We Love… Linda Kage

The series of fabulous interviews continues with Linda Kage. Since reading the first book from the Forbidden Series I was irrevocably hooked and couldn’t wait to read another one of her amazing stories. As I told her in a Goodreads message, I want her to keep on writing this series until I am 90 🙂 So, here it goes. Linda Kage loves her family and her work. She was so opened to every question that I had for her, and as you could see, she really did her best to answer in an honest manner each one of them. I am very lucky to know her, because she is simply amazing and so easy to talk to:) I wish her luck in her upcoming projects and I am sure she will rock in everything she has in mind of doing. Please keep an eye on her because she is extremely talented, with stories and characters that will melt your heart and make you a fan of hers.

Ramona: What were the most difficult aspects in beginning your career as a writer?

Linda: I’m a pretty insecure person, so my biggest challenge of getting involved in the book world has always been just getting past my own fears of failure and rejection and not giving up. I’ve always loved creating stories and working through plots and coming up with new characters and trying to bring something meaningful to the table. So that part was easy…fairly. It was taking brutal critiques, and receiving rejection after rejection from publishers or agents, and then seeing unfavorable reviews which was and still is the most difficult aspect. As sensitive as I am, I’m kind of surprised I didn’t give up years ago, but it’s made me appreciate the critiques and rejections even more by helping me show myself how important writing really is to me. I’m willing to work past my biggest fears to keep picking away at it!

Ramona: What do you love most about writing?

Linda: New story ideas! When I get this scene in my head and throw in some characters who start having some witty dialogue, and it feels so real to me that I can see and feel and taste everything in that moment, it makes me incredibly, dorkily giddy. So yeah, just creating the story for the first time is my high.  There’s no other feeling like it in the world for me!    

Ramona: What keeps you busy besides your books?

Linda: Well, I’m married with two daughters (one is seven the other is fifteen-months old), so that could keep me busy all day, every day. Then I have a full time job at a university library in the acquisitions department on top of that. I am the youngest of eight children with seventeen nieces and nephews and six great-nieces and nephews, so there’s always family things going on. I love to read when I can. If I had the time, I’d probably read all day long. And then I have to the two best online friends (Hi, Lindsay and Lauren!) who I have to talk to every day or the day just feels weird and all wrong.  

Ramona: With what hero from the Forbidden Series would you go on a date with? My personal favorite is Quinn and I am dying to know your answer :)) and if Quinn is not interested, I will go with Brandt :))

Linda: Oh goodness!!  I’m not sure! I’ve always been the most obsessed with Ten, but I have a bad feeling he’d be way too much for me. So I’ll just keep secretly drooling over him from afar. I know Pick would treat me right, but then, maybe he’d give me too much nice attention and it’d make me all blushy and shy. So, you know, I think I agree with you, Ramona! I’d probably be the most comfortable with Quinn too. Though, seriously, I pretty much love something about all of them!  Sorry, was that a cop-out answer, wasn’t it?  I can’t help it!  They’re all drool-worthy to me!

Ramona: What book from the Forbidden Series was the most difficult to write and what was the easiest?

Linda: Hmm…most difficult?  I’m going to have to think about that one. But I know for sure  Price of a Kiss was definitely the easiest to write. When the idea for that one came, it was like, snap, the entire story just popped into my head. I didn’t have to worry about making it fit up with any of the others in the series either, because I had no idea it’d turn into a series when I started it, I could just do my own thing without worrying about what anyone would think of it because no one was expecting it. Which probably means Consolation Prize was the most difficult, because I was constantly worried about expectations and I was going through a bit of a rough patch when I wrote it (whacked-out hormones from having kid number two, I think!).   

Ramona: What couple from the Forbidden Series do you cherish the most?

Linda: Do I have to pick just one?  I don’t know. Each couple was special to me while I was wrote their story, but Mason and Reese probably stuck with me since they were the first, and I liked Ten and Caroline since it took so many books to build up to their relationship, and Brandt and Sarah’s too.  But I probably related the most to Quinn and Zoey, so I like them as well! 

