Linda M. Faulkner’s professional life has always straddled the worlds of publishing and insurance. After spending 30+ years believing–mistakenly–that she had to choose one or the other, Linda opted to combine her two passions into one career in 2011.
Insurance background
After working in the insurance industry for 11 years as a receptionist, sales assistant, and life insurance producer, Linda founded her first insurance agency in Attleboro, Massachusetts in 1985. In 1997, she was recruited by the Massachusetts Association of Insurance Agents (MAIA) to present insurance continuing education seminars to insurance agents in the New England states on its behalf and that of the National Alliance for Insurance Education and Research. Linda holds the Certified Insurance Counselor designation (in the insurance world, she’s Linda M. Faulkner, CIC), is a licensed insurance producer and consultant, an approved instructor in the National Alliance’s CISR and CIC designation programs, and an approved insurance CE instructor by the departments of insurance in all 50 states.
In 2003, Linda sold the L.A. Murphy Insurance Agency and moved to Missoula, Montana, where she established her second
insurance agency (Linda Faulkner Insurance Agency) and an insurance continuing education business (Faulkner Education Services). During her seven-year residency in Montana, Linda not only became one of the most sought-after insurance educators in the northwest, she also developed relationships with the University of Montana and business communities in western Montana to present career development workshops and training seminars on subjects such as sales, marketing, networking, customer service, and relationship building.
Linda’s popularity as a course developer merged with her passion to write and she sold her second insurance agency in January 2011, at which time she began devoting all her “insurance” time to writing and presenting insurance CE and prelicensing courses on a freelance basis. Linda now works full-time as writer, developer, instructor, and trainer of a variety of insurance courses and materials; her client list includes A.D. Banker and Company, the Hanover Insurance Group, WebCE, and Enterprise Holdings, Inc.
Publishing background
Putting words together has been Linda’s lifelong passion. Her first published work was the crossword puzzle she created in Mr. Calen’s fifth grade class. (Does anyone remember mimeographs?) The extra credit he awarded her for creativity was all the encouragement she needed.
From there, Linda moved on to short stories and magazine articles and was encouraged by her 7th grade English teacher, Pat Goldman, to submit her work for publication. (By the way, Pat is still part of Linda’s cheering squad!) In 2002, Linda became published in newspaper with her column, Business Sense, which appeared in The Weekender, an entertainment monthly in Orlando, Florida. She continued to pen her column until the newspaper ceased publication in November 2009.
The publication of numerous magazine articles followed, most notably in Three Rivers Lifestyle, a regional celebrating the best of western Montana, and Rough Notes, an insurance industry trade magazine.
Second Time Around, Linda’s first mystery to be published, received a nomination for best Mystery/Suspense Fiction in the 2010 EPIC Award competition. Linda’s most recent book, a non-fiction titled Taking the Mystery Out of BusinessL 9 Fundamentals for Professional Success, was released in January 2011. Linda is currently at work on Book #1 of a romantic suspense series.
In addition to writing fiction, Linda is a multi-published freelance writer. She develops and writes career development workshops,
procedures manuals, and continuing education seminars, workshops, texts, and online courses under the trade name Faulkner Education Services and for a number of clients. Visit our Insurance page for more information about Linda’s insurance writing.
Linda is a member of Mystery Writers of America (MWA), Romance Writers of America (RWA), RWA’s New England Chapter, and Sisters in Crime.
Personal
Although she was born in the Big Apple and spent the majority of her life living in a city located between Providence and Boston, Linda hates cities and prefers to be surrounded by wildlife rather than civilization. The White Mountains of New Hampshire used to be her favorite place in the world … until she fell in love with the Rocky Mountains of western Montana. During the seven years she lived in Big Sky Country, Linda’s front yard was visited by whitetail deer, black bears, coyotes, a moose calf, a Great Grey owl, wild turkeys … oh, and the Angus cattle that got loose from a nearby ranch! Of course, the wildlife can’t compete with her wonderful family–which drew her back to Massachusetts, where she now lives.
When she’s not working, Linda loves walking with Delaney, a pound puppy she adopted a dozen years ago; curling up with a good book–or Murphy and Grace, the kitties she adopted; or having sleepovers with her granddaughters. Linda’s favorite color is red (except for the days when it’s green) and she brews tea in her coffee maker.
