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Linda K. Sienkiewicz

That’s My Story: An Interview with Linda K. Sienkiewicz, author of Love and Other Incurable Ailments

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We were delighted to sit down with Linda K. Sienkiewicz in the days before the release of her novel Love and Other Incurable Ailments.

RHP: How long did it take you to write your book?

LKS: About ten years ago, I knew I wanted to write about a difficult character, one that might initially seem hard to love or understand. So, naturally, I thought: Fun! Perfect! This should be easy. I had a few beginnings and a short story, but nothing materialized. Other projects kept me busy, or maybe I just resisted it. I believe writers call this “timing.” Then I heard Jim White’s “Objects in Motion,” a haunting song about a man who finds a suitcase full of love letters drifting down a river. That’s when Serenity’s story began to take shape.

In White’s song, the letters are unsigned, unanswered, and full of longing. He wonders who wrote them—was she old, was she young, or was her heart undone by the cruel business of loving. Then the song takes a turn and ends with a line that stuck with me:“You can’t waste the whole damn day loving what you need to cast away. For from the flame of love comes the cinder of regret. Sometimes the thing you cling to most is the thing you’d best forget.”

That lyric and the image of those lost letters sparked in my imagination. In 2019, I started writing what would become Love and Other Incurable Ailments with a simple “what if” when an anxiety-riddled character, Serenity, finds a box of love letters. Fueled by magical thinking and a deep longing to be loved, she sets out to find the letter writer and give him the ending she believes he deserves and maybe claim a happy ending of her own in the process. Optimism is a powerful force, even when it gets us into trouble, as it does for Serenity.

We all have objects in motion, including emotions, memories, and obsessions that we struggle to release. Sometimes we carry these things for too long. Sometimes we let go too soon. And sometimes we build an entire novel around them, which is either healing or avoidance. But somewhere in-between is where my story was born. Thanks to Regal House Publishing for offering me a contract for the book in 2024.

RHP: Who supports you as a writer?

LKS: My husband, but the funny thing is he doesn’t often read my work. I decided long ago not to ask him to read my poetry or novels because they aren’t the kind of writing he enjoys. I’ve learned reading isn’t the only proof of support. This has saved us both a great deal of time and many awkward conversations. For example, he lugs boxes of books to author fairs without complaint. He brakes for bookstores when we travel, sometimes less enthusiastically than I would, but still.

Even though we spend a good deal of time on Ocracoke Island, where Love and Other Incurable Ailments is set, my husband travels there with intention. He’s not just a companion; he’s a helpful research assistant. Unpaid and highly dedicated. He protects my time. We are both retired and he cooks so I can work on projects. I have a dedicated writing room, and he understands that when the door’s closed, I’m somewhere else entirely (usually writing but maybe staring off into the distance or making a TikTok reel). He built me an adjustable standing desk. He doesn’t question my expenses. He only asks that I track them. And he legitimizes what I do in ways that matter most. When colleagues ask him what his wife does, he says, plainly, “She is a writer.” He carries my business card in his wallet.

RHP: There’s fair bit of interest, scientific and otherwise, in the links between creativity and insanity. How crazy must someone be to be a good author?

LKS: The idea that writers need to be a little crazy is a tempting one, but I believe it’s more complex. Defining a creative mind is paradoxical, even though it’s a convenient excuse for missed deadlines. It goes beyond stereotypes. Creative people daydream, make their own hours, enjoy solitude, make use of obstacles, seek new experiences, and ask big questions. They watch people, take risks, express themselves, follow their passion, and get out of their own heads by taking on another’s perspective. They view life as an opportunity for self-expression. And, of course, they lose track of time, their phone, and their reading glasses.

My mind has always worked differently. As a child, I could spend hours in imaginative worlds, turning the living room upside down so I walked on the ceiling, or flooding it so I swam from room to room, diving over doorways arches. My mother allowed me to be bored, which, in hindsight, was a bold and maybe risky parenting choice. The good thing was my imagination was always ready to take me somewhere else. So maybe it’s not about being “crazy,” but about having a mind that doesn’t settle easily into the concrete world. It’s a mind that drifts, questions, reimagines. There are real differences between creative and more pragmatic ways of thinking, but neither is better or worse. We need both. One builds the structure; the other imagines what could flourish inside it, even if it loses the blueprint.

RHP: What surprising skills or hobbies do you have?

