Interview with Kimberly Lee

At the beginning of the month, I had the pleasure of reviewing the thriller Have You Seen Him by Kimberly Lee. You can learn more about the book and read my review HERE. Today she's back to answer a few questions about her writing life.

Jodi: Oddly, Have You Seen Him is the second novel I’ve read in the last month that had a character who was adopted. Did you research the effects of adoption on children or just go with your gut?

Kimberly: I’m close to a couple of people who were adopted. Everyone has a different experience and I would never make any generalizations, but some of the feelings they’ve expressed influenced how I wrote about David.

Jodi: I was fascinated by the way so many unrelated characters came together to solve

this book’s puzzle. Do you believe in today’s world that strangers would join forces

to help each other?

Kimberly: I’d like to think so! I’m always moved when I see simple acts of kindness between strangers. It reminds me of our universal connection with each other. When one of my sons was three, he disappeared in the blink of an eye. I was terrified. People I didn’t know who were in the vicinity joined up and found him in less than 10 minutes—he had run off to a nearby playground. Have You Seen Him involves a larger investment of time and energy from some of the characters, but I want to believe that type of compassion still exists.

Jodi: Like so many writers you’re a jill-of-all-trades. Writing trades, that is. In addition

to being a writer, you’ve been a writing teacher, copyeditor and editor. Which of

those roles do you find the most challenging and why?

Kimberly: Actually writing is the most challenging. Uncertainty, self-doubt, and questions like “who will want to read this?” and “where is this going?” can easily become a “need” to do other things—tasks around the house, errands, paperwork. I have a loud inner critic. To get going, I think about how I’ll feel when I’ve written a chapter or two, and also how I’ll feel at the end of the day if I haven’t written anything.

With Have You Seen Him, I imagined the characters standing in a semi-circle, swaying lightly back and forth, waiting for their next move. I owed it to them to keep moving forward.

Jodi: Yes, we're all familiar with that inner critic. But that image of your characters waiting "off-stage" is amazing. Is Have You Seen Him your debut novel or do you have unpublished works (and characters) gathering dust in a desk drawer?

Kimberly: It’s the first novel I’ve followed through with to the very end. I’ve started a few others—a romance based in the Wild West, a political thriller, a magical realism piece.

Have You Seen Him is the one that kept pulling at me, forcing me to return to it and see it through. The underlying themes of belonging and knowing the truth about oneself are universal. One reader said she had to know why the main character was missing, and as a writer, so did I. I had to finish the story.

Jodi: As readers. we're so glad you followed this story to the end! You've already given us a few valuable pieces of advice but, if you could give people one piece of writing advice, what would you say?

Kimberly: Try to recapture that childlike state, when you played, created art, or made up stories just for the sake of it, without concern for whether anyone outside of yourself would like it, publish it, or favorably review it.

Jodi: How do you balance raising three children and writing? How long did it take you to

complete your novel?

Kimberly: I began this story when one of my sons was five and off to kindergarten. I completed it when he was fifteen, and then took more time to revise it, workshop it, and have it professionally edited, twice. He’s now a junior in college! I had many starts and stops, and went a few years without working on it at all. But I always came back to it. A fair amount of the chapters were written behind the wheel of my car while waiting for my kids at activities and lessons. Sometimes the words flowed more easily in that environment than during designated writing times at my desk.

Jodi: What’s up next? Another thriller? Teaching a writing class?

Kimberly: September is back-to-school time for kids. In the same spirit, it’s an opportunity for adults to be curious and creative, to learn and grow. To begin new projects.

Have You Seen Him is the first in a trilogy, so it’s back to my notebook to work on the second installment. Readers say the ending is satisfying, but I also left a few things open, so it’s pen to page to see what happens next with these characters.

Writers who’d like to join in during this season of fresh possibilities are warmly invited to check out my website for upcoming fall classes, both online and in-person! I’d love to be the voice of encouragement for those who are also on this path.