Conceptions of leadership have evolved, and Liberating Leadership Capacity captures these new ideas and provides a pathway to create sustainable systems of high leadership capacity. Available April 2016 from 
A sizzling new novel set in Taos, New Mexico. The third in the Justine Trilogy, preceded by the award-winning, The Cairo Codex and The Italian Letters. Buy it at your local independent bookstore, 
imagination
« Older EntriesThe Pain of Finishing a Good Book
Saturday, May 13th, 2017
Do you ever slow down dramatically as you near the end of a good book? Perhaps reading a page or two a day as though your daughter is going off to college or a good friend is moving away? Letting go is always hard and letting go of a good book is often a lonely journey, as you may be the only one reading it at the moment. When you finish, a certain sadness sets in and you will remember the characters for years to come.
I recently finished A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. The book moved slowly, like a piece of ethereal classical music. I took nearly a week to finish it. This is so unlike finishing a trade paperback mystery when you just want to know what happens. Recently, I finished Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton and had a similar, but different, experience. When he was shot by Burr, I was quite upset. My husband said, “Was that a surprise??” Well, no. I knew the history, but this time I lived it.
If you are a member of a good book club, the conversation can be therapeutic. It also helps to write in a journal or reflect in meditation about what you learned. For the gift of a good book is that we learn and grow…cognitively, emotionally and perhaps even physically. In anthropology, it is called “liminality,” that time when we separate ourselves from current reality, shed traditional roles, imagination soars and return transformed. We are never quite the same again.
Posted in Education, Fiction, imagination, non-fiction, writing | No Comments » | Leave a Comment
How to Use a Novel as a Guidebook
Thursday, January 19th, 2017
Nicholas Noyes of the NY Times recently wrote a column by that name. He describes the fascinating of following in the footsteps of Oliver Twist–having seen the film as a 5-year-old. An American who grew up in London, he found new eyes as an adult by traveling Oliver’s journey.
My historical novels known as The Justine Trilogy are anchored in real places and times. Whether in Cairo (The Cairo Codex), Italy (The Italian Letters) or Taos (A Rapture of Ravens), each site is real–there for the picking, pleasures to be harvested. Delectable visits into living history. My posts entitled 72 Hours in Cairo (Parts 1-3) take you on that journey. Several posts on Italy and Taos tantalize you, I trust, to journey there.
What is your favorite historical novel? Have you planned that trip as yet? Add it to your bucket list.
Posted in A Rapture of Ravens, Book Tour, Egypt, Etruscans, Fiction, Florence, history, imagination, Italian Letters, Italy, Rome, Taos, The Justine Trilogy, Travel, trilogy, writing | No Comments » | Leave a Comment
Liberating Leadership Capacity-Released!
Sunday, April 3rd, 2016
My colleagues and I will be signing our new text at the American Educational
Research Association in Washington, D. C., Sunday, April 10. The subtitle, Pathways
to Educational Wisdom captures those notions about leadership that transcend
usual practice to answer this question: What insights and epiphanies lead us
beyond the horizon of ordinary into the realm of wisdom?
Linda
Posted in Book Tour, Constructivist Leadership, creativity, Education, imagination, Leadership, Leadership Capacity, non-fiction | No Comments » | Leave a Comment
Who was the Virgin Mary? Really?
Wednesday, December 17th, 2014
The identity, personal diary, and genealogy of Mary of Nazareth and her son, Jesus, are expressed in the first two novels of the Justine Trilogy: the award-winning, The Cairo Codex and The Italian Letters (release, October, 2014). Perfect Christmas presents. The third in the trilogy, A Rapture of Ravens, will be released in June, 2015.
Tags: Christmas, codex, Egypt, history, Jesus, trilogy, Virgin Mary, writing
Posted in Books Inc., Egypt, Family, Fiction, genealogy, history, imagination, Italian Letters, trilogy, writing | No Comments » | Leave a Comment
The Italian Letters in San Francisco
Tuesday, November 11th, 2014
On Friday evening, November 14, at 7:00, I am talking about and reading from The Italian Letters in San Francisco at Books, Inc., Opera Square, 610 Van Ness. This will be a Champagne Launch and you are all invited.
Why is this so special? Books, Inc. is the West’s oldest independent bookstore with 11 stores in California. Amazingly, their “origin dates back to the Gold Rush Days of 1851 when Anton Roman struck it rich in Shasta City, California, and set himself up in the business of selling books. That small bookstore was moved, bought, sold, burned, rebuilt, renamed and became Books Inc., as we know it today, in 1946.”
On December 9, I’ll have the pleasure of sharing The Italian Letters with the community of readers at the Palo Alto Books, Inc.
Check out booksinc.net and join us.
Posted in Book Tour, Books Inc., creativity, D.H. Lawrence, Etruscans, Fiction, imagination, Italian Letters, Italy, tombs, Travel, trilogy, Vatican, writing | No Comments » | Leave a Comment
Moments of Clarity-Writing by Rail
Sunday, November 2nd, 2014
I’m always seeking environments that offer moments of clarity. That one magnificent epiphany, that one true sentence, that pulse of reflective insight into self. A redwood forest, a beach, waterfall, or even a seat alone among a crowd of strangers. A few months ago, I wrote that Ernest Hemingway found that moment of clarity in front of a Cezanne. Doreen Carvajal’s romantic piece in the New York Times (10.26.14), entitled “Writing Retreat by Rail”, conjured up an enticing experience of traveling–and writing–by rail from Paris to the Riviera. She recounts the array of artists and writers who found their Eureka moment on the rails: John le Carre, Graham Greene, Matisse, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Picasso, Anton Chekhov, J.K. Rowling, among others. What do they find there? The repetitive moment of the rails? The kaleidoscope of colors and light stirring those brain neurons? Perhaps we out to hold collaborative writing retreats on trains as well.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/travel/a-writing-retreat-by-rail-from-paris-to-the-cote-dazur.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar&_r=0
Tags: Carvajal, Hemingway, writing by the rails
Posted in imagination, Paris, Travel, writing | No Comments » | Leave a Comment
The Story of Two Brains: Brain + Gut
Friday, October 24th, 2014
My son Tod suggested this morning that I explore the Brain + Gut phenomena as an analogy for desirable novels. Capital idea! Many now recognize that humans have two brains. One in the head and one in the gut. The gut is loaded with nerves and neurons; a very complex brain indeed. For the gut, taste+reward=energy. So describes Heribert Watzke of Oxford in the video below. So far, so good.
