Prolific writer and Brownsville native publishes 50th novel
While Brownsville native Linda Rettstatt is best known by her fans as an award-winning author of 50 novels, she is also a devoted member of a religious order of women dedicated to service.
She will return to her Mon Valley hometown at noon Saturday to launch “A Well-Imagined Life” at the Peter J. Daley Cultural Center, 119 Brownsville Ave. A book signing follows a discussion with the author.
Rettstatt, 75, now retired and living in Moon Township, worked by day as a social worker while penning novels. She’s been a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Baden, a Catholic religious order of women dedicated to service, since the age of 30.
While part of a music ministry in Uniontown in 1977, she was introduced to the Sisters of St. Joseph. “Their mission appealed to me and two years later I asked to join them,” she said.
Until now, the two facets of her life, writing and her vows, have been kept separate.
“My friends know, of course. I haven’t connected the two because I felt like that it was going to create an idea in people’s minds of what my writing was.” Rettstatt writes women’s fiction, suspense, romance, light paranormal and mystery.
“Now, I think with 50 books out there under my belt, it’s safe to say they should know now what I write,” Rettstatt said.
Her latest novel is the story of a woman’s reevaluation of her life following a tragic loss.
Two of her novels, “Ladies in Waiting” (2006) and “Love, Sam” (2012), won the Epic eBook Award, and four other novels have been finalists.
After high school, Rettstatt worked at the Brownsville Telegraph for a year handling classified ads, but negotiated her first byline when no one wanted to cover and review a community theater performance. The city editor was looking for a volunteer.
“I raised my hand and said, ‘I’ll do it … if you give me a byline.'”
Rettstatt became a 10-year member of a semi-professional folk music group after an ad for a folk guitarist crossed her desk at the paper and she auditioned.
Once a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph, Rettstatt earned her undergraduate and master’s degree and several years later moved to Mississippi to begin a counseling program at Sacred Heart Mission.
Her writing career began there as well.
“I was sitting in my office complaining because nobody wanted to come to their appointment. It was an ugly January day and the receptionist said, ‘Why don’t you go back to that computer and write that book you’re always talking about?’ So I went back to the computer and just started.
“It was like taking a bottle of champagne and shaking it up and popping the cork. The words just flew,” she said. Her first book, “And the Truth Will Set You Free,” tells the story of a woman who finds second chances after a forced early retirement.
While she said New York publishers told her “it’s not what we are looking for,” Wings ePress, one of the first electronic presses, offered her a contract.
Looking back, she believes it was a blessing that she had no knowledge of professional writing and publishing. “I knew grammar, punctuation and spelling and that’s it. As soon as I went out and bought all of the ‘how-to’ books, I froze.” She began self-publishing in 2014.
Her hands-down favorite book? “‘Ladies in Waiting,’ no hesitation,” she said. The book follows a group of mid-life women visiting a retreat center, each dealing with a secret.’
Her ideas come from “everywhere,” she says. “But it’s always a question of ‘what if,'” she explains. “‘What if’ this happened to the character, at this time. It just spins out from ‘what if.'”
Rettstatt said she is always working on two to three books at a time, and tries to keep research to a minimum in order to concentrate on writing.
“Union Station,” set in her beloved hometown of Brownsville, required the most research. Set between 1929 and the 1970s, the book is a collection of fictional stories about the train station before the building was shut down.
With her 50th book launched, her 51st is not far behind, and is titled “Saved by Sophie,” and she has some ideas about what will be coming next.
For more information, visit her website at www.authorlindarettstatt.com.