Author Q&A: Kimberly Duffy

Today we're interviewing author Kimberly Duffy.

Duffy is a Long Island native currently living in Southwest Ohio. When she’s not homeschooling her four kids, she writes historical fiction that takes her readers back in time and across oceans.

She loves trips that require a passport, recipe books, and practicing kissing scenes with her husband of twenty years. He doesn’t mind.

SADYE: How did you come to see yourself as a writer, and what inspired you to seek publication?

KIMBERLY: I have only ever wanted to be a writer. There really isn’t anything else I seriously considered.

I wrote my first story when I was twelve. My parents got me a subscription to Writer’s Digest when I was fourteen. I got a typewriter at fifteen (I’m revealing my age here.)

I entered my school’s writing contest my junior year (and won both first and second place.) I wrote my first novel when I was twenty-four. And just kept writing them until my publisher offered me a contract.

I can’t really remember a time before I knew I was writer. And because I read so much, I’ve known since I was young that I wanted to publish.

It never really occurred to me to not think of myself that way and to not pursue it. 

SADYE: Which of your characters would you most and least like to become romantically involved with?

KIMBERLY: I would most like to become romantically involved with Owen, the hero in my first novel, A Mosaic of Wings.

He’s the one most inspired by my husband. He’s sweet and charming and very boy next door. He’s opposite to me (and to Nora, my heroine in that book) in that he’s extroverted and easygoing and laid back.

I think I’d be a disaster with Gabriel from Every Word Unsaid. He struggles with anxiety (as do I) and I’m sure we’d just hole up together and ignore the world.

Nothing about us would help stretch or grow the other person (fortunately, Gussie is perfect for him) 

SADYE: What have been the most surprising, rewarding, and challenging parts of your writing career?

KIMBERLY: The most surprising part of being a writer is that people invite my books into their lives. It feels like a really intimate honor.

I think the most rewarding thing is the friendships I’ve made in the writing and reader community. Some of my closest friends are other writers.

I’ve met amazing, interesting people from all over the country at reader events and book signings and conferences.

And the most challenging part of being a writer is trying to make a go of it while also being a mother and homeschooler. I’ve had to become very, very good at managing my time.

Sometimes my kids need me more than my writing does and other times, my husband has had to use PTO because I was on a deadline. It’s an interesting balance. 

SADYE: What period of history would you most like to travel back to and why?

KIMBERLY: I’d love to travel back through time to the Gilded Age into the turn of the century. I think it must have been a really exciting period to live.

So much was in flux. This was an age when educational and career opportunities were really opening up to women.

Travel became much easier. Understanding of science and medicine was exploding.

Fashion was quickly changing and it was a time of experimentation where art was concerned. 

SADYE: What message or theme would you like readers to take away from your work? 

KIMBERLY: I want my readers to feel seen and heard.

I weave so much of my own experiences into my stories — body image struggles, feelings of isolation and rejection, anxiety, post-partum depression, female friendships, questioning my faith — and I aim to be transparent, both in my writing and real life.

Life is hard enough without feeling as though you’re alone in your dark moments.

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Learn more about Kimberly Duffy on her website, where her books can also be purchased; like her page on Facebook; and follow her on Instagram. 

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