Lindstedt, Deena

While married and raising three sons, I developed a career in insurance claims management and administration that lasted for over 25 years. However, during this hectic time, I never gave up my ambition to be a professional writer. This desire was partially met after preparing training manuals for my claims staff and writing articles for insurance trade journals. I have given many speeches and training workshops to workers’ compensation insurance and risk management personnel at industry conventions and conferences. However, my true aspiration was to write fiction.

In 1996, I took early retirement from my career as Corporate Manager of Weyerhaeuser Company’s workers’ compensation program to become a self-employed consultant. The following year I married Donald Lindstedt and joined him in retirement in Cannon Beach, Oregon. I became active in volunteer work that included designing and editing a cookbook, Cooking on the Coast, as a fundraiser for the Cannon Beach Historical Society. I have also been involved in preparing newsletters for two local non-profit organizations

In 2001, I gave myself permission to leave my consulting career and volunteer work behind to pursue my dream of becoming a professional writer. I have published two poems, placed third in Willamette Writer’s 2003 Conference for my poem, Ladies of Chedigny, and was a finalist with my short story, Simply to Fly, in the 2004 Northwest Writer’s Conference. My first novel, Deception Cove, will be released by Wings e-Press, Inc. in October, 2010.

In 2003, I made a decision to return to college to hone my writing craft. In 2006, at the age of 70, I graduated from Marylhurst University, near Lake Oswego, Oregon, with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English Literature and Writing. While a student, I read my paper, “Mrs. Dalloway’s Party Consciousness,” at the 2005 Virginia Woolf Conference at Lewis and Clark University in Portland, Oregon. In March 2007, I delivered my essay, Shakespeare – Perchance a Woman, at the Shakespeare Authorship Studies Conference at Concordia University in Portland, Oregon.

In addition to my three sons, I have nine grand-children, two great-grandsons; three step-children, five step-grandchildren and three step great-grandchildren. Even though this brood loves to visit us at the beach; fortunately, they don’t all come at the same time.

I am currently writing a historical novel based on my theory William Shakespeare was a front for a woman. Please follow my research and writing progress at http://shakespeare-perhapsawoman.blogspot.com or my website at www.deenalindstedt@vpweb.com.

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Lady of the Play" by Deena Lindstedt.]

There are speculations that the real Shakespeare was not Shakespeare. Some people say they are not sure if his name was William Shakespeare. What if Shakespeare was a lady? Elizabeth (Ely) Trentham is the second wife of Edward deVere, the Earl of Oxford. She has left traces behind her that Cynthia Parsons found 400 years later. She is convinced Ely and her loving husband Edward collaborated and created Shakespeare we know today.

Lady of the Play is a well-researched book, and I am sure Deena Lindstedt spent a lot of time making this masterpiece perfect. This book has two storylines, and the author mixed them beautifully. These two storylines are connected no matter they happened 400 years apart. What I like the most about this book is the writing style. The author kept it quite simple for such a sensitive theme. The character I love the most is Cynthia. She is brave, stubborn, and eager to find the traces Ely left behind. She faces people who want to shut her down and prevent her from revealing her discoveries. I thought this would be a regular historical book that tells stories I already heard before, but Deena Lindstedt proved me wrong.

There are twists in this book I certainly did not expect, and that made it even better. Since I know very little about Shakespeare and his works, Lady of the Play was an educational piece, too. I learned a lot about him, his plays, and his life. I also love the last few chapters of the book because that is where all the tension in the book is released. I have to admit there is nothing I dislike about it. I am happy that this book made a positive impact on me.

The editors did magnificent work since I found zero errors in this rich book. I noticed only light profane words throughout the text and no erotic scenes at all.

I am giving Lady of the Play 4 out of 4 stars. This book is written beautifully, has no errors, and I learned a lot from it. I highly recommend it to those who like Shakespeare and similar authors. Readers who love historical fiction will love this book, too. I think Lady of the Play may be a little bit complicated for the younger population, so I do not recommend it. Although this book spreads over 400 pages, it was a quick and light read.

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Lady of the Play
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