Sunday, May 31, 2009

Meet Author Linda Asato

My guest this month in our VBT-Writers on the Move group is Linda Asato. Linda is a fairly new member, so please take time to get to know her better. Let’s start with Linda Asato’s picture:



Now let’s learn about Linda’s background:

Biography – Linda Asato

Linda grew up in the Canadian woods on her father’s lumber camp. She and her younger sister shared a bedroom in a 3-bedroom house that her father and his men built on the edge of a small river within sight of the sawmill and planer mill. Her family life was one of security, encouragement, and love, which helped to foster her talents of writing and playing the piano. Not having access to TV or other entertainment sources, Linda found herself interested in life itself, and when she wasn’t taking long walks in the woods with her two dogs, she became interested in oil painting landscapes, taking photos with her camera, fishing, playing the recorder as well as the accordion and piano. Helping her mother with the huge garden in the summer and harvesting the crops in the fall nurtured her love of plants and gardening, which later became her area of study at the university in Edmonton, Alberta.

She began writing poetry at the age of nine and shared her poems daily with her Grade 3 teacher, who supplied her with fancy notepaper on which to write them.

Later, she took to writing short stories, and her teacher at that time mentioned to her parents that she had a unique way of viewing things from the other person’s perspective.

During her three years of attending University, she wrote numerous poems, two of which appeared in two separate anthologies of poetry. During the last year, she married Brian Smith and completed her Bachelor of Science. Moving to Thompson, Manitoba, the couple had two kids, a boy and a girl that kept Linda busy raising a family for the next few years. She was divorced years later and raised her two kids mainly on her own while running her own janitorial business to keep the family financially afloat.
As her own kids grew up and left home, Linda worked for many years both as a teacher and also as an executive at a boarding ranch school where kids lived and worked together as well as studied. It was here that she wrote many courses including workbooks for the education of the students.

Years later, she moved to Florida where she endeavored to continue her writing and even editing for others. As a ghostwriter, she wrote a book on mortgage traps, as well as a book on improving one’s credit score, plus many other shorter reports. She has edited for others over the past 4 years.

Her first picture book for children, “Spider in Our Mailbox,” is now published by 4RV Publishing and illustrated brilliantly by Ryan Shaw. We’ll look more at her book in my second post about her in a few days.

Now for a bit of Q & A with Linda Asato:

Q: You were raised in the forest in a lumber camp in a very caring and religious family. How did this affect your writing?

A: When I was young, I became very close to nature, animals, plants, trees and the outdoors. Many of my poems reflect this. I also have a deep spiritual side of me that is actually not like the usual one you would see in someone brought up going to church at least twice a week. Many times this comes out in my writing, although very subtly.

Q: How has your educational background affect the subject matter of your writing?

A: I had a very good education and great teachers. The most important thing I learned in school and also from my father was to question everything and to investigate. Therefore, I love to do research, and this helps me to write about subjects that I initially have no inkling about.

Q: What hobbies, interests, or activities do you participate in during your leisure time?

A: I garden and spend time outdoors with my two cats and the two dogs that I am taking care of at the moment. I often take my camera with me and take pictures of the environment around me. Then, of course, I teach piano, so I enjoy playing my electric keyboard and composing music as well.

Q: What keeps you writing?

A: I get these awesome ideas for a book or an essay and I just can’t keep from writing it down. I also get such a thrill when I write something I am inspired to write that I want to experience it over and over again.

URLs for Linda Asato:
Website: http://www.lindaswritingweb.yolasite.com , Linda’s Writing Web

Blog: href="http://lindaswritingdesk@blogspot.com ">http://www.lindaswritingdesk@blogspot.com , Linda’s Writing Desk
(The heck with trying to link! To go to Linda's blog, just click on her listing at top of the column of links listed at right side of my blog just after my book cover. :-) )



Please drop back by in a couple of days to learn more about Linda’s book, “Spider in Our Mailbox”.

Cheers!

Harry

12 comments:

Unknown said...

It was good to know a little more about a fellow 4RV author. Linda, your background no doubt made you the writer you are today, because learning to observe is half of a writer's battle.

Harry, may I recommend making the links clickable? Thanks

Nancy Famolari said...

Great to learn more about Linda. What an interesting childhood growing up in a lumber camp. I'm eager to hear more about her children's books.

Liana said...

Beautiful post Harry!
I learned a lot about Linda-I 've greatly enjoyed reading her bio and interview.

Linda,
your life in the woods must have been exciting-it reminds me of tales I read in my childhood. I am curious to read one of your stories for kids.

Liana

Vivian Zabel said...

Thank you, Harry, for posting an interesting item about Linda, who is one of the 4RV Publishing authors.

I agree with Crystalee that making the URLs clickable would be a good idea.

Oh, did you realize that Linda is also a W.Com member, Loti?

Harry Gilleland said...

Crystalee, Nancy, Liana, & Vivian ~~

Thank you all for commenting.

I cannot seem to make my links clickable!! I usually cannot get any to work in my blog, but somehow I got one of today's two to working. I tried six times on the second without success. I'm open for directions, except for harming my computer with some blunt instrument (which I HAVE considered). :-(

Vivian, I had not realized Linda was Writing.com's Loti. Thanks for informing me.

Well, thank you all once again for stopping by.

Harry

Vivian Zabel said...

Harry, if you highlight the URL, phrase, or title you want to make into a clickable link, then click on the link icon at the top of the post (where you choose bold, italics, etc.), and type in the URL. Since the http:// is already there, be sure to delete that if you add the full link including the http://. Then click on okay. You have a link that can be clicked. To make the link embedded, you don't type the URL in your post, but highlight the name of the website or blog or whatever and click on the link. When you hit okay, the name or whatever you highlighted is then a link.

Donna McDine said...

Enjoyed learning so much about Linda and her growing up years. Quite intriquing.

Best wishes for your continued success.

Regards,
Donna
www.familiesmatter2usblogspot.com

Unknown said...

It was great to learn about Linda. Can't wait to learn about her books!

Karen Cioffi said...

Great interview, Harry. And, Linda, it wonderful to know more about our newest member.

We have a couple of things in common. I was divorced when my kids were 3 and 7. I went to college and worked. I also play some piano and guitar, and took accordion lessons as a kid.

Looking forward to learning more about you!

Karen

Harry Gilleland said...

Vivian, thank you for the explanation.

Donna, Kathy, & Karen ~

I appreciate your stopping in and leaving a comment.

Cheers!

Harry

Joyce Anthony said...

Great post, harry. Linda-I hope the spider has a positive spot in the book-those poor litle things usually geta bad rap! Vivian--thank you-I have been trying to figure out how to make words into links!

Carolyn Howard-Johnson said...

Pleased to meet you, Linda. Thank you for bring Linda to us, Harry. My granddaughters will thank you, too. (-:

Best,
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Blogging at Writer's Digest 101 Best Website picks, www.sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com