Author Linda Ulleseit: How learning to love and respect yourself allows you to spread ‘aloha’ to other people

Aloha is a very Hawaiian concept. I’m not Hawaiian, and though I’ve visited many times I’ve never lived there. This book is my tribute to those who have achieved the ability to live their lives with aloha. My main character finds it difficult, because of her upbringing, to appreciate the world around her. She has trouble loving others who are awful to her. Only by learning to love and respect herself first can she pass aloha to others. This is a lesson that transcends culture. I hope readers see that the key to bettering your life is first bettering yourself.

As part of my interview series on the five things you need to know to become a great author, I had the pleasure of interviewing Linda Ulleseit.

Linda was born and raised in Saratoga, California, and has been a bookstore assistant manager, a Human Resources Director, an elementary school teacher, and a mom. She is Marketing Director for Women Writing the West and a founding member of Paper Lantern Writers. She has an MFA in writing from Lindenwood University and recently retired from teaching elementary school and now enjoys writing full time.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you share a story about what brought you to this particular career path?

I have always loved to write. In fact, I have a very early story about a pig written in a multicolor crayon on newsprint. I never shared my writing with anyone, though, until I was an adult. While teaching sixth grade, I decided I couldn’t ask my students to write a good story if I couldn’t. I decided to finish a novel I’d been playing with for several years. When it was done, I thought it was pretty good and shared it with a couple of carefully chosen people. Like most first novels, it was garbage. Readers were encouraging, though. They liked the idea, and they liked my writing. That was all…