CK Timber is an author of YA and adult works in paranormal romance, cozy mystery, time travel, epic fantasy adventure, and superversive sci-fi short stories, novellas, and novels. We enjoyed having this Author Interview – CK Timber for our blog. Check out this fantastic author and follow them for more amazing stories.
CK Timber is an author of YA and adult works in paranormal romance, cozy mystery, time travel, epic fantasy adventure, and superversive sci-fi short stories, novellas, and novels.
She has penned a collaborative novel with author Jesse Bond. A horse trainer and massage therapist by trade, CK Timber jumped ship to follow her lifelong dream to become an author and pen adventurous stories for young and old alike.
At sixty-nine years of age, she writes clean, fun, adventurous bodies of work for young adult readers and cheek-blushing content for adults. There is always a twist and something unexpected in her stories.
When did you start writing?
It was around three am in the morning, sometime in the winter of 2017. I awoke for the third night in a row from a repeated and quite disturbing dream. A wraith-like man stepped out of a book and demanded I write his story.
Well, I climbed out of bed, turned Bob Sieger on LOUD, and started writing Dark Story. Dark Story six years later is still unfinished, but it’s taken on a life and will someday find its way to a published end.
I don’t write a lot of books quickly. I tend to dawdle and play with my stories, sometimes letting the characters sit in their juices for a year at a time.
I have plans for sequels to Darian’s Quest, Hellfire, Charm & The Shifter Witch, and The Passion Fruit Files: Murder on Independence Day. Plus, Dark Story will emerge sometime in the future, and Jesse Bond and I are remastering The Merge a collaborative. It is being tweaked from a paranormal romance to a dystopian sci-fi. I hope we have The Merge ready for submission to Tuscany Bay Books by early fall.
What was it like growing up?
Oh, I had the very best of the best when it came to childhood. Dad was a contractor and built homes, so we had land, and on it, we had horses, a couple of cows, and ducks on a pond. The sun’s light in the early afternoon gave off the best visuals and feel. The air was filled with warm energy, insects buzzing, shimmering in the filtered light. The smell of horse sweat made my heart sing.
I spent more hours in a day on my horse than I did in school or around the house, or with friends. The kids I rode with when I wasn’t riding alone and I could be found plodding along the roads and trails in the Rogue Valley of Medford, Oregon. Our parents had set up a phone chain and would call the other parents to share our whereabouts when they’d see us ride by.
We had freedom, but we knew we were safe. I grew up on wild game and homegrown meats, and garden veggies. My favorites were wild mushrooms, wild asparagus, homegrown artichokes, and blackberries, and I loved to fish.
How was your early life?
I wasn’t very good at school. I made it out in 1972 by the skin of my teeth. Everything was good until my parents moved to Alaska. I, of course, had to tag along. I have never felt more out of place. I became hard to get along with, and I think I broke my dad’s heart. He had always been my Hero, my King, and somehow, he fell from grace. Teenagers can be really awful, and I was one of those.
Dad and I made up in later years. He passed back in 1996, but he’s still the most honorable giant of a hero a girl could ever wish for.
I scared my parents to death when I took off hitchhiking alone except for my dog, Flabe, a Keeshond Husky mix. We hitched all over the Pacific Northwest. I almost met my maker twice on that journey, but Flabe was there to scare the hell out of anyone wanting to harm me. He literally saved my life once.
When I came home, I resumed my career as a horse trainer. I’d become a professional trainer at 15 and had several paying clients waiting.
What has been the biggest influence in your career?
Which career? Horse training, massage therapy, or author services? My heart drove me to become a highly intuitive horse partner. That same intuitive gift also influenced how I provided massage. And it plays a huge part in how I approach working with my clients. I would have to say that intuitiveness also drives my stories. I trust the stories, the characters, and my intuition.
Tell us about your newest release.
My latest release was Dark ‘N Stormy Seas. It was supposed to be a paranormal time-travel romance. Based in Bermuda, it quickly morphed into a historical paranormal work of fiction about a tall ebony slave woman named Saidah, a cheetah shifter, and an extraordinary golden man, Luca, a Lusca (Kraken) cephalopod shifter.
In 1830 slavery was on track for emancipation. The island of Bermuda was slow to give in to the orders from England. Even enslaved people on the mainland of North America were allowed a new life as free men and women.
Saidah and Luca forged a friendship and had one thing in common: they were shifters. On land and in the sea, they warred against the inhumanity the sugar cane enslavers dished out. Forced from the plantation fields to the sugar mill, Saidah worked under the worst conditions and still managed to keep her head high.
She labored over the cooking of molasses for the island’s primary rum distillery. When one of her roommates was gifted a copy of a book about the abolition of slavery written by a formerly enslaved person, things got ‘real’ fast. Saidah and Luca found themselves thrust into the movement to free Bermuda’s enslaved people.
As resentment toward the Free Peoples of Color ran rampant, and violence flamed in the face of Bermuda’s slave traditions, Saidah held to her promise—protect the weak and save her people.
Which book of yours would you call your favorite child?
Dark Story. It isn’t anywhere near ready for publishing. But Dark Story is my baby.
What inspired you to write this book?
As mentioned, Wraith came to me in a dream and demanded I write his story. He’s still spilling the beans, so it may be a while before it hits the stores.
What are you usually found doing when you’re not writing?
Hanging with my dog, Persia, or my mare, Shoshoni. I’m a reclusive type of person, and the most rewarding time for me is away from people and spending quality time with my animals.
What does your writing space look like?
Ha! Well, I live in an RV. I write and work from a couch with a folding table before me. I am basically retired from horse training and massage. I work most remotely from my computer in the author services industry—a publicist for Tuscany Bay Books and private PA for a few Indie authors.
If you wrote your autobiography, what would you name it?
I Am Enough
How long did it take to write your novel, and what was your process?
I’ve only written one novel. Most of my work seems to hang in there, around 28-30,000 words. I’m the Novella Queen. It takes as long as it takes. I have written a couple of novellas in just under three months. But most take up to a year.
Mostly because I lose focus and end up doing all sorts of things besides writing. Truth for many of us, right?
My process—get an idea, find a place to start, and write one chapter at a time. I treat each chapter in the same manner one might treat an essay. The next builds on the last. Normally I have no idea where the story will go or end up. In one short, I wrote, I didn’t know what would happen at the end until I killed off the romantic interest in the third to last chapter. So yeah, there’s that. I never know.
Favorite reads?
Any and all of Terry Brooks, and I have to say I am prejudiced when it comes to Jesse Bond’s books. I love how she leaves you feeling like you were an integral part of her characters’ lives just by the feel of the environment they live and work in. The way they interact makes you want to pipe in and interact with them, and they stick with you for a long, long time.
Do you have any book recommendations?
Several, you have got to read the comedic horror, a Lovecraft Amalgamated novel, The Thing From HR, by Roy M. Griffis. Or better yet, listen to the audiobook. If you like dystopian urban fantasy and are not squeamish about polyamorous behaviors, you might want to read Jesse Bond’s The Cymoid Chronicles. Complete with shifters of all kinds, fated dragon mates, epic battles, and sizzling romance. It’s a great four-book series.
What’s your next big project?
An Equine Healing Enrichment Anthology It’s in the birthing stages and is without a name yet. It will be a table book comprising eight to twelve 8000-word short stories with illustrations and poetry.
Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?
Don’t be afraid. Write, and don’t stop. Be hard on yourself, but don’t give up. Good writing comes with growth and experience. That takes time. Be proud you accomplished a finished product, learn from your mistakes, and keep writing.
Follow CK:
https://twitter.com/home @ck_timber
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