Jeannie Ruth & Diane Lindmark Interview at All-Con 2018
As I was walking the floor at All-Con, I came across a table that intrigued me from the shear uniqueness of its appearance. Sitting at the table were two authors, Jeannie Ruth & Diane Lindmark, with a collection of very colorful books & a whole host of hand-crafted hats. Not being one to stray from the clear appearance of creativity, I knew I had to talk to these two women. As we began to talk, I found that, while initially reserved, they both had a certain quality to them when they spoke about their books that made them light up with utter happiness to get to tell me about their stories.
As our conversation progressed into a proper interview, I realized that I had missed one fundamentally important question before we had started filming...I hadn't asked them how they knew each other! Thankfully, my mistake turned into a point of well received humor when they laughingly told me that they were mother & daughter. What was most intriguing to me was when Diane told me that she was quite dyslexic &, as a way to compensate for that, used speech to text software to write her books. Of the authors I have had a chance to speak with so far, this was definitely a first for me. However, rather than it simply being a tool to allow her to create the stories that she felt compelled to write, it also served as a kind of editor, as if forced her to acknowledge when certain sentences or paragraphs were beginning to go off track. Her books have ended up spanning multiple genres, creating a host of colorful characters.
Jeannie, on the other hand, prefers to keep her literary focus on historical fiction. While she has been writing for longer than her daughter, it was through her daughter's encouragement that she finally began to publish her work. Additionally, she has found even more creative fulfillment through adding hand-crafting unique & interesting hats to her repertoire. While the two women have not collaborated on any single story, they have worked together to help build each other's published catalog of work through mutual editing & technical support. With the help of Diane's husband asking as their mutual IT expert, they have proceeded to put themselves & their work out for the world to consume. They were such a fun pair to talk to! If you are interesting in checking out their work, be sure to visit the links below.