Author Interview-Lynne M. Spreen


Dakota Blues:

In this award-winning debut novel, workaholic Karen Grace is fired after attending her mother's funeral in her Midwestern hometown. Now Karen is fifteen hundred miles from home, just one more middle-aged worker out of a job in a tough economy. To make matters worse, her husband recently left her for his pregnant girlfriend. At a crossroads, Karen must find the courage to change. Needing time to think, she agrees to take an elderly neighbor on one last road trip, but on a deserted highway in Wyoming, Karen is forced to make a lethal and life-changing decision.

What inspired you to become a writer?

I’m one of those kids who wanted to write from the time they were old enough to hold a pencil. I kid you not: I invented a genealogy chart for my plastic horses!

But even though I craved writing, I wasn’t able to publish my first book until I was 58 years old. With work and parenting and life in general, I just couldn’t do it, although I took classes and wrote bits and pieces all through my life.

My first novel, Dakota Blues, is women’s fiction with a 50-year-old main character. Dakota Blues won an award and has over 150 reviews on Amazon. I followed that with Key Largo Blues and Goodbye to the Blues, and just recently published California Blues, a novella that serves as a prequel to the series.

I write about older people because I’m fascinated by the idea that we can start over at the halfway point in our lives. My series is primarily women’s fiction with varying degrees of romance, but my new series will be pure romance. I call it Silver Romance, because the characters are ages 45 and up.

Who are your favorite romance characters (besides your own?)

I love the rodeo-themed stories and characters in Laura Drake’s books.

Tell me what inspired this story.

To be honest, my difficult childhood set me on a course of rebellion. I didn’t want to be trapped by a man, a job, or society’s rules. Well, that program didn’t work out so well—I married badly twice, and stayed in the same profession for thirty years! But in my head, I was free, and that’s what I write about. Still do, actually.

What is one of your favorite romantic locales?

Sedona, Arizona, which is why my new series is based there. I hope to have the first couple books out by spring, 2019.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

I’d love for them to sign up for my reader group, and if they do, they’ll get a free short story available nowhere else. For that, they can click here: https://anyshinything.com/newsletter

My Amazon page .

And my website is here: https://AnyShinyThing.com/

Special treat: If you like stories with main characters who are age forty and up, I created a list of more than fifty books by a ton of different authors. Whether romance or thriller or memoir, all the main characters are older and wiser. To see my list, click here: http://bit.ly/MidlifeFictionTitles


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