Awesome Authors: kc dyer

Today we're very lucky to have Awesome Author kc dyer with us!
Here's a short author bio, in her own words: kc dyer is a professional liar, prevaricator, and provocateur. Her published work includes: SEEDS OF TIME (2002), SECRET OF LIGHT (2003), SHADES OF RED (2005), MS.ZEPHYR'S NOTEBOOK (2007), and A WALK THROUGH A WINDOW (2009). More in the works!
She can be found blogging at leftwriter and Darby Speaks, or hanging about her website at kcdyer.com. Facebook fanpage can (not so surprisingly) be found at kc dyer. (Darby has a fan-page, too, right HERE.) She tweets @kcdyer on Twitter. You can email her at contact@kcdyer.com.

Blogs are a central part of the Bradford Novels universe. If you have a blog, why did you start blogging, and how did you come up with the name for your blog?
I've been blogging for almost three years—started in 2006. For me, it's a great way to stay connected with the people who read my books and the people in my writing world—friends, other writers and industry folks—who may not live where I do geographically.
My blog is called leftwriter. I called it that because I like to look at things from both sides, and while I blog a lot about my writing, I also blog a bit about the writing world and everything connected to it.
I blog a LOT. I run the blog for the Surrey International Writers' Conference, and I contribute to other blogs all the time. I'm a regular contributor to the Children's Writers & Illustrators of BC (CWILLBC) blog. And, just recently, I've started a new blog for the main character in my new book. The book is called A Walk Through a Window, and the character's name is Darby Christopher. I thought it would be fun to let her out into the world a little before her book arrives in March, so she's got a blog, too!

What's your favorite thing about blogging?
I think my favourite thing about blogging is the connection I can have with people all around the world. I get hits on my blog from all over the world and I have a lot of fun connecting with other readers and writers on the 'Net.

What's the difference between a blog and a diary?
For some people, not much. They put their lives online for the world to see, and for them this can be a really cathartic experience. For me? Not so much. Occasionally I'll run a 'Dog Blog' post on my blog, and I talk a bit about every day things, but in general all the personal stuff is off limits. I try to be really respectful of my kids' lives and try to stay away from posting about them online. (Besides—they are bigger than I am now. I'm not crazy!)

Spencer Grace Kelly, the main character in GoldenGirl, is named after her distant relative, the Princess of Monaco. What's your favorite Grace Kelly movie, and why?
Hmmm. I think either To Catch A Thief with Cary Grant or Rear Window with Jimmy Stewart. I love those adventure stories (and the leading men . . . )

What are your most recent books?
My most recent novel is Ms. Zephyr's Notebook. It was published in 2006, and the story of Cleo and Logan is told inside the pages of a teacher's notebook. Here's the blurb from my website:
When Logan Kemp hurls himself into a rugby scrum one fall morning, he has no idea that by afternoon he'll be fighting for his life. Worse, Logan learns the only other patient on his ward is a troubled girl named Cleo who may not just be hospitalized for a broken wrist. When all he wants is his regular life back, the thought of Cleo throwing away her own leaves Logan determined to change her mind.
Cleopatra Jones wants to design the perfect life; a teenage rugby player and a few well-meaning health professionals are not going to stand in her way. But Cleo soon finds that life—and even death—can interfere with the best-laid plans.
Burdened with prejudice and pain, these teens reinforce the walls that have kept them safe in their own worlds. But the secrets in a teacher's tattered notebook show them how the word sustenance can have more than one meaning. And facing the biggest challenge of their lives, Logan and Cleo discover something about the powerful forces of redemption and forgiveness.

My new book is coming out in March this year. It's called A Walk Through a Window, and it's a ghost story and a time travel story all wrapped up in one. Here's the blurb:
If you had a chance to step through a window to the past, would you take it?
A Walk Through a Window is the story of Darby, a young girl forced to spend the summer with grandparents she doesn't know in a place she feels she can never belong. But when a boy down the street extends a hand, it is more than friendship he offers. Together they discover a magical stone window frame that transports them to the very centre of the dramas of our past: the Underground Railroad; the coffin ships of the Irish Potato Famine; and even the Inuit as they crossed the Bering Land Bridge into North America.
Over the course of the long, very strange summer, Darby is forced to question part of own her life. And as tragedy threatens her family, that magical walk through a window offers Darby new insight into the people she has always taken for granted—and changes forever her perception of her country.

What new projects are you working on now?
Right now I'm working on two new books—the sequel to Darby's story is in the works, and I am working on a new series that's a kind of steam-punk time travel fantasy. I always like to keep things interesting!