Meet the Author Monday: Lynda Wolters

It’s Meet the Author Monday! Each week we meet a new author and get to know a little about them, their writing process, publishing experience, and tips for other writers. Today we’re talking to Lynda Wolters, author of The Placeholder.

About Lynda Wolters:

Lynda was born and raised in a tiny farming community in northern Idaho that boasted a population of 400. After high school, she traveled to New York for a few months before moving to Las Vegas to further her education. She moved back home to Idaho to raise her three sons while working in the legal field, a career that has spanned over thirty years.

Lynda spends her early mornings writing with her peekapoo at her feet, her days working, and her evenings with her husband.

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About The Placeholder

Thelma and Louise meets Eat, Pray, Love meets Me Before You in The Placeholder, an unconventional, unforgettable, unputdownable story of loss and love.

Fresh out of boxed wine and romantic prospects, Serenade Kincaid, a middle-aged attorney in Boise, Idaho, enlists the assistance of Zac, a for-sex-only companion, to ease her loneliness. It’s all fun and games until he gets married, and she falls ill.

With the stakes high, Sera’s friend/boss, Carolyn, takes things into her own hands only to find out that not everything is as it seems.
 
A great book club selection, The Placeholder is perfect for fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid, Colleen Hoover, and Abbi Waxman. 

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Author Interview with Lynda Wolters:

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1. Did you ever consider writing under a pseudonym? 

YES! The Placeholder has a modicum of truth to every experience that is played out on the pages; not saying I am the main character, Sera, but I did pull from stories when I was single. It’s really unnerving to ‘put yourself out there’ and have people wonder: Did you really do that?! I think it would have been easier to use a fake name, but in a lot of ways I think it was very empowering to put on my brave face and own everything about The Placeholder, real or not.

2. Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want? 

I actually write for myself; what I want, and how I want to read it. I am a voracious reader, and I have gone through some very difficult personal experiences and it can be annoying to not read something that resonates with me. For example,  my life has never been a cutesy rom-com all tied up in a bow at the end. So, I write the way I see things, not as others want them. (Although at times my editors have had to encourage me to be a little less ‘bold’ in my writing.) 

3. If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be? 

Start writing sooner, you silly goose! No one will die if what you write doesn’t turn out to be a best seller; but you will never be a best seller if you don’t practice, a lot. So start writing!

4. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? 

I have a real aversion to horror stories (think Stephen King). However, the man is genius with a pen. And once I read On Writing, I was hooked, not on his stories per se; they still scare the pants off me, but on his style, his structure, his visuals on paper. 

5. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? 

A Sloth. Have you ever seen one up close? They are so chill and so easy going. I run around like a crazy person trying to finish one book while writing notes for another, as I’m looking at unfinished, unedited manuscripts collecting dust on the floor. If only I could tap into some sloth-isms I may get more sleep. (Although my husband says my super power is sleeping.)

6. How do you select the names of your characters? 

I actually have a notebook (and notes on my phone) that have lists of names I like. When I hear a name and it is new to me, or unusual, or quirky, or what have you – I write it down. Or, I use names of people I like. In The Placeholder, I called a dear friend to ask if I could ‘borrow’ her name. Then I called her back and asked if I could ‘borrow’ her husband’s name. The deuteragonist in the book is called, Carolyn Scott, after my dear friend and her husband.

7. How many hours a day do you write? 

When I am writing (there are times when I have to focus on editing or marketing and then my brain gets a little scrambled and I take a break from writing), I write every morning for at least one hour, 5:30-6:30 a.m. Then often at my lunch hour, and sometimes up to eight hours a day on the weekends. 

8. How do you come up with the titles to your books? 

Titles are the hardest thing for me. I go through about a dozen before I call a lifeline. I have even gone so far as to post on social media asking for ideas, or polling my beta readers for suggestions. Ultimately, it seems my husband has a good eye for titles. He suggested the name of The Placeholder.

To learn more about Lynda Wolters, here’s where you can find her:

Website: www.lyndawolters.com
Facebook: @lyndawolters, @lyndawolters1 and @lyndawolters2
Instagram: @lyndawolters
Twitter: @lynda_wolters
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lynda-wolters-231087171

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