LKS: I accidentally became an Etsy handbag creator. I started making purses from laminated album covers, which seemed unique enough, until someone asked if I could make a purse from her book. I had no idea if I could but was willing to try. I separated the cover from the text and figured out how to recreate it as a handbag, complete with inside pockets and closures. Before I knew it I was selling book purses online. My Nancy Drew clutches were the biggest sellers, along with Little Women and Alice in Wonderland, complete with handles, straps, buttons or magnet closures. Apparently, I don’t just write stories. I recycle them into accessories.

RHP: How did you learn to tell the truth in your writing?

LKS: Many years ago, my granddaughter and I were coloring horses in a coloring book while we waited for our food at a restaurant. I gave one horse bright pink hooves.

“Why did you do that?” she asked.

I shrugged. “I thought it would look good on her. Wait… I think this is a boy horse,” I said, noticing the anatomy.

“Yeah, it is,” she said, and resumed coloring. It was indeed a male, but her attitude was a refreshing so what? She’d seen more horses in the flesh by age eight than I have in my entire life.

Suddenly I remembered a drawing I made as a child of a highly realistic horse. I was especially proud of one particular male anatomical detail, which, in my enthusiasm for accuracy, may have been slightly overemphasized. Possibly larger than the horse’s head. I made a bold artistic choice. My teacher hung it on the wall. My mother, however, did not share her enthusiasm. After Open House, she came home horrified and told me, “When you draw a horse, don’t ever draw that part.” That was it. No praise, just a rule I didn’t know existed until I broke it. The sting of that moment stuck with me. I shifted from pride to shame over something that I thought was simply truthful. Realistic. That hesitation still exists for many of us, not just in art, but in writing. We hear that quiet, creeping question: Is this okay? Is this too much? Should I tone it down? We start editing not for truth, but for acceptability.

So, when my granddaughter took the cue and gave blue hooves and spots to her horse, I didn’t question her. I said, “Hey! I like it.”

She hadn’t learned yet that truth can make people uncomfortable. As creatives, we need to unlearn that. I’m still working on it.

Linda K. Sienkiewicz is the author of an award-winning novel, five poetry chapbooks, and a children’s picture book. Linda holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing. She serves as Honorary Director of Detroit Working Writers and volunteers with Neighborhood House, a community nonprofit. Love and Other Incurable Ailments is her second novel.

Dockside Books: An Up North Haven for Thinkers, Adventurers, and Creatives

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By Linda K. Sienkiewicz

I brake for bookstores. Literally. So when my husband and I were driving through Charlevoix in northern Michigan, hunting for fall color, and I spotted Dockside Books tucked among the town’s boutique shops, I knew I had to stop.

Before I stepped inside, I was greeted by the owner, laughing, as she tried to sweep fallen leaves away from the open door. That friendly warmth carried through as I browsed her gorgeous shop and chatted with her.

The bookshop feels like a 1920s parlor designed for lingering. A soda-fountain table and chairs sit in the bay window overlooking Main Street. Two green velvet couches face the large arched window with views of the bridge and harbor. Old leather chairs nestle in a back corner, and the children’s room features seats crafted from dock pilings. Every nook invites you to stay awhile.

Shoppers can sip complimentary coffee while browsing books, art supplies, vinyl records, magazines, and creative odds and ends. “Great books, like great music or art of any medium, have the ability to change our hearts and weave themselves into the fabric of who we are,” owner Julie Bergmann told me. “They make us better humans.”

I think I swooned.

What surprised me most was learning that owning a bookstore had never been part of Julie’s plan. She was finishing her Ph.D. in educational leadership when she heard the town’s only bookstore was closing. Julie’s roots run five generations deep in Charlevoix, and the loss of a bookstore felt personal. The community had given so much to her and her husband over the years, and they began wondering… What if?

A succession of serendipitous events followed that she likens to Santiago’s journey in The Alchemist, where the shepherd boy is searching for hidden treasure only to find something entirely different than the one he was seeking. Julie was retiring from a career in education, her children were grown, and she and her husband had been discussing the importance of a thriving downtown that attracts and supports young professionals and creatives.

And then the perfect space opened in a 1917 building with an original tin ceiling, rich trim, and an enormous brick-lined arched window overlooking the drawbridge, harbor, and park. “Almost instantly,” Julie said, “I could see people enjoying books and coffee on couches in front of that window and tall, cigar-stained bookshelves along the walls. We signed on the line in a hurry.”

