Meet Linda Sands | Author, Poet, Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Linda Sands and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Linda, what’s one piece of conventional advice that you disagree with?
“Write what you know.” I understand what Twain meant when he said this, but his words taken literally would have given the world a lot of very boring books. I prefer to write what I’d like to know, what I never want to know and more than anything, what I imagine.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Many authors say that they’ve always been a writer. While I’m certain that doesn’t mean they were born with the stub of a pencil gripped in their tiny baby hands, I’ve often wondered what it does mean. When does always start? If it’s from the first day you were introduced to free-writing time in elementary school, then okay, I get that. I loved free-writing time. It was even better when the teacher snuck outside to smoke and we locked her out.

I was good at that. Story-telling and mischief-making. I never thought it could be a real job, though. Maybe that’s why it took me twenty years to get serious about it— books, not mischief-making. I’m always serious about mischief.

My life approach has always been to live each day to the fullest. To say yes more than no. To travel to places I’ve never been, take jobs I’ve never had and hang out with people I may never have met in normal circumstances. Needless to say, this has fed my writing more than any college course or MFA program. During a dinner party in Pennsylvania when I heard a prominent civil rights attorney say, “This case could be a book,” something clicked, as if that was the moment I had been waiting for to start writing something longer than ten pages. The basis of her cold case became my book Simple Intent.

While working on the book, I honed my craft by writing personal essays and award-winning short stories. My first sale was an op-ed in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The recognition was bittersweet, as the article drew praise as well as criticism in the form of hate mail. Feeling that perhaps op-eds weren’t for me, I kept my eyes open for other novel ideas. Funny thing about opening yourself up to the universe. On vacation in Savannah I found the subject of my second book, Not Waving, Drowning while talking to shopkeepers on the river about the legend of The Waving Girl. The story was compelling enough to earn me a New York agent and an introduction to the changing world of publishing.
In the meantime, I was interviewing long-haul truck drivers and taking photos of their rigs for a coffee table/art book idea, because… why not? Through Facebook, I met a photographer who was shooting portraits of drivers. We joined forces and traveled to truck shows across the US. She took photographs and I collected stories—and characters. Later that year, I began writing a book called Grand Theft Cargo. Eventually, the coffee table book was shelved and I moved on to write book two in the Cargo Series, Precious Cargo, with plans for three more.

While the series was being shopped in New York, I kept writing. Flash fiction, short stories and a screenplay. Googling my own name one day led to the idea behind 3 Women Walk into a Bar. Somedays, you just wonder if you’re living the life you were meant to live. When it became apparent that New York wasn’t ready for a noir meets the Internet with an ex-stripper, karaoke star as the protagonist, I submitted 3 Women Walk Into A Bar to Kindle Scout and won an e-book publishing contract with Kindle Press. Signing with Down & Out Books for the print rights. I’ve never been the kind of person that climbs the ladder rung by rung.

I’m now editing two new books, writing poetry and making art—my first love (and yet another career my father would insist “isn’t a real job.”) Being a rebel is pretty fun!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I have had quite a few friends visit, and each one has wanted to see different parts of Atlanta and the surrounding area. My New York pals loved cruising the Belt Line, enjoying Krog Street and Ponce City Markets. I’ve taken others to the Aquarium and The World of Coca-Cola for a wonderful afternoon in the city, followed by a trek to the ‘burbs of Alpharetta and Roswell for dinner. Now that I live in Blue Ridge full-time, when friends fly in I get to play tourist in Atlanta and stay at beautiful hotels in midtown and take them to an international meal at one of my favorite places, The Consulate, before heading to the fresh air of the mountains and snagging a reservation at one of the newest gems in downtown Blue Ridge, the prime steakhouse, Grace.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are so many people in my life that I am grateful for. My morning writers group: Liz Tully, Angela Costa and Sharon Marchisello who are all members of Sisters in Crime, Atlanta have been my saving grace. During Covid we began Zoom write-ins and morning commiseration moments that grew to weekly critique sessions that have kept me accountable and productive in a time when I needed that the most.

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