Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I worked in corporate America for over 20 years before receiving a severance package during that year’s downsizing effort. The last 10 years of my career was filled with enormous amounts of personal and emotional pain. I never anticipated receiving the greatest gift of all when I lost my job. In the year that followed, I wrote the first and second drafts of my memoir and pursued certification as a life coach. Perfectly Negative is my first book.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Perfectly Negative: How I Learned to Embrace Life’s Lemons/Lessons. The title was inspired by two people: 1. my oncologist who delivered the best results I could receive from PET scan, and 2. my own tragic life…that is, for ten tragic years of my life when I lost my mother to breast cancer, my husband to divorce, my dad to cancer, my own breasts to breast cancer, and my sister to breast cancer…all before losing my long-term boyfriend and my job. But if not for all those negative experiences, I would not have found true love and my true life’s purpose.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I only write in my journal when I’m sad, confused, or angry. Turns out, that habit served me well while writing my memoir.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz…the book that should be required reading for all humans.
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert…the first book I was able to read years after my mother passed away.
What are you working on now?
Building my coaching and retreat business and, most recently, letting the idea for my next book ferment inside me. I will definitely be non-fiction because tried fiction and I just can’t make sh*t up! I’d like to write more deeply about how writing my memoir transformed the direction for the rest of my life.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Book signing events, book clubs, clients and client referrals, and Facebook.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Writing is the easy part; invest in marketing and promotion
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
You don’t have to try so hard to be yourself ~ as delivered by a Medium, from my dad.
What are you reading now?
The Book That Matters Most by Ann Hood
What’s next for you as a writer?
Journal and blog consistently and scribble ideas for next book.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Four Agreements, A Mind of Your Own, some sort of island cookbook, and maybe a photo album of loved ones
Author Websites and Profiles
Linda Carvelli Website
Linda Carvelli Amazon Profile
Linda Carvelli’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account