Even the shop’s name carries a lovely history. Dockside Books pays homage to the late Bill Ratigan, a beloved Charlevoix local and steamboat captain turned journalist and novelist. Ratigan operated a small used bookstore in a fish shanty called The Dockside Press from the fifties through the Seventies. In the seventies and eighties, Dockside Pharmacy was serving middle and high school students phosphates and milkshakes at its soda fountain counter during open-campus lunch.

Ratigan’s family was honored when Julie and her husband approached them about using the Dockside name. Today, glossy black-and-white photos of both the press and the pharmacy hang on the walls of Dockside Books. The bookstore sits directly in front of Bridge St. Tap Room, and Julie keeps the back door open so patrons can wander freely from “books to beer,” creating an easy neighborhood camaraderie.

Inside the shop, a chalkboard behind the register caught my eye: Classroom Donations, with grade levels and tally marks. A sign beside it read: Ask me about this program! $10 = 1 free book for a child.

As a former teacher and school administrator, Julie is especially passionate about getting books into children’s hands. She works with the local school district to supply low-cost books, but she knows that during school book fairs, some students quietly stand aside because their families can’t afford to purchase a book.

“I wanted every child to have the experience of coming to the bookstore and picking out any book they like, for free,” Julie said. She put up the colorful $10 chalkboard, hoping the community might respond. They set a goal to support every Pre-K through 6th grade classroom and ended up raising enough for more than 350 donated books.

“The gratitude we have for every person who donates is beyond measure,” Julie said. “I wish they could see the expressions on the children’s faces. They simply cannot believe that someone who doesn’t even know them cared that much. This is just another way that independent bookstores are unique—giving back to their local community in ways that make an immediate impact.”

Her customer-centered approach delighted me. Independent booksellers have a better “algorithm” than anything online. Tell them what you love, or what you’re in the mood for, and they’ll hand you something startlingly perfect because they actually know the books. Julie did exactly that for me. Dockside also carries limited editions, signed copies, and special titles you won’t find at chain stores.

Though Dockside Books has been open only six months, the numbers are astonishing. “We’re a 1,200-square-foot store,” Julie said, “and we’ve already put over 11,000 books in customers’ hands. We’re incredibly grateful for the support and warm welcome.”

With their “eyes and nose finally above water,” Julie and her husband are now focusing on building Dockside into a true gathering space—a hub for author events, dialogue, ideas, and creativity. Early events like mahjong classes, author signings, and book clubs have already been a hit.

For Julie, the best part is the daily reminder of how deeply books matter to people. That’s what fuels Dockside Books: reaching out, extending their best selves, and listening to every person who walks through the door.

Find Dockside Books: 204 Bridge St., Charlevoix, MI, United States

Michigan Website: Dockside Books Bookshop

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Linda K. Sienkiewicz is a poet and author whose work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. Her debut novel, In the Context of Love, was a finalist for multiple awards including the Hoffer Award and Sarton Women’s Fiction Award. She has five poetry chapbooks and a children’s picture book. Her novel Love and Other Incurable Ailments is forthcoming from Regal House October 27, 2026. Linda volunteers at Neighborhood House, a local nonprofit in Michigan.

Books, Bites, and a Big Dream: Inside Rochester, Michigan’s Charming Indie Bookshop

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by Linda K. Sienkiewicz

When Elliot and Rachel May dreamed of owning businesses, they pictured it ten years out: he’d open a traditional sandwich shop, and she’d have her own bookstore. They didn’t imagine those dreams would come together under one roof in downtown Rochester, Michigan. But when the idea occurred to them, it came together fast.

Their story began in a Ruby Tuesday restaurant where they both worked. Elliot was in radio broadcasting and Rachel was majoring in journalism at Oakland University. That’s when Rachel fell in love with both Rochester and Elliot.

Shortly after they met, Elliot pivoted into a corporate role at Rocket Mortgage, but he never let go of his dream to run a sandwich shop. Ten years in, he decided to enroll in culinary school at Oakland Community College to learn the craft from the ground up.

Meanwhile, Rachel built a successful career in marketing. But as artificial intelligence began reshaping the industry, she considered shifting gears and perhaps revisiting her original love: books.

“For Novel: A Bookstore and Sandwich Shop, the impetus was food,” Rachel says. But she also knew from marketing that cafes inside bookstores tend to thrive because they create multiple revenue streams. That’s if they have a real chef in the kitchen. She had that in Elliot.

