously, I don’t have any quirk that I’m sure someone else doesn’t have too.
…like I thought it was interesting that I can’t wear a watch, because the
electricity in my body kills the battery. Well, I found out other people have
that problem too. So, no, not unique. Another weird thing about me is I have to
have all my clocks, including the one in the car and on my cell phone, set a
few minutes ahead of the actual time. (The clock in the car is ten minutes
fast.) I’ve been this way since I was a kid. But, I know other people who have
this fast forward obsession too. So, again, not unique—just different.
Hmm, I wonder whether my
obsession with being one step ahead of time has anything to do with my “killing
the time” on those watches. J
Do you have a blog, Twitter, and/or Web site we can link to?
Thanks
for the interview, Charlie! You’re a gem. J
Giveaway
As an extra treat, Linda is giving away a copy of Chicken Soup for the Soul to a random commenter! Please leave your email address in your comment so I can contact you if you're the lucky winner. :)