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
