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Welcome, Linda! Please start by introducing us to yourself and your family.

My family consists of myself, Linda Marie Finn, my dear husband, Mark, and our 7 blessings (children), 3 still at home who I homeschool: Faith, 11, Hope, 10, and Daniel, 5. My older children are Amanda, 30, who has 4 children: Rebecca, Madison, John and Lizzie, who is in heaven (she had CF); Brittany, 27, who has two children: Issac and Marlena; Wesley, 24, married to Cora Lee and expecting their first baby in December of this year; and Michael, 20, who is still single and a godly young man.  We live in the country in rural central NY in a little town called Red Creek in an old farmhouse built in 1853.  I was born and raised here in NY in a small town called Catoaka Cowtown !  I have spent most of my life right here in NY state.

Portrait of a Reader: Linda F.

Wow! Lots of little blessings in your family! I love that your farmhouse was built in 1853. I’d love to live in a house with that kind of history. With all you have going on, it’s amazing you still find time to read! So when did you first come to identify yourself as a “reader”? What do you most enjoy reading? Do you consider yourself a casual reader, a sporadic reader, a serious reader or an all-out bibliophile?

I can honestly say that I didn’t really learn to read well until 3rd grade, but after I did learn to read I loved to read stories like Little House on the Prairie, The Sugar Creek Gang, Anne of Green Gables and Little Women. I would have to say that I am a serious reader, wishing there were more hours in a day in which to read.

I hear you on that wish! I also have great memories of the books you mentioned. So tell us, what do you most enjoy reading?

I love reading Christian Fiction, Historical Fiction, Poetry, Health, Quilting and Cookbooks.

Sounds like you read a little of everything! I sometimes read cookbooks, too, but I imagine you read them then actually make some of the recipes! What is the last book you finished and what are you currently reading? 

 In Christian Historical Fiction I just read Rebellious Heart by Jody Hedlund  and I am currently reading Be Still My Soul by Joanne Bischof.

Two good ones, that’s for sure! Do you have a favorite time and place to read?

I love to read anytime I get a few free minutes. I love to read in bed or in my chair in the living room cuddled under an afghan or quilt.

I would imagine you get lots of time to cuddle under and read in the winter in NY. Sounds lovely! What is the most unusual circumstance/place in which you’ve been found reading?

Back when I use to own mini Nubian dairy goats, I was once reading a birthing book while helping deliver baby goats. Like I said I am a read to learn type person.

Wow! That is definitely the most unusual reading situation I’ve heard yet! How great that you read to learn as well as read for entertainment. Do you read physical books, ebooks, or both?

I love a real book, but recently I won a kindle fire on “ Falling in Love Texas Style” with Julie Lessman and Becky Wade and I am finding my kindle to be a wonderful thing for me and for my family. If I am busy baking, doing chores, I can turn it on and with text to speech I can allow it to read to me or the children.

Great idea. And how fun to win a big prize like that! Julie and Becky and two wonderful ladies and wonderful authors. So do you buy your books, borrow them from friends or check them out of the library? (Or all of the above!)

I occasionally buy a book on Amazon, Deeper Shopping , CBD or Barnes and Noble. I own my own books now, and I have won many, that I seldom borrow books anymore from the library. But I will if I don’t have a book to a series I am reading.

Well of course! Because in the midst of a series all that matters is knowing what happens next! Do you have any favorite foods or drinks that generally accompany your reading?

Foods… A yummy pumpkin muffin or slice of cheesecake and a cup of hot creamy caramel cappuccino or French vanilla coffee with creamer!

Yum! I’m coming to your house to read. (Apparently I was right. You actually cook from your cookbooks!) Finally, it’s true confessions time: have you ever forgotten something important (to fix dinner or that dinner was in the oven or an appointment, etc) because you were lost in the pages of a book? 

I will wholeheartedly admit to forgetting to fix supper on time when lost in another world with my fictional friends or in the deep study of a good devotional book.

I think most of us readers can admit to that.

Thank you so much for sharing a little bit of yourself with us today, Linda. It was so fun to get a glimpse into your reading life. 

Happy Reading, Y’all! 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. I’m thinking Linda can’t be too far from me (in the Boston area). Cheesecake! Pumpkin muffin! Books! Thanks for sharing Linda. So fun to get to know these readers. Thanks Anne.

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  5. What a great interview, Linda! It’s always nice to learn a little about the people who help make authors successful. You have such a broad reading scope that I’m pretty sure you could learn to do just about anything by reading about it! Thanks for sharing.

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    • Thank you Joy, I love to read to learn and I think I am learning so much about writing by reading… and someday I will write more then just poetry that I did years ago.
      I am so glad you stopped by my author friend !
      Hugs
      Linda

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  6. Nice to see a friend and fellow reader featured! I enjoyed the interview, Anne and Linda. It was funny because I have read all of the books you mentioned as a child, I loved listening to The Sugar Creek Gang dramatizations on Christian Radio back when I was a kid in the 90’s, was even more thrilled to start reading the books when I was about 6 or 7. Keep up the good reading Linda!

