publications

An interview with the energetic, Linda Ronstadt, also known as the Queen of Rock, and unprecedented as a singer, songwriter, musician, record producer and actress can leave you breathless. Born in 1946, and mother of a grown daughter and son, Ronstadt has triumphed as one of the top-selling female vocalists of the late 1970s, with numerous smash hits expanding over four decades.

“This is gonna be a trip you’ll never forget!” my husband said. Unfortunately, these were his only words of wisdom for the next 3,000 miles. I winced, telling my own kids to listen to their father and get into the vehicular trap — the upgraded Audi Quattro SUV. Seems like yesterday when I was a kid, entrapped in our ’56 yellow station wagon we called “The Lemon,” and endured those “heart to heart” talks during the dreaded family vacation road trip.

The tiny blonde author, also known as Professor Kaylie Jones, glides lightly into her Creative Writing classroom at Stony Brook University at Southampton. Natalie, the teacher’s pet, a fluffy white shih-tsu, shadows her delicate movements. Jones repeats words of advice to practice reading good books: “You cannot just sit down and write a great novel. I just reread some early Hemingway stories and realized how sophisticated they are! I never understood them before, not in their innuendoes, not in their depths.”