About Danita Cahill:
Danita is an award-winning author and photographer. She lives in the Pacific NW on a small Oregon farm with her husband, two sons, and their animals – a horse, several cats and guinea pigs, two dogs and a herd of ten alpacas. Besides running children to and fro and caring for her gardens, critters and family, Danita stays busy working on magazine assignments and dreaming up love stories for her next books.
What inspires you to write?
Everything! Good stuff. Bad stuff. Emotional stuff. But especially love, in all its many forms – the love a man and woman feel for one another, the love a child feels for a parent, or a parent feels for a child. Even the love a pet owner feels for their animals. All the books I write contain love.
Tell us about your writing process.
When I start writing a story I’ve thought it through enough that I know the beginning, the ending and some of the plot points that happen in between. So, although I have a general outline in my head, beyond that I am a pantster and simply write towards the ending. I am always surprised at what happens along the way!
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
My characters have minds of their own. I know what I want them to do, but they certainly don’t always do it! It’s almost like watching a movie in my head as they go about making choices.
Sometimes very bad choices.
What advice would you give other writers?
Keep writing.
I know it sounds trite and cliché, but it’s true – the more you write the more you learn. It takes years and years of practice to get really proficient. And even then there is always room for improvement.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I joined all the right groups, read all the right blogs and publications, went to writers conferences and workshops. For years, I tried the traditional route – write query, submit partial, submit full manuscript. Wait. And wait. And wait some more. I started getting closer and closer to a publishing contract, but after years of the submitting game I simply ran out of patience. Several of my author friends were going the self-publishing route with varying degrees of success, so I decided to give it a try, too. I self-published my first novel the tail end of 2012.
The marketing and self-promotion is grueling with self publishing, but I like the freedom and control it offers. Each author will have to look at what might work best for them and follow that path. Many authors have great success being hybrids – both traditionally and self published.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
It’s going to be interesting to watch. Competition is stiff now for the self published author. Every writer, it seems, is throwing their hat in the ring. The surveys say, “More people than ever are reading eBooks.” Next time I turn around the surveys are saying, “EBook numbers are down. It’s back to print.”
It’s hard to say what’s next for book publishing. But one thing will remain a constant – people will always want entertainment through stories. Where would all the blockbuster movies come from if not from books, right?
What do you use?: Professional Editor, Professional Cover Designer, Beta Readers
What genres do you write?: Sweet, contemporary romance, paranormal romantic suspense, humorous nonfiction
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
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