Dear All,
It’s an exciting day for me — and a bit of a different type of blog post from me to you. Several years ago now, I had the pleasure of meeting this crazy-fun, spontaneous author, kc dyer, in Surrey at SiWC.
kc dyer’s books include The Eagle Glen Trilogy (Seeds of Time, Secret of Light, Shades of Red), Ms. Zephyr’s Notebook, and A Walk Through the Window – the first novel in a new series. Its sequel, Facing Firing, was just released this week and her main character Darby is gallivanting about the Internet, doing guest blogs to stoke flames of interest for this latest tale.
Anyway, without further ado, here’s Darby on Facing Fire and how journal writing can spark a great story.
p.s. Please comment so I can enter you name in a draw for a free copy of Facing Fire!
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Hi Guys!
My name is Darby Christopher, and I’m here because Ev kindly offered to share her special writing space for a day. I’m on a wicked blog tour celebrating the launch of my new book. I’m heading all over the place but this is definitely the farthest north I’ve been since – well, since I had a bit of an odd encounter with a polar bear last summer–
While we’re on the subject of polar bears, I’d better start by telling you something about myself. I don’t generally pursue polar bears in my spare time, but after the past year or so it’s become pretty apparent that I do have a weird talent for . . . time travel. This month, as you know, I’m celebrating the release of my new book, FACING FIRE, and it’s got me to thinking.
The story tells what happened after the magical summer that you may have read about in A WALK THROUGH A WINDOW. But before I got to the walking-through-windows and slip-sliding-through-time bits, I had to do a little writing.
In the first story, my teacher gave us the dreaded summer journal assignment. At first I was hugely upset –- I wanted to spend my summer skateboarding down Yonge Street in Toronto, not writing my deepest, inner-most thoughts into a lame coil notebook. But you know, after the summer I had . . . well, let’s just say I was pretty glad to have kept a record.
So, in a way, I guess you can call me a writer. And if I thought things were weird in the first book? Well, they got a whole heckuva lot weirder in FACING FIRE. Not to mention this little problem at school . . .
I’d better not say any more, I think. Let me just tell you – if you write a journal, I think it’s a GREAT idea. And if you want to learn more, I think you’ll just have to read my book. You can find out more about it at www.kcdyer.com
Or better still, how ’bout winning a copy as a prize? If you comment on this post, Ev will put your name into a draw to win a free copy of the new book – FACING FIRE. And if you link to this post somewhere else (like in another blog, or on Facebook post or even a tweet) we’ll put your name in for the draw for BOTH of my books. So comment away!
By the way, if you’re into looking for prizes, check out my blog HERE at Darby Speaks. I have an AMAZING contest going with some totally fantastic prizes. If you like Twitter, you can follow all the latest on the contest and the blog tour and launches @DarbySpeaks.
See you there!
And hey, Ev? Thanks for having me. I think you should start, y’know. Tell us all about what goes in YOUR writing journal!
~Darby
Author Ev Bishop: page-turning stories about family, friends, and finding your true home. 
Well, I can’t really ignore Darby’s question about my journal, though first I have to confess: in terms of pages filled regularly, my journals are not what they used to be. I used to write copious amounts, pretty much daily, and I have no idea how many black, full sized Mead Five*Stars I’ve filled up.
Content-wise, however, I use my journals exactly the way I have since I was about twelve. I have several on the go at once and they’re all for different things. Poetry (my own snippets and others’) and quotes that strike me go in one. Spiritual musings, worries, wonderings and prayer go in another. General ranting — both happy and . . . not — go in another, along with notes for random story ideas and the odd writing exercise, etc.
It’s one of the reasons I never feel I have nothing to write about — I have years worth of journals with story ideas that I’d like to write someday, if ever I had enough time!
So yes, more than a diary of events and people and places, my journals are my messy thoughts spilling out and being purged–and sometimes celebrated.
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YES
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My own journalling has fizzled out lately. Weird. Must remedy that….
I’d love to win FACING FIRE! (I tweeted the link.) 🙂
sharigreen.ya AT gmail.com
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Matt: Great to see you. I’ve entered your name in the draw for FACING FIRE. If you tweet a link to this post, let me know and I’ll enter you in for FACING FIRE and WALK THROUGH THE WINDOW.
Shari: Thanks for coming by–and you’re right: you should remedy your journalling fizzle. 😉 I’ve entered you in both draws!
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Yay Ev — I love to read about your journalling. And I especially like reading the results. Thanks for taking part in my tour — and for helping me tell the world about my new book!
~Darby
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Pleased to meet you, Darby! And Ev’s mention of her writing journal makes me wish I kept one. I guess I do, but it’s more a collection of notes and timelines than a real journal. If everyone opened it they’d think it was written in latin!
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LOL re: people would think your notes were written in Latin. My journals look like they’re written in some other language–or hieroglyphics–too.
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Great to see you here Darby! Can’t wait to read about your latest adventures 🙂
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Hi, Deniz. You’re entered!
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Hi Ev! Yay for a contest! I have K.C’s books on my to be read list so this is very cool 🙂
I will also be tweeting this as soon as I finish this comment 🙂
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Cool, Shannon! You’re entered in both draws.
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Oh dear, you mean I’m supposed to have a writing journal? Well, perhaps every now and again, but not regularily.
Nice meeting you Darby. I must say I am interested in learning more. 🙂
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Laura, yes, you have to have a writing journal. Didn’t anyone tell you? It’s in the Writing Life rules. LOL.
So have you ever kept a journal? And if yes, do you think you don’t have one now because blogging has bumped it out of your life? I’ve wondered that–that maybe blogging has taken words that I would normally have stuck in notebook. But then again, my journals are notoriously personal. My blog . . . well, it’s personal, but the personal I don’t mind sharing publicly. 😉
p.s. I entered you in the draw, of course.
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Pingback: Contest « Laura Best, author
p.s. Laura, make that that you’re entered in both draws! Thanks for the posting teh contest on your blog.
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Jen: I saw your tweet. Thx! You’re entered in both draws now too.
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This book sounds wonderful. I’m both a fan of journaling and time travel, one I do more than the other. heheh I would love to win and read all about Darby. Sounds terrific!
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I mentioned it on Facebook since I don’t see a link to FB here.
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Good luck, Cathy, and thanks for coming by–also thanks for the Facebook link. I’ve entered you in both draws.
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Thanks, Ev!
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I suppose I should have posted a longer comment because I don’t think saying one word counts whatever just ignore both the commments!
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No, way, Matt. It totally counts. And hey, you should get Brixton to come by — if he wins, after he reads it he could give it to Brinja (spelling?) for Christmas. 🙂
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This sounds interesting. I have tried to keep a journal, but it keeps falling by the wayside.
I’m tweeted this and I’m also making a mention in my blog – http://lynnadavidson.wordpress.com
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Lynn, thanks for coming by! I put your name into both draws.
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Enter me!
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