Former LaCrosse native's writing inspired by small town life

LACROSSE — Lois Olmstead grew up in LaCrosse, Washington, where her love for reading and writing started and inspired her early novels penned under the name L.A. Malby.

She would meet her husband, who also grew up in LaCrosse, where they continued to live for ten years before they moved away, retired, and came back.

When Olmstead was young, she explained that she fell in love with poetry and would recite it aloud as she walked around.

“Off and on all my life, I wrote,” she said.

Olmstead just published her eighth novel, “Sugar Time Succeeds,” she mentioned it’s a series.

“I don’t know why I called it Sugar Time necessarily,” she said, noting that the first one she wrote was about WWII since she lived through it.

“I just went back and wrote this romance about WWII,” she said, noting that once she wrote, the characters became like her friends.

Olmstead and her husband moved to College Place, Washington, three years ago to be close to their daughter.

LaCrosse holds a special place in her heart and her writing, though.

“I miss LaCrosse. I miss the Palouse Hills, which I think are stunning,” she said, adding that the Blue Mountains aren’t too bad either.

Olmstead mentioned that she thinks her next book may be about life in a generational household.

Having grown up in LaCrosse, the small-town life speaks to Olmstead’s writing.

“They’re all like family,” she said, “I think that’s what I liked about it. It was just a big family.”