Danita Cahill is a full-time, multi-published, award-winning freelance writer and photojournalist. At age 14 she sold her flute and bought a word processer to pursue her dream of b...ver másDanita Cahill is a full-time, multi-published, award-winning freelance writer and photojournalist. At age 14 she sold her flute and bought a word processer to pursue her dream of becoming a writer. Danita 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, a herd of alpacas, and two dogs (thankfully neither dog has red eyes). Besides running children to and fro and caring for her gardens, critters and family, Danita stays busy working on magazine assignments and her next book.
Danita is a member of the Central Oregon Writers Guild, and the Willamette Writers Guild. She grew up on the Oregon coast.
Notes: Like all fiction writers, I have an over-active imagination. That fantasy world doesn't leave my head when I'm sleeping. It often grows all night into a huge, hairy, chaotic world with a freaky mind all of its own.
I've had night visions gone wild since I can remember - bad guys chasing me with handguns; me flapping my arms to stay aloft just above the rooftops but not quite out of reach of the evil men's clawing hands. The initial idea for "Mist" came from a nightmare. It wasn't crazy dudes with guns chasing me that night though, it was red-eyed dogs hunting me along a fog-shrouded coastline.
About the same time as that nightmare hit, I had a baby. Six months later my mom died.
The combination of the three events - nightmare, birth, and death of a loved one - was the catalyst for "Mist." Swirled together, these three unrelated things became the plotline, the theme and the main characters.
Evil red-eyed dogs are the antagonists of the story. The female leading character, Dianne Harris is a younger, hipper version of my mom. Although I gave birth to a baby boy, I gave Dianne an infant daughter to keep safe. (And sorry, but no spoilers here. You'll have to read the story to discover the theme!) Add all the elements together and the concept seemed perfect for a mystery/thriller.
I can bang out nonfiction pieces quickly. Fiction takes me longer. "Mist" took six years from start to finish. The novella I'm working on now "Daisies are True" is a romance with paranormal elements. The idea seed for "Daisies" came from a good dream. I'm happy to report this current project is clipping along at a much faster rate.
I'd love to hear from you! danita@1363gmail.comver menos