Books by Linden’s Clients
Not every writing coach client wants to publish a book. But it sure has been a blast helping those who do realize their dreams. Here’s the ever-growing list of books published by my writing coach clients.
Fiction
Barbara Hinske is a force of nature when it comes to writing and online promotion. In addition to publishing her first couple of murder mysteries, she’s completed even more novels in her Coming to Rosemont series, while also dashing off The Christmas Club, a sweet and hugely successful novella that Hallmark made into a 2019 Christmas movie. Did I mention that she’s published several more novels in the Guiding Emily series and that Hallmark made the first one into a movie that aired in the fall of 2023? Did I mention all the novellas? Brainstorming plotlines with Barb for all these books never gets old.
There’s nothing like seeing your book in print for the very first time. Going Barefoot is a cozy mystery with a free-spirited protagonist, Bailey, you’ll fall in love with. At least I did. Jeff Hutcheson’s second novel in his Lost Key Mystery Series, Going Blue, was published in October 2023. This time, Bailey’s best friend is the star. He is currently at work on the third novel in the series. And you’re not going to believe the focus of this one!
I’m not sure I’ve ever had more fun editing a manuscript. I got lost in Morri Stewart’s Faltofar fantasy world and adventure–based on bedtime stories she told her twins when they were little–every time I went through the book.
Gnan Thakore, MD, who specializes in critical care and internal medicine, wanted to introduce his young nephew to the concepts of yoga. So, he wrote a novel called The Structure of Peace. Along the way, learned plenty. Much more importantly, so did his nephew and a lot of other young adults.
Using his experience as a Delta pilot and founding member of the company’s Crew Resource Management (CRM) team, Art Samson had plenty of knowledge to draw from for his novel We’re Going Down, an updated version of The Captain’s Airline with a new cover, preface, prologue and author’s note. A second novel in the works will involve the main characters in some of today’s most cutting-edge issues.
In 2015, Jeff Lanier set out to write a Cold War thriller set in New York’s art world. He worked with me in the very early stages of his book writing process, and finally published his novel to acclaim eight years later. Yay, Jeff! So proud that you completed what can be such a daunting journey.
Memoir & Nonfiction
What a treat to help Olympic champion Michael Johnson shape his book Gold Rush, as he explored what makes an Olympic champion.
Jeff Swaney’s None of the Answers is a rich, textured, tell-all page-turner that launches the reader into memory lane, stirring a search for our own best selves through reflection and questioning beliefs. It explores how we manage the chaos of living full-on while thriving with patience, perseverance, persistence, and purpose. The search for answers with pants-pulled-down self-deprecation provides an avenue for reader’s introspection, hair-pulling, and deep belly laughs. Fasten your seatbelts!
This love story is told through the eyes and heart of a husband as he struggles with his worst fears during what he and everyone else expects to be his wife’s losing battle to breast cancer. Despite the aggressive and entrenched disease, however, Sam’s wife, Susan, doesn’t die.
Unlike most cancer memoirs, the book doesn’t focus on the patient’s tough journey to health, but rather on Sam’s experience.
Kirkus Review writes:
Happily, this moving book suggests that people’s fears are not always manifested in reality in quite the way they anticipated. A lucid, unexpectedly uplifting, and affecting celebration of love that finds hope in despair.
This book’s title and subtitle perfectly describe HR specialist Christine Frazer’s HR Step 1, The Surprisingly Fun Guide to Human Resources.
Together wealth manager David Rosell and I found a way to combine 10 years of travel and living in 65 different countries with financial advice. Failure Is NOT an Option has turned into David’s main marketing tool. He followed that up with Keep Climbing: A Millennial’s Guide to Financial Planning, which shares key financial advice couched in more travel adventures. David’s latest book, In the Know, written with colleague Rodney Cook, uses stories to demonstrate how people can turn unneeded life insurance policies into serious cash.
