JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Dawn, author of Everything I Miss At Home
(Xlibris)
Everything I Miss At Home is a sexy and dramatic thrill ride that’s emotional highs and lows race like a roller coaster. Karma, lust, ambition, greed, and life collide as fading athlete Nikki Brown, her corporate-upstart girlfriend Erin Powell, and Erin’s sexy assistant Devyn McAllister play winner take all with life, and each other.
The debut novel from author Dawn is a deliciously addictive narrative that feels like a dark fantasy solidly in touch with real life. Dawn effortlessly directs Everything I Miss At Home from the boardroom, to the bedroom, and to the streets crafting a suspenseful, salacious, and soul-stirring look at love and life through the character’s eyes.
Each perspective is distinct, raw, edgy, and unfiltered as the intimacy of each character comes alive off page after page.
Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the inspiration to write Everything I Miss At Home?
Dawn: Art and life was the muse. I had to develop rust in my imagination even when it had a twisted feel to it. The realness of Everything I Miss At Home forced me to confront personal fear and that fear turned into a fearlessness.
Real life is just is crazy as fiction. The hurt, the joy, the passion, the fury… There was an unapologetic freedom that blended close experiences and imagination. That got me and kept me inspired.
JP: What sets Everything I Miss At Home apart from other books in the same genre?
D: Everything I Miss At Home is sneaky in its suspense. Instead of observing, readers are basically inside another person’s head, and it feels very voyeuristic. The intimacy is graphic and vivid, feeling like a sensory experience versus just a read.
The situations feel engaging. Each perspective almost plays tricks on the characters as these personal intense experiences progress. There is a distinct blur between good and bad, wrong and right.
With the power of all the imagery and substance the book itself has a naked subjectivity to it. Each person will pull and feel individual things from Everything I Miss At Home. Dawn doesn’t tell the story, life does.
JP: As an author, what are the keys to your success that led to Everything I Miss At Home getting out to the public?
D: It’s important to be aware of your resources. Have a vision, but don’t underestimate or gas yourself. Be willing to work and think outside the box. Be conscious of branding.
Explore opportunity every day, and be able to build on what you have. Learn lessons and keep tenacity at the forefront of everything you conceive of doing.
JP: As an author, what is your writing process? How long did it take you to start and finish Everything I Miss At Home?
D: As an artist, words stream through me. At times, I am simply a vessel. As a working author, writer’s block or no writer’s block, creative energy or not, it’s important to produce.
If you can’t “write”, edit. There is always something to do. It took years to conceive Everything I Miss At Home, and ultimately the faith and the action that completed it in about a year.
Completing Everything I Miss At Home was a process of fear, perspective, balance, and execution. My dedication to Everything I Miss At Home wasn’t a process, for me it was a mandate. I just knew I had to do it, so I just did it.
JP: What’s next for Dawn?
D: I have interviews, radio shows, and appearances tied to the book all summer. I’m very excited about the Harlem Book Fair this year. In July, I will be keynote speaker at Charlotte Black Gay Pride.
The themes in the book have allowed me a flexibility to pursue different opportunities that appear daily. I’m aware of challenges, but I embrace work arounds.I’m fearless, hardworking, and adaptable.
My Secret Enemy, the sequel to Everything I Miss At Home, is in the works, among other original, bold imagination and reality driven stories. Life’s good.
http://www.everythingimissathome.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Everything-I-Miss-At-Home/215873015096586
http://twitter.com/EIMAHXperience
everythingimissathome@gmail.com
I adore the mystery of me being sort of enigmatic. Everything I Miss At Home is the star not me. However, Everything I Miss At Home has this eerily personal vibe and connection for a reason.
With that said, I am all about engaging with readers. Book clubs, events, comments, I’m really open to truly engaging with people interested in this book and openly invite them to reach out.
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