Brownsville author Linda Rettstatt has written her 50th novel.
Brownsville native Linda Rettstatt is best known to her fans as an award-winning author of 50 novels, but she is also a dedicated member of a religious order of women dedicated to service to others.
She will return to her hometown of Mon Valley at noon Saturday to present “A Well-Imagined Life” at the Peter J. Daley Cultural Center, 119 Brownsville Ave. A discussion with the author will be followed by a book signing.
Rettstatt, 75, is now retired and lives in Moon Township. During the day she worked as a social worker and wrote novels on the side. Since she was 30, she has been a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Baden, a Catholic order of women who are dedicated to serving others.
While serving as a music minister in Uniontown in 1977, she met the Sisters of St. Joseph. “I liked their mission 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 didn’t connect the two because I felt that would create an image in people’s minds of what I write.” Rettstatt writes women’s novels, thrillers, romance novels, light paranormal and mystery novels.
“I think I’ve published 50 books now and I can safely say that they should now know what I write,” Rettstatt said.
Her latest novel is the story of a woman who reevaluates her life after a tragic loss.
Two of her novels, Ladies in Waiting (2006) and Love, Sam (2012), won the Epic eBook Award, and four other novels were finalists.
After high school, Rettstatt worked for a year at the Brownsville Telegraph, handling classified ads. But she got her first call when no one wanted to cover and review a theater performance in the community. The local editor was looking for a volunteer.
“I raised my hand and said, ‘I’ll do it… if you give me a name.'”
Rettstatt was a member of a semi-professional folk music group for ten years after she saw an advertisement in the newspaper for a folk guitarist and auditioned.
Once a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph, Rettstatt earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees and moved to Mississippi a few years later to begin a counseling program at the Sacred Heart Mission.
Her career as a writer also began there.
“I was sitting in my office complaining because no one was coming to their appointment. It was a horrible January day and the receptionist said, ‘Why don’t you go back to the computer and write that book you’re always talking about?’ So I went back to the computer and just started.
“It was like shaking a champagne bottle 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 gets a second chance after being forced into early retirement.
Although New York publishers told her, “that’s not what we’re looking for,” Wings ePress, one of the first electronic publishers, 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 was it. When I went out and bought all the ‘how-to’ books, I froze.” She began self-publishing in 2014.
Her absolute favorite book? “‘Ladies in Waiting,’ without hesitation,” she said. The book is about a group of middle-aged women who attend a retreat center, each struggling with a secret.
Her ideas come from “everywhere,” she says. “But it’s always a question of ‘what if,'” she explains. “‘What if’ is happening to the character at that point in time. It’s just about ‘what if.'”
Rettstatt said she always works on two or three books at a time and tries to keep research to a minimum to focus 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 station before the building closed.
Her 50th book has already been published, her 51st is about to be published and is called “Saved by Sophie”. And she already has some ideas about what will come next.
For more information, visit her website at www.authorlindarettstatt.com.
