Linamen, Karen Scalf 1960-

PERSONAL:

Born 1960, in Downey, CA; married Larry Linamen (a physician); children: two daughters. Education: Biola University, B.A.

CAREER:

Editor, motivational speaker, and author.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Two Gold Medallion Awards, Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.

WRITINGS:

(With Linda Holland) The Curious Waltz of the Working Woman: Finding Your Personal Rhythm in the Dance between Family, Work, and Friends, foreword by Dale Hanson Bourke, Regal Books (Ventura, CA), 1990.

(With Keith A. Wall) Deadly Secrets, NavPress (Colorado Springs, CO), 1990.

The Parent Warrior, Victor Books (Wheaton, IL), 1993, published as Parent Warrior: Protecting Your Children through Prayer, Fleming H. Revell (Grand Rapids, MI), 1999.

(With Linda Holland) Working Women, Workable Lives: Creative Solutions for Managing Home and Career, Harold Shaw Publishers (Wheaton, IL), 1993.

(With Keith A. Wall) Broken Dreams: Journal of a Life Shattered by AIDS, New Hope (Birmingham, AL), 1995.

Pillow Talk: The Intimate Marriage from A to Z, Fleming H. Revell (Grand Rapids, MI), 1996.

Happily Ever After: And 21 Other Myths about Family Life, Fleming H. Revell (Grand Rapids, MI), 1997.

Just Hand Over the Chocolate and No One Will Get Hurt, Fleming H. Revell (Grand Rapids, MI), 1999.

Sometimes I Wake Up Grumpy—And Sometimes I Let Him Sleep, Fleming H. Revell (Grand Rapids, MI), 2001.

Welcome to the Funny Farm: The All-True Misadventures of a Woman on the Edge, Fleming H. Revell (Grand Rapids, MI), 2001.

I'm Not Suffering from Insanity—I'm Enjoying Every Minute of It!, Fleming H. Revell (Grand Rapids, MI), 2002.

Princess Madison and the Royal Darling Pageant, illustrated by Phyllis Hornung, Fleming H. Revell (Grand Rapids, MI), 2006.

Princess Madison and the Whispering Woods, illustrated by Phyllis Hornung, Fleming H. Revell (Grand Rapids, MI), 2006.

Contributor to periodicals. Contributing editor, Today's Christian Woman.

ADAPTATIONS:

Sometimes I Wake Up Grumpy—And Sometimes I Let Him Sleep and I'm Not Suffering from Insanity—I'm Enjoying Every Minute of It! were adapted as audio cassettes by Revell Audio, 2001 and 2002, respectively.

SIDELIGHTS:

Karen Scalf Linamen is a contributing editor to Today's Christian Woman and a motivational speaker who has written numerous advice books flavored with humor. Her title Welcome to the Funny Farm: The All-True Misadventures of a Woman on the Edge draws on Linamen's personal experiences to tell stories that combine a search for God with the author's comic sensibilities. Readers will "laugh [their] … way toward spiritual growth," according to Camerin Courtney and Ginger Kolbaba in a Today's Christian Woman review. I'm Not Suffering from Insanity—I'm Enjoying Every Minute of It! is a similar collection of funny stories from the author's life. Here, Linamen offers her audience tongue-in-cheek solutions to dealing with the trials of everyday life, such as letting one's husband rent a horror video if that is what relaxes him, and treating oneself to the purchase of a matching panties-and-bra set of underwear, but she also provides sincere suggestions about coping with the modern world that reflect her Christian views. The book is "sure to gratify the expectations of the author's faithful readers with a generous dose of the comedic retreat from the stresses of life," assured a Publishers Weekly critic.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Publishers Weekly, July 22, 2002, review of I'm Not Suffering from Insanity—I'm Enjoying Every Minute of It!, p. 172.

Today's Christian Woman, March-April, 2002, Camerin Courtney and Ginger Kolbaba, review of Welcome to the Funny Farm: The All-True Misadventures of a Woman on the Edge, p. 82; September-October, 2002, Amy M. Tatum, review of I'm Not Suffering from Insanity—I'm Enjoying Every Minute of It!, p. 105.*