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Looking Out the Window: K Dawn Byrd Talks about Writing Books in Thirty Days and Her Latest Book












She'll give away a download of her new book, This Time for Keeps. To enter to win leave a comment and email address.

Many writers grew up with a love of reading. Were you an avid reader as a child? What did you read? I was such an avid reader as a child that mother has said many times that I was so quiet she never knew I was even in the house. Nancy Drew was my absolute favorite.
Why do you write? I first began writing seriously about four years ago. I write because it's more than a hobby, it's a passion. I can't NOT write. I write because the words bubble up inside me and I have to get them on the page.

Tell us about your latest book. Here's the cover blurb from This Time for Keeps:
India McGuire's peaceful life is shattered when on the night of her engagement to David Richards, she comes face to face with Chase Porter, a long lost love. India must come to terms with her overpowering feelings for Chase and choose between David, the neighbor who says he loves her, and Chase, the man who broke her heart.
Chase's plans of leaving quietly turn to disaster when he finds that it's impossible to disappear without seeing India one last time. Feelings begin to surface that he believed buried forever and he finds himself fighting to win her back even as David struggles to hold onto her.
India longs to follow her heart, but she's been hurt too deeply. Who will she choose? The neighbor who can provide stability or the man she vowed to love forever who may once again heed to the call of the open road?
Where do you get ideas for your books? My ideas for my books come from everywhere. Newspapers. TV. The internet. I recently saw an article about a homeless man who had inherited millions. I'm using the idea for my December 2012 release in the Zoe Mack Mystery Series.
In three words describe your style of writing. Fast. Frantic. 30 days. (Sorry, I don't count the 30 as a word. It's a number. LOL)
How do you get to know your characters? I fill out character worksheets in order to get to know them better and I'm constantly asking myself if my characters would say this or do that as I write.
What is your writing schedule and where do you write? I write every book in 30 days. I'll plot out how many words I need each day on a calendar and use it to keep track of where I should be. I write in my favorite room in the house. It's a small den without a TV, but it does have two 55-gallon fish tanks. I take breaks from time to time and watch the fish swim.
Are you a plotter or a pantzer? I'm a plotter. In order to write a book in 30 days, a pretty thorough plot is a requirement. That's not to say that my characters don't sometimes take me down roads I hadn't planned, because they do and that's okay too.
What are you working on right now? Right now, I'm about 75 percent finished with my April 2012 release. It's called Shattered Identity and is the sequel to Mistaken Identity, my first young adult novel release. Several readers wrote me asking me to tell Lexi's story and Shattered Identity was born.
Do you have any advice for aspiring writers? Don't write for fortune or fame because it may never come. Write as I do...for the simple joy of placing words on the page.
Visit K Dawn's Web site at http://www.kdawnbyrd.com/
and her blog at http://kdawnbyrd.blogspot.com/

Comments

Miss Mae said…
Wow, you write in THIRTY days???? How do you do that???? I'm in awe!!

It's nice to meet you, K Dawn, and to know another ND fan! :)

*I don't enter contests, so please do not submit my name*

Thank you!
Anonymous said…
I've written books in 30 or so days, but not all of my books (or my life) cooperate. It would be nice, though.

God bless!
June Foster said…
Hi Dawn, Better take me out of the running for a download because I already have This Time on my kindle. I'm loving it. The emotion is so real. June
This book sounds intriguing. I've seen some Christmas movies with this kind of plot just recently and I really like it. I love the fact that she has to realize which man is best for her and will make her happy. Forever! Congratulations on your new book, Dawn.

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