    As some of the questions were being asked I started thinking about what my own answers would be….kinda scary…LOL

    Blessings!
    Jasmine

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    • You never know Jasmine, perhaps someday you will be featured reader ! You read alot and I just love your work and Tell’s of course, he is a huge part of Tell Tale Reviews !!!
      Your so sweet girl and those books help us become who we are.
      Hugs
      Linda

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    • My Dear Friend Wendy,

      Girls, Wendy is a ND in Kentucky and is a wonderful Sister in the Lord. If you need good health advice she is the one to talk to and see ! She even has a school of her own for learning to be a CN, ND and more.
      I have heard of that Wendy… My brain says, What… Your going to write 50K words in a month…Ahhhhhhhhh!!! Someday I need to learn to do this I know… I think my writing will have to come from the Lord or it won’t flow out of me that fast. lol
      Hugs
      Linda

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  9. Hello Linda it’s nice to meet you. It sounds like your reading is alot like mine, a little bit of everything. How are the fall colors coming in your area? We have just a little bit, but with the storms last night most of the leaves are now on the ground.
    Blessings
    Katrina

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    • Good Evening Katrina
      Oh we lost all our leaves today or least most of them with all that wind and rain. It was colorful till this storm came through for sure. I hope you will venture to come to my blog in the coming months and pay me a howdy !
      Blessings
      Linda

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  10. Linda, I think we are most definitely kindred spirits. I recently moved and one whole U Haul was filled to the brim with books. We are still trying to figure out how we want our library to look in our new home.We bought book shelves from a local used book store and we have most of them out, but I can’t wait until each volume is put away.In the meantime, we keep adding to the collection!:) There is nothing like snuggling up with a good book!

    Blessings,Jill

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    • Setting up your new library sounds wonderful, Jill! We turned our formal dining room into our library for years. We are looking forward to having a dedicated library room again some day. For now, the books are scattered in shelves all over the house!

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    • We are so much kindreds too Jill, I am so glad that the Lord brought us together so many years ago !
      No there is nothing better then cozying up with a good book, except being in the arms of the man you love ! Being in the Country and the Country Life is charmingly sweet !
      Love you
      Linda

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  11. LINDA!!! So great to get to know you better in this interview! Linda, you know we have adult child and younger child. I didn’t realize you had the adult kids plus your young ones. now I know why it looks like you have grandkids in some pics! So sorry about you losing your daughter to CF–what a heartrending disease but I know you had to have blessed your daughter and she you. Hugs!!!

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    • Carrie Fancett Pagals, so sweet to see you here… It was my daughters baby that died, she would be arround 7 today, had she not been so ill. I have misscarried myself 8 times in my lifetime,so I know that pain. I know my daughters pain, though I didn’t get to go south and hold Lizzie before Jesus took her home. I know there is a nursery there full of babies and little ones and someday we shall all see them again and know as we are known.
      Yes I am mamma to 7 Blessings and I have 6 grand-blessings. The rest of my life would probably be a story for another day but the Lord has told me to share it whenever he allows me too. To help others who are going through things I went through myself in life. God is good and with Him I have overcome much and life to serve and to help others.
      Hugs
      Linda

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  12. Linda, it’s so awesome to learn more about a fellow reader! After you finish Be Still My Soul you will have to read the other two…no “ifs” “ands” or “buts.” lol I also love the text to speech option on my Kindle. I had to clean out all my dead flowers out of my garden the other day (which is a tedious job as you know), and played that Kindle and before long the job was done and it wasn’t quite so unpleasant. Except for the backache. 😉

    You are such a lovely lady, Linda, and I am enjoying getting to know you on FB! Speaking of lovely ladies, we have had Anne Mateer on OWG blog and she is definitely that!

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    • Diana Flowers, I am so glad that you too enjoy text to speech on your kindle to listen while you work… I want to get A Home for My Heart on kindle ! Sometimes I can get so busy with the kids homeschooling and house stuff , reading a real book isn’t an option at times. Anne is surely a fine lady for sure…She has blessed me with this interview and I am so thankful to be able to share with everyone more of my life. Oh I shall get the other two books someday soon, you know I will not rest till I have read all three !
      Hugs and Blessings
      Linda

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  13. Hi, Anne! This series of portraits is so much fun. It’s wonderful to get a peek into reader’s lives.

    I really enjoyed learning more about you, Linda. Seven kids! I’m super impressed and even more pleased that you were the one who won our kindle giveaway. Well deserved!

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  14. Linda, what a fun interview and I know more about you now!! 🙂 I loved your comment about reading a birthing book while delivering baby goats. That could be me. LOL
    Blessings!

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    • Awesome Marian, that means were country cousins… I loved having goats wish I still had a few and a few sheep too. But that was me till I learned to care for them and be the ” goaty midwife” they needed. lol
      I bred and raised mini nubians and nubians from 1997 till 2005.
      Hugs
      Linda

      Reply

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