Meet Lynn Donovan

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lynn Donovan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Lynn, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.

This question makes me giggle. As an author or a creative, I imagine we all have to overcome imposter syndrome. Sometimes, we have to overcome it every day. Other times, we only have to overcome it occasionally. But it will hit you when you least expect it. Imposter syndrome happens when we step out of our comfort zone and choose to try something different or new. While I know I’m pretty good at what I do, in my case to write an interesting story, when I choose to write in a different genre or time frame, I feel scared I’m not good enough. How I overcome– is I call a trusted friend and I confess I’m having these feelings and we talk it out until we are laughing at how silly it was of me to think I could not do anything I set my mind to. Then I move ahead.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I am an author. I write mini-vacations that you, the reader, can take in the privacy and comfort of your favorite location in your house. God blessed me with the ability to make up stories and tell them in an entertaining way that will not offend your great-grandma or expose your granddaughter to any kind of an adult situation that they don’t need to know about at their tender age. In other words, I write clean and wholesome stories.

BUT, I love to twist my plots so that the reader is shocked when they get to the plot twist, or they are biting their fingernails right up to the point at which my plot twist happens and then, they are relieved the character made the decision they made. This is why my logo says Romance with a Twist. I love to keep the reader guessing.

And my superpower is that I write these stories with a little mini Sunday school lesson hidden in the prose. The reader, if they are paying attention, will walk away with an example in their heart of how to be a good person.
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I have a new book coming out nearly every month, so follow me on Amazon.com/author/ldonovan for the next opportunity for you to take a break and slide into another world where you can relax and fall in love for a few hours.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Network! I would not be where I am as an author without those who helped me. Experienced people who are willing to help the newbys are a vital part of becoming whatever you strive to become. Some discernment is necessary too. Not everybody will be looking out for your best interests. But when you can find and latch onto those who sincerely want you to succeed also. Then you have your networking circle. As you grow and learn, opportunities will come along for you to do the same and help someone new grow and learn and be successful.

Be willing to learn. If you think you already know everything, then how are you going to grow? and TRUST ME, you don’t know everything simply because in this business (publishing stories) the answers to the questions change constantly. If you are not one who LOVES to dig into what is the latest greatest technique that works, then find that person who does and learn from them. Your circle of people will grow and shrink and you need it to.

Seek to improve your art. I believe live in general is a constant stairway in which you keep moving up and becoming better than you were yesterday. Never get comfortable with your skills. Always seek to improve. Whether by taking classes, workshops, reading craft books, or reading skilled authors to emulate their techniques, attending conferences, talking to those you admire, etc. Keep seeking to improve.

We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?

I have to go for “well rounded” and here’s why. As an indie author, which means I write and publish my own books, I have no choice but to know a little about all aspects of the business of books. I have to plan, research, design covers (I hire graphic artists now), write, edit (although I hire good editors to finalize my manuscripts), market, advertise, and sell each and every book. It is hard to know everything there is to know about everything. And like I said before, the answers change all the time. So, I feel it is mandatory to do what you do well, learn as much as your skull will hold about what you do not know, and build a network of people you can trust to help you with the things that you are the weakest in. I have a grammar editor that I found and will never use anyone else. Even if a series requires a certain person to review each story, my stories go through my person first and then the “required” editor last.

How I found her is a fun story. About ten years ago, I knew I needed someone to edit my writing for grammar mishaps, but I didn’t have the money to hire anyone. So I prayed God would put someone in my path who would be willing to edit for free until I made enough to pay them. Literally, the next Sunday, I was at church and a gal struck up a conversation with me about how her dream had always been to edit for an author. I told her, I could make that dream come true. She edited for me for free until my royalties exceeded $1,000 a month, then I started paying her. She is my grammar editor to this day.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

JW Woodfin, photographer

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