Ramona: Who designed the covers for your books? They are amazing and I particularly like With Every Heartbeat and Worth it 😀 

Linda: Sarah Hansen from Okay Creations made the cover for Price of a Kiss. Ada Frost, an author and my awesome friend, made the cover for The Girl’s Got Secrets.  And I made the rest, buying stock images from mostly Shutterstock.com and then using the photo editing program Adobe Photoshop Elements to create them.  And thank you, I’m so glad you liked With Every Heartbeat and Worth It!  That makes my happy 🙂 and blushy!

Ramona: What do you consider are your assets as a Contemporary Romance writer?

Linda: Hmm…I don’t know!! Sorry, my mind just went totally blank on that one!  DO I have assets?!  LOL

Ramona: How do you pick your plots for the books? I am asking you because the plots and the characters are so diverse and I believe you are amazing by having so much inspiration 😀

Linda: Oh, thank you!  I’m blushing again.  You’re so nice.  I mostly just feel like a big copycat. The plot for Price of a Kiss came from reading the blurb for another book someone else published (Okay, fine, it was an Abbi Glines book). In fact, I didn’t let myself read that other book until I finished writing my story so I couldn’t steal too much from it! But it made my mind stir with so many what-ifs, that I just started writing them down and they kept coming and coming until, wham, there was this entire story finished.  Thankfully, the two books ended up being totally different.  Then Pick and Eva’s story came from Price of a Kiss. I wanted Pick to be a poor guy to her rich girl status, but then I wanted her to be likeable so I had to give her a bad past, and you know, I have no idea where the glimpse thing came from, probably from reading too many paranormal romances! For To Professor, with Love, I’d always thought it would be a neat twist to make the girl the teacher and the guy the student for a student-teacher romance. And Ten and Caroline’s story morphed from that book, as did Brandt and Sarah’s. I had to work around Sarah’s CP because I’d already given it to her in Price of a Kiss. In Worth It, I’d had this story idea of a guy being arrested because of the father of his childhood romance and then years later, the two reuniting.  And since it was a forbidden romance, I found a way to incorporate it into the series, which opened up some interesting twists. My sister loves stories where the woman pretends to be a guy, so I had to make one of my books in honor of her (Hello The Girl’s Got Secrets!). And yeah, most every idea I get is from reading other books, or watching movies, or watching and listening to other people’s lives. My own life is certainly not like any of that, so I didn’t get any of my ideas  from personal experiences! I just take what I’ve already observed in the world and start thinking “what if” until a new story evolves into its own monster!

Ramona: What is your biggest dream when referring about writing and books?

Linda: I’ve always kind of wanted to walk into a bookstore and see one of MY stories sitting on the shelves for sale. Since my stories are more e-book, I’ve never actually been able to do that yet, but the dream’s still alive, so maybe one day…hopefully, it will come true!

Ramona: What is your dream collaboration? Would you like to write a book in collaboration with another writer?

Linda: Ada Frost is my dream collaborator!  Maybe, hopefully, that will come true one day too!

Ramona: What surprises do you have in stored for your readers?

Linda: I think I gave away all my surprises the other week on my blog!!  I wrote a big post about most of the story ideas I have so one of those will most likely what you’ll see coming from me next! http://lindakage.blogspot.com/2017/02/in-works.html

Ramona: To conclude, please share a message for the readers 🙂

Linda: Hi, readers!  Thank you for taking the time to make it all the way down to here on this interview.  I appreciate it.  If there’s only one thing you need to take away from all this, it’s that I’m crazy.  Wait!  No, that’s not what you’re supposed to get from this.  Oh, right. Lesson. The lesson is that not giving up is what got me to where I am, and I’m hoping it keeps getting me where I want to be. So never give up on your dreams either!  They’re worth fighting for!  Good luck and happy reading, Linda Kay!

For any other info about Linda and her work, you can access her website or Goodreads account below:

http://www.lindakage.com/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3213942.Linda_Kage