Author Details
Author Details
Miller, Linda Lael
" Three years ago, New York Times bestselling author Linda Lael Miller packed up her computer, her work-in-progress for Pocket Books - and her dogs, Sadie and Bernice - and took a step toward the future - and into the past. Bidding farewell to her home in Scottsdale, Arizona, the author of more than 60 novels abandoned city life and returned to her rural, Western roots. On the horse property she purchased in the arid Arizona desert, she immerses herself in the country living reminiscent of her early years. Rising with the sun, she rides or grooms her horses daily, then settles into her office, where she writes award-winning thrillers and romantic historicals set in the West.
The daughter of a town marshal, Miller was born and raised in Northport, Washington, population 500, a wilderness area on the Columbia River nine miles south of the Canadian border. Her childhood remembrances include riding horses and playing cowgirl on her grandparents' nearby farm. So rustic was her grandparents' spread that in the early days it lacked the conveniences of electricity and running water.
As delightful as this childhood was, though, Miller longed to experience the world. After graduating as valedictorian of her high school class, she moved to the city of Spokane. Her ultimate success as an author enabled her to live a glamorous lifestyle far different from that in Northport. For years she divided her residence between a flat in London and an elegant home in the Washington's picturesque Puget Sound area. In the years since she set out to make her mark in the world, she has also indulged her joy of traveling, visiting such exotic cities as Hong Kong, Seoul, Venice, Paris, Costa Rica, Toronto and Amsterdam.
While Miller still enjoys traveling, she thrives on her rural Arizona home's year-round sunny weather. She named her spread ""Springwater Station,"" after the fictitious Montana stagecoach stop in her bestselling, seven-book Springwater series.
""Like the characters in my books, I belong in the country, with horses,"" Miller explained as she was putting the finishing touches on the third in her thriller ""look book"" series. The trade paperback novel is the finale in a series set in Arizona that features a smart-mouthed attorney protagonist, Miller's alter ego. The second in the series, NEVER LOOK BACK, is an Atria Books August 2004 trade paperback.
""I enjoy writing thrillers in much the same way that readers enjoy reading them,"" Miller explained. ""In a world where too often crime goes unpunished, where the bad guys get away with horrible atrocities, in thrillers the good guy always wins in the end, and the bad guy gets his just desserts. It's comforting to see justice done, and I get to mete out the justice.""
Devoted to helping others, the author launched her fourth round of Linda Lael Miller Scholarships for Women in the summer of 2004. A talented speaker, she donates all her speaking engagement honoraria to her scholarship fund. The stipends are awarded to women who are 25 years and older and seek to better their lot in life through education.
It's no wonder the protagonists in Miller's novels are women her readers admire for their honor, courage, trustworthiness, valor and determination to succeed, despite overwhelming odds. ""These timelessly admirable qualities make them excellent role models for young women,"" Miller explains. ""The male leads possess equally noble traits that today's woman would be delighted to find in her life's mate.""
The author traces the birth of her writing career to the day when a Northport teacher told her that the stories she was writing were good, that she just might have a future in writing. Later, when she decided to write novels, she endured her share of rejection before she sold her first book to Pocket Books in the early 1980s.
Although Miller has written successfully in other genres, she is best known for stories set in the West - stories like NEVER LOOK BACK (August 2004 Atria Books thriller) and that very first novel, FLETCHER'S WOMAN.
Dedicated to her craft, Miller follows a strict regimen to meet demanding deadlines and to satisfy her personal insistence on quality writing. She keeps regular office hours, five days a week, producing 10 to 15 pages daily, when she isn't on a book tour or fulfilling speaking engagements. She also makes time for working out, maintaining the trim physique she earned after losing 100 pounds via Weight Watchers. She confesses a passion for collaging, an art form she says nurtures her soul.
Miller has come a long way since leaving her sheltered life in Northport at age 18 to experience the world. ""But I feel very fortunate to have grown up in that time and place,"" she admits, ""and I'm happy to be in the country, living a life that enriches me - and fuels my storytelling."" "