Leslie Absher was one of my very first clients. I’m proud to say that I helped her get her memoir, Spy Daughter, Queer Girl: In Search of Truth and Acceptance in a Family of Secrets off the ground. It took a heck of a lot of work after we stopped working together, but she finished her book and found a publisher. How great is that?
Diane has written a lovely, little book that has the power to change lives. In her words: “Flow: Unlock Your Genius, Love What You Do weaves scientific principles, stories, positive psychology, inspiration, and actionable steps to go beyond what you ever thought possible.” We started talking about this book over a beer. Less than a year later, the book’s not only been written and self-published, it hit #1 in three different Amazon categories when it launched. Talk about flow!
Mortgage lender Matt Huffman’s book Don’t Take No for an Answer: Think You Can’t Get a Mortgage? Think Again argues that if you can afford to rent, you can afford to buy. He’s already proving that point to people who have reached out after reading his book.
When Shani Raviv brought me her first draft of being Ana, the memoir’s this-happened-and-then-that-happened approach just didn’t work. Our conversations about chapter themes led to a book about overcoming anorexia nervosa that is now being used in women’s study classes.
Jim Mazziotti’s book The Challenge: How 144 Letters Changed My Life, the Life of My Son, and Will Change Your Life Too is not only helping parents and their children, it has led to him being asked to serve on the board for the National Guard Youth Foundation. So that’s yet another platform for him to share his story.
Wendy Coblentz’s It’s Your Fault takes the reader on a humorous journey through back pain, the stress of raising a teenager and self-discovery. Talk about fun, productive idea exchanges!
Mortgage broker Tracia Larimar chose to promote her business by providing prospects with a guide to saving money when applying for a mortgage process titled 7 Ways to Pay More for Your Mortgage—Or Not. I love her tongue-in-cheek title, which reflects her personality.
Nita Belle’s In Our Backyard explores the problem of human trafficking in the U.S. from a Christian perspective. I’m honored to have helped deliver such an important message.
Michelle Dickinson-Moravek’s Breaking Into My Life is a brutally candid memoir that chronicles the impact that growing up with a mentally ill mother had on her and how that experience continues to compromise her as an adult. The book is painfully revealing as it is uplifting and hopefully will inspire many to realize that they can overcome adversity in their lives as well.
In his books Salt Kills and Salt: Black America’s Silent Killer, Dr. Surender Neravetla, a heart surgeon and Director of Cardiac Surgery at Springfield Regional Medical Center, imparts his message about the dangers of salt in simple-to-understand language. When you’re sharing your expertise with the lay person, it helps to have someone who knows nothing about what you’re talking about. That’s where I came in.
I had a hard time helping retired police lieutenant, retired attorney and true-crime writer Andy Boles with his gritty book because I’m such a weenie. But I’m proud that in addition to Piercing the Lion Heart: The True Crime Story of the Betrayal and Murder of Undercover Cop Jimmy Hoff, he has gone on to write and publish Monster on Gypsy Hill.
Michele Ulriksen was determined to translate her harrowing experience in an unlicensed/unregulated, fundamentalist Baptist reform school into a memoir that would help close down these kinds of lock-down facilities. I was proud to help her do that.
I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting Kyla Merwin’s travels with her as she wrote her memoir about love and loss called Lost & Found in Egypt.
Whether providing guidance on the developmental editing or the rewriting fronts, I was honored to work with Jim Schell, one of Bend, Oregon’s true movers and shakers on his CoolREADS series.
Tara-Nicholle Nelson’s Savvy Woman’s Homebuying Handbook tells readers absolutely everything they need to know when buying a house. Maybe that’s why HGTV syndicated it. Tara switched gears a few years later with her book titled, The Transformational Consumer: Fuel a Lifelong Love Affair with Your Customers by Helping Them Get Healthier, Wealthier, and Wiser. While I didn’t have to help her on the coaching front, I was honored to be involved in the conceptual phase.
Bend landscapers Sarah Whipple and Fred Swisher wanted to write books that would delineate their landscape philosophy while promoting their business. They succeeded on both fronts with 55 Myths, Tips & Secrets and Simple Landscaping.
