Interview with Kimberly Kinrade

Posted by: Allison on: March 4, 2012

• In: Authors A-M | Current (After 1999) | Grades 6-8 | Grades 9-11 | Paranormal | Romance | Suspense | Teasers
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Thanks to Kimberly Kinrade for requesting me to read Forbidden Minds. I enjoyed corresponding with her and reading her first paranormal entry. Forbidden Minds is part of a trilogy, the next of which I have also been asked to review. Enjoy the interview. Then stay tuned for future reviews of books within the Forbidden trilogy.

Allison: How can you be so open on your blog about personal events and feelings? What has been your worst moment with social media such as Facebook, Twitter, etc?

Kimberly: I’ve always been a heart-on-my-sleeves kind of girl, so opening myself up in the blogosphere wasn’t as hard for me as it might be for some. I never write anything I’m not comfortable with the whole world knowing (even if only 1 person ends up reading it… which is basically where my blogs started.) For me, being a writer is being transparent in so many ways, and I hope that by allowing people into my life in this way, it helps others to open up and take chances too.

My worst moment in social media happened when someone I had befriended online turned on me and started attacking me after I did a guest post for her. It was a very strange, and somewhat frightening, experience and it taught me to be a bit more cautious. Still, she had her own issues, and eventually apologized for what had happened. I try really hard to stay open and loving, even when being attacked like that, because attacking back does not serve any purpose for anyone. Also, I have worked hard at my online persona. I represent my work as an author, so I always strive to be personable and professional in how I handle myself online.

Allison: What is one of your favorite marriage memories? What is one of your worst dating moments?

Kimberly: Well, I’m engaged to Dmytry Karpov. We aren’t married yet because we have to work out immigration issues. (He’s Canadian and I’m American.) But in our hearts, we are married. This may sound overly simplistic, but I think my favorite memory is of him carrying our sleeping 5-year-old daughter to bed. He is such an amazing father to our girls, even though he doesn’t share their biology, he is their father in all the ways that matter.

My worst dating moment… ack! It would have to be when I had a date as an adult with a guy I dated in high school. We went out to eat and the conversation was so boring and pompous that I ended up drinking too many martinis to get through it. After dinner, we went to his hotel so I could recover and he ended up stepping on my broken foot! The next day we were going to the movies, but after buying the ticket (I paid for mine) he was too sick to go. He got a refund but didn’t give me my money back. It was a truly awful date!

Allison: What is the funniest moments with your daughters? What about the scariest?

Kimberly: My kids are so hilarious sometimes! It’s not so much one moment, as all the funny little things they do and say in the course of the day. It’s the little moments in life that make it so sweet and wonderful. I remember one time when we were driving on the freeway in traffic, I was so tired and stressed. I said to the girls, “I wish the magic button in our car worked so we could fly out of this traffic.” It was a random comment that was never mentioned, until about three months later when we were stuck in traffic again. My 3-year-old piped up from the back seat. “Mommy, did you fix that button yet?” I couldn’t believe she remembered that! My girls always make me smile.

The scariest moment had to be when my oldest daughter was only five months old. I was still married to my ex at the time and I thought he was staying sober, but it turned out he was writing bad checks to bars and drinking while I was at work. When I asked about a missing checkbook, we got into a fight and he left, taking our daughter on a walk. They never came back. I had laid down to take a nap and when I woke it was dark and the house was empty. He had left her with someone he barely knew to go out drinking all night. She was still nursing and spent the entire night away from me until the police found them and brought her home. I have never been so terrified in my entire life.

Allison: What kind of dogs do you have? What is their most human moment? What is their most doggy moment?

Kimberly: We have a Chihuahua named River, and a Royal Frenchel named TayTay. They (especially TayTay) are most human in their expressions. TayTay will smile when he’s happy. It’s the cutest thing. He has this old man face that is so full of emotion! They are most doggy-like when they first wake up or when we come home after being out awhile. They bounce around the house, wagging their tales–so happy to see us.

Allison: If you had to pick a career other than writing, what would it be?

I can’t imagine not writing, but if I had to… I’d pick editing or marketing writers. It’s something I still do now, and I love both jobs, but writing will always be my soul’s calling.

Allison: What has been your biggest writing success? What about your biggest failure?

Kimberly: My biggest writing success would have to be how well Forbidden Mind (my YA paranormal thriller/romance) has done so far. It won the Forward National Literature Award last year and became an Amazon bestseller in January. It’s actually starting to generate a livable income for me, which is so exciting. I can’t wait to see what happens when the whole trilogy is out!

