Dawn M. Hunt is a member of the Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association, the National Association of Women Writers, Sisters In Crime, Sisters In Crime New England and the International Women's Writing Guild. She is a 2003 and 2004 winner of the National Novel Writing Month competition.
Dawn grew up in the high desert town of Bend, Oregon where she raised goats, chickens and rabbits. After a 12 year pit stop in California, she's now settled in Connecticut with her husband, son, daughter and three cats.
Frequently asked questions about Dawn:
Q - Can you tell us a little bit about your latest story?
Dawn answers: I'm in the midst of writing a mystery novel with Scottish roots. It's about an interior designer who finds herself embroiled in the investigation of mysterious deaths that occur during the renovations of a castle-style home owned by a family from Scotland. It's been fun casting my musician friends from Molly's Revenge as characters - playing themselves!
Q - What would you say is the running theme in your novels?
Dawn answers: I like taking ordinary people, putting them into unusual circumstances, then watching how they react. Will they persevere? How do they cope? How does it change them? The circumstances I write about could happen to anyone - me, you - anyone.
Q - How many novels have you written and are any of them published?
Dawn answers: I have at least seven novel drafts under my belt thanks to NaNoWriMo and Book-in-a-week (see my sites of interest for more info). Most of what I have written are mystery/suspense and thrillers. However, I do have a middle grade novel - potentially a series - in the works, and am drafting a psychological thriller. I'm currently querying agents for representation of my finished novel, "The Curse of Timber Lake."
Q - Have you always wanted to write?
Dawn answers: I have always written! And the dream of publication always hovered nearby. For as long as I can remember, I've kept diaries and journals, written poetry mostly about heart break and loneliness, drafted short stories and done personal essays. I excelled in English classes and even dabbled in journalism. Writing has always been my element, where I'm most at home and at peace. When I was pretty young, I wrote a television script for my favorite show at the time - Charlie's Angels - and acted it out with my sister and friends. Not sure what ever happened to that script
Q - Is script writing in your future?
Dawn answers: I think so - for movies. One thing at a time.
Q - What turned you to novels?
Dawn answers: I love having more room to explore human complexities and the mysterious circumstances we sometimes find ourselves in. Novels give me time and room to get to know my characters and watch them grow. I enjoy weaving subplots and dropping clues with lots of twists and turns. My goal is to keep the readers riveted to the end. I want that bookmark out and the pages turning until the last scene, where the readers will smack their head for not having figured "it" out before the main character did.
Q - Where do you get your ideas and do you have a hard time finding them?
Dawn answers: I have a hard time NOT turning something into a story. Everywhere I go, everything I see TV, newspaper articles, magazine articles, daily encounters, just people watching will all stir questions. I'll see two people, say in the mall parking lot, arguing or looking really serious, and I'll wonder why. I create back stories for them and then turn it into something bigger. My husband is constantly amused by the scenarios I concoct. I have really vivid bizarre dreams that make great writing fodder, too. My idea file has turned into an idea drawer. There are way more than I'll ever be able to write. But I intend to try!
Q - What is your writing schedule like?
Dawn answers: Writing schedule? What's that? Seriously, I don't have a set time or place to write, though during Book-in-a-Week or book-in-a-month challenges I try to create one. I try to do a little every day. My AlphaSmart has been a life saver because it allows me to write anywhere I happen to be - the kitchen making dinner, the bathroom while my little one bathes, on the couch while the kids are otherwise entertained. Writing via keyboard is best for me, in that I can type nearly as fast as I think, so I get more done in a shorter time. I'll long hand it when I must, but my poor wrists can't handle much pen-held writing these days.
Q - How do you balance writing with family obligations?
Dawn answers: That's a tough one. Writing is in my nature. It's who I am, it's what I do, and my family is used to seeing me disappear at the keyboard or with a notebook. Used to it and letting me do it uninterrupted are entirely different things, though. I struggle with this issue most days, and often times, writing loses. When you have young kids, their schedules are unpredictable and you never know if you'll be getting up before them, or they before you. You have to be prepared to make the most of stolen moments. As I mentioned before, I write while my little one's in the bathtub, in between dinner-fixin' stages, the few brief moments I get to myself in the bathroom, a little before collapsing into bed at night. Then there are days where my fantastic husband takes charge of the kids and I get pages and pages written. When I'm finally under contract, I'm sure babysitters will come into play. This daily struggle is something I address in my blog.
Q - Off the writing topic, why do you refer to your stay in California as a pit stop?
Dawn answers: I was born and raised in the high desert of Central Oregon and I'm a country girl at heart. My family moved to California after I graduated High School and I moved several months later, pregnant with my son and soon to be a single mother. I needed to be near my family, to have their support. I'd visited CA before and swore I'd never live there. Ten years and a husband later, I don't. Nothing against those who love Sunny CA, but it's just not for me. Not where I want to raise my kids, not where I could feel settled down. I love the four seasoned, slower-paced, family-oriented way of life we've found here in New England.
Q - What advice do you have for other writers just getting started?
Dawn answers: Most writers have it in their blood to write, whether they've been successful with it in the past or not. Yet it's never too late to start. My advice would be, just write. Write what's on your mind, what's in your heart. Write because it soothes your soul. I love the quote I heard once on Oprah, though I'm not sure who originally said it, "Do what you love and the money will follow." I hold tight to the truth in that statement, and so should everyone with a passionate desire to write.