We experience the pleasurable taste of a good novel in the gut as well as in the brain holding our hat. I would suggest that a novel must satisfy the intellectual cravings of the big brain in companionship with the yummy tastes experienced by the gut brain. And the best news: both brains entertain your emotions, that lovable human possession that makes the world go round. Thus: Intellect + Taste + Emotions=Human choice and desires.
Think of the last novel you really loved (I’m hoping it was The Cairo Codex or The Italian Letters). Did it meet these criteria? How so?
Tags: brain, desire, gut, novels, Watzke
Posted in creativity, Fiction, Heribert Watzke, imagination, writing | No Comments » | Leave a Comment
The Italian Letters released!
Thursday, October 2nd, 2014
The Italian Letters by Linda Lambert
The sequel to the award-winning The Cairo Codex, The Italian Letters, has just been released! You may order it now at your local bookstore. Or at Amazon.
The Italian Letters lies in the sensuous curvature of ancient, 20th and 21st century Italy. The sequel to The Cairo Codex follows the adventures of anthropologist Justine Jenner after she is expelled from Egypt in the wake of discovering the diary of the Virgin Mary. Exiled into Tuscany, Justine finds herself embroiled in three interwoven stories of discovery: the long-lost letters of D. H. Lawrence to her great grandmother, Isabella; an ancient tomb revealed the origin and migration of an ancient people pre-dating Rome; and the genealogy of the Virgin Mary and Jesus. While shaken by the frank revelations in Lawrence’s letters and the intimate relationship between the primeval Etruscan’s and Jesus’ mother, Justine must confront her own sexuality and yearning for personal freedom. The second in a trilogy, The Italian Letters is riveted with literary, religious, and archeological history and international politics, each narrative magnifying and altering the meaning of the others.
The Italian Letters is the suspense edition of Etruscan Evenings.
Tags: D.H. Lawrence, Etruscans, Fiesole, Rome, suspense
Posted in Book Tour, Fiction, history, imagination, Italy, shifting genres, trilogy, writing | No Comments » | Leave a Comment
If You’ve Read Etruscan Evenings…
Friday, September 12th, 2014
You need to know that the forthcoming The Italian Letters (October 14 release) is the second edition of Etruscan Evenings. What does that mean? It means that the second edition is a suspense novel, much more so than the first. It alters the characters, the tensions, the events, yet is true to the plot. Such an undertaking is very challenging. I’ve done second editions on textbooks before, but in fiction it means something entirely different. In this case, it meant that the novel shifted genres. Perhaps that’s a new concept, not sure: “SHIFTING GENRES.” Here is some of what it entails:
• an analysis of the first edition to identify aspects in the current genre
• deciding on the desired genre and what forces will drive it
• discovering the elements that would shift the genre to suspense, in this case (e.g. Justine is more proactive; characters are more edgy; occurrences are more sinister; elements are more entangled, each competing with others; motivations are more complex, delving into the psychological dysfunctions of characters; pace is accelerated.
• shifting genres is intellectually challenging–which I enjoy–in that it is essential to hold a gestalt of the novel in your head and play with the pieces holistically.
Questions about these practices?
Tags: analysis, character development, fiction, motivations, shifting genres
Posted in creativity, Fiction, imagination, shifting genres, trilogy, writing | No Comments » | Leave a Comment
Every Woman Needs a Feminist Friend! Why?
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2014
Today Huffington Post suggested as much–so do I. Let me reflect with you on why this is true.
I am fortunate to have several feminist friends–including a daughter–and write feminist novels; e.g. The Justine Trilogy. The first, award-winning The Cairo Codex. The Italian Letters is being released on October 14. In addition, I’ve had the pleasure of writing Women’s Ways of Leading with feminist friend Mary Gardner. But I digress… These are some of the reasons, and how to know one when you meet her:
1. Feminists are strong, smart, and fascinating. They are awakened to the world of possibilities and see no limits. Friends like this are challenging and provocative, enabling you to see yourself in the same way.
2. Feminists understand what it is to be fully human, fully alive. To engage in a world of adventure, activism, travel, caring, problem-solving and new ideas.
3. Feminists are without prejudice, for they have been there. The place is called “invisible.” That was when identity was based on what others thought of us. So, they defend equality for everyone.
4. Feminists are honest. Therefore, you can count on authenticity in the relationship and hearty, rigorous feedback. I have a great writing group that is composed of stimulating companions.
5. Feminists know that reciprocity is the most vital, vibrant factor in any relationship. I’m invested in your awakening, you in mine.
6
. The best men are feminists. Fortunately, my husband is one.
Linda
Tags: feminism
Posted in creativity, Fiction, imagination, Leadership, trilogy, writing | No Comments » | Leave a Comment