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Welcome to the Tuesday Author Interview with Christina Boyd for the Who, What, Where, When, and Why.
Kim Hornsby first came on my radar via Twitter and as a member of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association. Since then, I've learned she is also an accomplished screenwriter, author, and producer and, like me, lives in the Pacific Northwest.
CHRISTINA: When did you first think you had a book to write and how did you start?
KIM: In 2002, I journeyed to Taiwan on the advice of a former neighbor who was living there temporarily, to adopt a baby. The five months it took to process the paperwork for my daughter Ila was time enough to write weekly emails to my friends and family about my strange adventures in a foreign country with a five-year-old son in tow who started modeling for catalogues with his blond hair and a baby no one believed was mine. When my daughter was one year old and, of course, we were back in the Seattle area with her American passport, I took the advice of friends and wrote a book but didn’t want it to be non-fiction. I wrote a story about a woman going to Taiwan to get away from a bad relationship and upon discovering the neighborhood orphanage, fell in love with a baby she wanted to adopt.
I never published that novel, not yet, but still love that story. It’s called The Need for Something Sweet.
CHRISTINA: Wow! I would read that book. I hope it publishes or is adapted to film.
Is there one of your characters you most identify with and why?
KIM: At this point in my life, I identify most with Tina Greene in The Dream Jumper’s Promise. When I first started writing her, I used my experience as a Maui scuba instructor to craft her world and life. But recently I lost my husband to COVID and now identify with Tina coming to terms with her husband’s death and surviving widowhood. The trauma of losing your partner, the one person who always has your back, the feeling of being emotionally untethered in the world, are aspects Tina and I share. When I wrote that novel, I had no idea we’d have that in common, but I also had no idea Maui’s downtown would be decimated in a fire. Life is cruel sometimes and The Dream Jumper’s Promise is about pulling up your bootstraps and continuing on after tragedy.
CHRISTINA: I am so sorry to hear about your husband. I hope that your writing and your move to your house in the woods has given you some comfort remembering happier times. And being able to immerse yourself in your work hopefully fills you up too.
What is your current project or latest release?
KIM: I’m writing a Psychological Suspense about a game of cat and mouse between an Air B&B host and a guest who unwittingly has no idea her life is being upended by a couple of elderly sisters who take creepy delight in inserting themselves into their guests lives. It’s called Host Onsite and I’m in the plotting stage right now. My literary agent is getting ready to pitch it to Montlake Publishing at Amazon to see if they want the book when it’s done. I love suspense and fear generated by strange goings on. Also, creepy psychological thrillers.
CHRISTINA: I always feel the Pacific Northwest is ripe for creepy, suspenseful stories. You're in the right place. Good luck with the pitch!
What makes you get up in the morning? What do you love?
KIM: My dog usually gets me up in the morning at the first sign of daylight! The promise of a cup of good coffee helps get me out of bed along with a long list of to-do’s at my desk. Anymore, I rarely have days without meetings, emails, writing, promotion, marketing, even book cover or movie poster design. Because I also write screenplays and have sold several of those and have another few in preproduction to be movies, I have busy work all day as a producer. I love to work on the films I produce, whether I wrote the story or not, and these days, I spring out of bed ready to tackle film distribution, filming locations, actor contracts, prop rentals, rewrites, and costume ideas. Working on a novel is my peaceful time after a day of frantic production work.
CHRISTINA: Ha! My dog Zelda is my alarm clock too. I usually enjoy watching the sun come up, but as daybreak is later this time of year, her 6:00 a.m. wakeup isn't near as welcome. I love that you are so busy that novel writing is your peaceful time.
So far, what is your greatest accomplishment as a writer?
KIM: This is a tough question because every accomplishment is great, and I’ve been very fortunate. Winning awards for books and screenplays is always a dopamine high and fun bragging rights. Finishing a novel is a huge accomplishment, selling a screenplay is like winning the lottery, hitting the USA Today Bestseller List was momentous, getting paid to write a Lifetime movie was a wonderful experience. Seeing my name in the credits when my short film has played film festivals is a big rush, especially when I’m in a Regal movie theater watching my sentences come out of someone else’s mouth and people are gasping at the suspenseful parts. But having a full-length movie made that I wrote (and co-produced) was a milestone for this lowly writer. Seeing the actors speaking my words with a director who’s spent months working out the scenes I created on a page, watching the crew contribute to making this Family Adventure movie day after day, sometimes up all night to get those night shots, was surreal. As a novelist, you don’t get those moments because you aren’t a team and when someone reads your book, you aren’t usually in attendance (although it’s always fun to see someone reading your book around a pool on vacation!)
CHRISTINA: Goodness. What an incredible vitae! So inspiring.
Thank you so much for sharing your remarkable story with me. What a fascinating life you've lived so far. I can't wait to see what else you do. I hope to meet one day in real life. If you are ever in my neck of the woods, coffee or lunch is on me.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kim Hornsby is a USA Today Bestselling Author and Produced Screenwriter known for adapting her novels to screenplays. With sixteen novels and novellas and 14 screenplays Kim is also a movie producer, filming one of her scripts, Braving Rapids, a family adventure film in 2023. She teaches writing techniques and her method of adapting from book to film at conferences nationally including the RWA and PNWA. Her Christmas Romance novels and Suspense Mystery novels have sold over half a million books and she’s grateful to be able to write happy ending stories for her readers.
A mother, dog owner, kayaker, painter, and avid adventurer, she loves to travel but when home Kim writes from a desk overlooking her forested acreage on an island off Seattle conjuring up entertainment with kick ass heroines amongst diverse and inclusive characters to represent real life.
She is represented by Corvisiero Literary in both books and film. You can contact Kim via her website.
