We recently connected with Lynda Bailey and have shared our conversation below.

Lynda, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I often say (because it’s true) I’m a born storyteller. However, being a storyteller and being an author are two very different things and require very different skill sets. While the stories were in my head, I needed to learn how to put them on paper in a logical and (hopefully) entertaining way. In the beginning, my writing was hit or miss – mostly miss. It took patience (not my strong suit), good critique groups and time – lots of time – for me to take my convoluted writing and hone it into something readable.
If I had been smarter, I would’ve taken creative writing classes from the start versus trying to emulate the authors I was reading at the time. I’m sure members of my first critique group wanted to strangle me because I couldn’t wrap my brain around the concepts of point of view or showing versus telling or story and character arcs. I could’ve spared myself a lot of frustration (and tears) if I’d taken a creative writing class or two.
As I mentioned, writing and storytelling take two different skill sets, but both are equally vital for the reader to find enjoyment in your stories. If you focus more on the writing, then the story will no doubt suffer and vice versa. You simply cannot have one without the other; they are both essential.
The biggest obstacle to me learning more was (and probably still is) my stubborn streak. But once I realized I didn’t know everything there is to know about either writing or storytelling, both endeavors became easier. Not a lot easier, but easier, nonetheless.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

As I’ve said, I’m a born storyteller, having told my first whooper of a story in kindergarten. In a nutshell, the mom of one of the boys in my class had a baby girl and the teacher, Mrs. Downey, showered all kinds of love on the new “big brother.” Well, I decided I wanted some of that sugar, so the next day I stood up during show-n-tell and announced my mom was going to have a baby. The reaction wasn’t what I wanted from Mrs. Downey so the following day, I again stood before my class and stated my mom had had a baby boy. Of course she hadn’t and while I was thoroughly admonished for my “storytelling,” I have yet to give up on my storytelling obsession.
I write spicy romances (aka erotic romance) and not erotica. No offense to those who write or enjoy erotica, it’s just not what I write. I write mostly contemporary, spicy romances where the sex scenes are motivated, graphic and on the page. They also play a pivotal role in the storyline, which isn’t the case with erotica. In erotica, the sex scenes are just that – sex. (Again no shade thrown.) All my stories have a happily-ever-after or at least a happily-for-now ending. They also do a deep-dive into the emotions of the various characters. I’ve discovered having an emotional connection between the reader and the character(s) further enhances the enjoyment.
To date, I have ten books in print, but more stories (shorts and novellas) are available digitally. I’m proud of each and every one of them because they represent many sleepless nights and pages of scribbled notes where I fought, and eventually won, the battle with my muse. Writing is hard, but it’s the kind of hard I do willingly – most of the time. My genre isn’t for everyone, and I respect that. But if you’re looking for emotionally gripping romances with lots of spice, I hope you look me up. As my tagline says… Ordinary Characters – Extraordinary Romances.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Very early in my writing career, long before I published my first book, I became extremely frustrated with, well, everything. My muse(s) had taken a powder so the stories weren’t flowing. Nor were the words coming and, if they did, they sounded amateurish and forced. I couldn’t seem to write a grocery list, let alone a novel so I declared myself officially done. Told my husband I didn’t intend to pursue this endeavor. Life was too short to spend time being tied up in knots. Thus, I packed away my files, cleaned my office and, with a sigh, turned off my computer.
That declaration lasted less than a day. When Hubs came home the next evening, he looked in my office and said, “I thought you were done.”
Yeah…well…my brain maybe thought I was, but my heart said differently. When you have voices in your head clamoring to get out, it’s either let them out or go crazy. Being a storyteller means you submit to the voices while being an author means you’re just on this side of crazy.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The greatest driving force for me in this insane creative journey is to share my stories with other readers. I’m not trying to imply I’m some great author/storyteller because I know I’m not. But I took such joy in reading romances as an adult, I simply want to (hopefully) share that joy with other lovers of the genre. I’m not in this to make tons of money and I definitely don’t have any desire to get a traditional publishing contract. I just want to share what the crazy voices in my head are telling me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.authorlyndabailey.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/author.lyndabailey?igsh=OHAxYjd0b3J5Njcy&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/16JdHE3AcE/?mibextid=wwXIfr
• Other: TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@author.lynda.bailey?_t=ZP-8wvvoYU4mac&_r=1