The couple began scouting locations in Rochester, which was Rachel’s college-town crush. With its mix of historic charm and contemporary flair, the downtown district boasts over 350 independent businesses from salons to boutiques to award-winning restaurants. When the perfect spot popped up on Main Street, they jumped at the chance. The competition was fierce, but their concept stood out. Rochester hadn’t had an independent bookstore in years. As a writer and reader who lives within walking distance of downtown, I was sadly aware of that fact.

Elliot and Rachel wrote a business plan and submitted their bid. Shortly after, the Mays were renovating a 1907 building that had once been a dentist’s office and later a feed store before a retail space. It had its share of quirks and challenges. “Designing the kitchen was the biggest hurdle,” Rachel says. The couple hired a kitchen designer and an architect. They tore up floors, updated wiring and plumbing, and brought the space up to code.

Meanwhile, Rachel dove headfirst into the world of bookselling. She reached out to other indie bookstore owners and discovered a warm, generous community eager to help. “Booksellers are the kindest people,” she says. They gave her advice on everything from data-driven curation to customer engagement.

I often walk my dog downtown. When I first saw the sign inside the window announcing Novel: a Bookstore and Sandwich Shop was coming, I snapped a photo and excitedly shared it with my literary community. Finally! An indie bookstore! In my town! They opened in November 2025 and, much to my surprise, my husband gave me a gift card from their store for Christmas.

Novel is a cheerful welcoming space where visitors can sip coffee, enjoy a warm sandwich, and browse through thoughtfully curated titles. The layout invites you to linger. You’ll find a huge couch and wide chairs clustered around a coffee table, small café tables in another area, and two plush armchairs at the front. Books line the brightly lit walls and spill into baskets on the floor, many displayed face-out to catch your eye. Children’s and YA books have their own wall. Stuffed animals peek out from the bottom bins of a rustic antique center table. During my visit, two of Elliot and Rachel’s three young children were happily mingling with customers. Elliot paused to read a book to their son, while their daughter enthusiastically “helped” ring up my purchase at the counter.

One stunning feature on the center table is the tall, handmade Tree of Knowledge, which Rachel and a friend crafted from the pages of Britannica encyclopedias. Its leaves flutter from arching branches and the trunk is wrapped in printed pages, making a tactile symbol of the stories and knowledge that fill the shop.

In the café, Elliot crafts one-of-a-kind grilled sandwiches, like the Mortadella Truffle, my personal favorite, layered on artisanal CRUST bread from a local bakery. The cheese in the sandwiches comes from another local shop, The Cheese Lady. The menu also features CRUST pies and bakery, soups, and coffee and cold drinks. This is elevated comfort food with Michigan-made heart.

What sets Novel apart from chain bookstores is the personal connection. “Talking to customers is my passion,” Rachel explains. She recently spoke with someone who claims they read only one book a year because they don’t know what to read anymore. Big box stores are overwhelming with massive displays that often lead to impulse buys and reading letdowns. At Novel, Rachel strives to curate her collection not just from bestseller lists and reviews, but from conversations. She learned from Rochester’s annual sidewalk sale that the community enjoys romance, historical fiction, YA thrillers, and true crime, not necessarily what’s on a list.

To help guide readers, she’s created a “If you like this → try this” shelf and encourages customer-written review cards that are displayed alongside featured books. “I hope to build trust with readers,” she says. Return customers mean everything, and Rachel is delighted to see that happening as Novel is becoming a community hub. Weekly story time for kids is led by local teachers. There are adult book clubs, puzzle nights and game nights. Their recent “Spicy Boozy Book Fair” and “Mystery Boozy Book Fair” events, hosted with Bitter Tom’s Tasting Room just a few doors down, were big hits.

Bookstore: A Bookstore and Sandwich Shop is more than the sum of its parts. It’s a love story of food, books, Rochester, community, and a couple who dared to build something original, meaningful, and warmly unforgettable.

Find them at 307 S. Main Street, Rochester, MI. 48307.

Website: Novel | Sandwiches and Book Store in Rochester, MI.

Follow them on Instagram and Facebook.

Linda K. Sienkiewicz is a poet and author whose work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. Her debut novel, In the Context of Love, was a finalist for multiple awards including the Hoffer Award and Sarton Women’s Fiction Award. She has five poetry chapbooks and a children’s picture book. Her novel Love and Other Incurable Ailments is forthcoming from Regal House in Fall 2026. Linda volunteers at Neighborhood House, a local nonprofit in Michigan.