Linda Kovic-Skow earned an Associate Degree in Medical Assisting in 1978 from North Seattle Community College as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from Seattle University in 1985.
Ms. Kovic-Skow has been married for 27 years and has two daughters. She is an enthusiastic traveler, and also enjoys boating, gardening and socializing with friends.
She resides in Kirkland, Washington and is currently busy promoting her debet memoir, French Illusions, which is a culmination of a three-year project.
Readers can learn more about Linda Kovic-Skow by visiting the following links: Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ YouTube
If you had to describe your book in two sentences, what would they be?
In the summer of 1979, 21-year-old Linda Kovic pretends to speak French and contracts to become an au pair for an aristocratic family in the Loire Valley. Based on the author’s diary, French Illusions captures Linda’s fascinating real-life story, filled with intrigue and romance, inside and outside the Château de Montclair.
Do you have a favorite line or excerpt from your current work?
It's difficult to choose one excerpt, but I'm proud of the detailed picture I paint of a French baker in Songais.
"I watched as the other woman, maybe in her eighties, kneaded a large ball of dough at a table on the other side of the display window. Her gnarled fingers pulled and rolled the dough, adding flour until it gained the right consistency. At one point, she stopped to scratch her face , leaving a smudge of flour on her cheek. As I followed Madame out the door, our eyes met, her grin transforming her face from serious to radiant."
What are five important things you take into consideration while writing your story?
It's old advice, but so important: As I follow my diary, I strive to show, not tell the story. Often, this involves replacing as many adverbs as possible with action words. When I come to the end of a chapter, I try to foreshadow things to come because I want my reader anxious to turn the next page to find out what happens next. Descriptions have their place, but I've always loved "white space" on a page, so I dialog a scene whenever possible. A few expressive interjections enhance the conversations and make them more interesting. Emotional cues, scattered throughout my book add depth. "Pulses race" and "guts tighten" when people get excited, frightened or angry. Hmmm, I think that's more than five.
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