Allison: I guess my biggest failure is the lack of success for my first book, “Bits of You & Pieces of Me.” I don’t really consider it a failure though, as I knew going in that an eclectic collection of poems, essays and short stories wouldn’t sell well. It was an experiment to help me learn about what the publishing process, and I learned a great deal, so in that way it was also a success.

Allison: You are most passionate about fantasy and specifically the paranormal. What do you like best about fantasy? If you could have any paranormal skill, what would it be?

Kimberly: I love magic, or paranormal-type adventures. I love the worlds that can be created when we take away the normal rules of our universe. This is when I feel most alive and fulfilled as a writer, when I get to play in these alternate realties. If I could have any paranormal skill, I would want to be able to always tell when someone was lying like Lucy in Forbidden Mind. (Especially when buying a used car!)

Allison: Your book is somewhat of an exception in the paranormal craze in being about kids who can read minds instead of witches, werewolves, and vampires. How did you come up with idea of telepathy? What is your favorite paranormal creature?

Kimberly: I dreamed about Sam, a girl who could read minds and who was rented out for her powers. The rest of the series was pieced together based on this one dream!

My favorite paranormal creature would have to be… shape shifters. I am fascinated by the human/animal connection and what it would be like to experience both worlds. But I do have a thing for biting, so vampires aren’t out of the question!

Allison: Forbidden Mind reminds me of Dollhouse. Did it inspire Forbidden Mind? Where did you get your idea for hired spies?

Kimberly: I actually dreamed up the idea for this series many years ago, before Dollhouse ever aired. I saw the whole thing in my dreams… the Rent-A-Kid organization and how these kids were paranormal and rented out as spies for their gifts. The dream centered on Sam, the mind reader, as does the series. I tabled it for a long time, and only recently remembered the idea when I was getting ready to publish Death by Destiny. I wanted a short story to put out while finishing up my other book. What started as a short story ending up being a trilogy!

Allison: What inspired Wordone2done? How is the venture going?

Kimberly: Dmytry Karpov, Patti Larsen and I were talking one day about how to draw out more YA paranormal and fantasy readers and we came up with the idea of starting a site for readers and writers of YA. It’s geared for younger writers, but we will be expanding it to include all writers. It currently has informative posts on writing, marketing and publishing and has a YA Book of the Month Club. Unfortunately, because we are all so busy writing book after book, we haven’t done much with it in a while. But we have plans to get it up and running again soon!

Allison: What inspired your publishing business? How is the venture going?

Kimberly: Evolved Publishing was created by D.T. Conklin and Lane Diamond, both authors with a lot of business experience who wanted a different kind of publishing paradigm and couldn’t find a model they liked anywhere else. Evolved puts the author first, while guaranteeing a certain level of quality that our readers have come to expect from us. You may not like a given genre, but you know that if it has the Evolved Publishing name on it, it will be high quality, well-edited, and well-formatted. I first joined the team as an editor and very quickly signed with them as an author, then as Marketing Director. We are growing daily, always adding more authors, editors and artists to our amazing team. You can learn more about us by visiting the Evolved Publishing site.

Allison: What’s next?

Kimberly: Forbidden Fire, book #2 of the Forbidden Series, will be out on March 27th. I’m very excited about this second book. I think it’s much stronger than Forbidden Fire and has all sorts of surprises! I also have the third book in my children’s illustrated fantasy series coming out soon. Maddie World, book #3 of the Three Lost Kids trilogy, is a wonderful chapter book that takes place in a magic world with Lava Fairies and Bubble Fairies and deals with themes of bullying and self-confidence. Great for kids 3-9 years old and beautifully illustrated by Josh Evans.

As soon as Forbidden Fire is in my editor’s hands, I’ll be working on Forbidden Life, the final book in the series. Then onto The Reluctant Familiar and Death by Destiny. I have so many books in me to write, I’m pretty much booked for the next several years or more. I even have two more trilogies in mind based in the Forbidden world.

Also, Evolved Publishing has some great new titles coming out in the coming months in addition to mine. An epic fantasy, another YA paranormal, a sci-fi novel and more! So I get to promote and work with those authors to help them get their books out there. It’s a really exciting time to be an author!

Related Posts

• Teasers for Forbidden Mind
• Review of Forbidden Mind

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