Episode 66: KD Allbaugh, 2021 STAR award finalist
Face Down in Rising Sun was chosen as one of only three finalists in the debut category of the 2021 STAR awards by Women’s Fiction Writers Association
KD Allbaugh shares the inspiration behind her novel, and writing advice.
Books Mentioned:
Face Down In Rising Sun by KD Allbaugh
Linda Ulleseit, award winning historical fiction author
Nowhere Near Goodbye by Barbara Conrey
Silver Heights by J. L. Cole
The Exit Strategy by Lainey Cameron
Other STAR Award Debut Finalists:
Wildland by Rebecca Hodge
A Door Between Us by Ehsaneh Sadr
STAR Award General Category Finalists
The Companion by Kim Taylor Blakemore
Truth of the Matter by Jamie Beck
Her Perfect Life by Rebecca Taylor
Connect with the author:
Learn more about Women’s Fiction Writers Association and the annual STAR award (Published Fiction) and RISING STAR award (unpublished manuscript)
Transcript:
Lainey 0:00
First off, congratulations, this is a huge deal.
KD 0:04
Thank you so much. It's a complete honor. And especially the organization. You know, the women's fiction writers association is beyond awesome. And to be nominated for that one in particular is an honor.
Lainey 0:18
And it's a big deal. So I want to show people the finalists, if they haven't seen this yet, in fact, this is going to be announced the winners are going to be a nest cheer at the end of September. And so I thought it would be fun to have you on the podcast, in part because I realized and this very much surprised me that we've managed to have five out of the six finalists on the podcast already. So when I saw the finalist list, I was like, okay, Katie has to be on You're the only one of the six I haven't talked to yet where we got really good odds hitting five out of six, which says, the quality of the writers and the books that we choose to be on this podcast, and your book, Facedown in Rising Sun is one of the outstanding debut finalists, there are only three, the other two have been on the podcast, WildLand by Rebecca Hodge, and Ehsaneh Sadr's book, A Door Between Us, which is around the green wave movement in Iran. And then in the general category, which is the non debuts they actually split it into two different categories. You could only answer one this year, we have some of my favorite authors, Jamie Beck, Kim Taylor Blakemore and Rebecca Taylor, all of whom, who have been here with me. So I'm so excited that we get to talk about your book face down and rising sun today.
KD 1:29
I am incredibly excited. And as you mentioned, the other authors again, it's kind of like being asked to prom with some really cool people. Um, so we're ending up with the
Lainey 1:41
Oscars walking down the red carpet going. Goodness gracious. So let's talk about your book. I'm so excited to hear more about it. So it's a little bit of crime fiction, it's historical, why don't we start by just having you tell us a little bit about it?
KD 1:55
Well, then there was this beautiful young girl, Clara. And the setting is in 1920s 1925 26. Um, I grew up in southwestern Wisconsin, Crawford County, which is an absolutely beautiful setting, and large Norwegian family. And, you know, just kind of do run of the mill, young lady, a wonderful character, but she was a real person. And she met a young man who was very dashing, exciting, everything she thought she wanted in life, she wanted to kind of leave this farm life and you know, rural existence behind, she wanted some more excitement. And so she, you know, step by step kind of became more and more involved with them. And it was probably six months into their relationship that suddenly she just disappeared in the middle of the night.
Lainey 3:00
And you started to answer one of my questions, which was, is this based on a real life story? So she disappears. So how did you come across this story? Like, like, why this one? Have you known it forever? Or to just just find it someday? Like, where did this one come from?
KD 3:17
That's an excellent question. Because the business that my husband and I own, we visit local farms and things, we do home inspections. And there were so many people in that area of Crawford County, Wisconsin, and we're like, well, you heard about what happened and rising saw, you know, kind of the local lore first, and telling the story, and everybody has a little bit different version, because it was, you know, it was a true story. But there were so many things left unsaid. And because it's historical, you know, you have small pieces of it, but you don't have all of it. So I decided, you know, one day I was out there kind of doing this little, basically tour of where she lived and where things happened. And a good friend of mine was with me, and I said, you know, I'm just going to write her story. She deserves to have her story told, um, she was amazing. And woman. And some of the things that happened, it's, it's, you know, it's interesting, it's hopefully engaging for everyone else. It was for me.
Lainey 4:24
It was it was I thought this was a fascinating idea for a book and let's take a quick peek at a review here. This is a review review by Linda. Linda's name currently. Oh, it was. It was it? I believe. Yes, yes. And she does a great job of summarizing she says based on a real murder that occurred in 1926 in the hills of southwestern Wisconsin. All the characters in this novel are presented empathetically, I rooted for Clara. That's the main character, but I did understand where the other characters were coming from. The result is a story that is tragic on many levels very well written. What a lovely review.
KD 5:02
It is. I, you know, women when she posted that I was I was so touched because Linda is an award winning author herself and has wonderful books. I've read several of them. And so when you hear from another author that is especially gratifying,
Lainey 5:19
isn't that true? And I'd love to know more about your inspiration. So you had this story that was kind of part of local lore. But how did you decide what to do with it? Because you could you could have gone in so many different directions, right? Like, how did you decide how to approach it
KD 5:34
very true, I, you know, it would have been possibly easier to just write maybe, straight true crime of what happened and not fill in the blanks. But the story of her family, the story of the background of the, I mean, even the culture of southwestern Wisconsin, um, and having been, you know, I was born here, I was raised here, there's a love for the, for the area, and wanting to really portray that in the beauty that that's here. So I decided, you know, what, I want to tell Claire a story but to their, their holes in the story and what happened. And so I filled them in. That sort of became fiction, because, you know, there's a lot of this that no one knows, to this day, what happened? And it must be freeing, right
Lainey 6:27
not to have to stick exactly 100% everything that's known, right? Like you really got into her character, and like, you couldn't get into a character in the same way if you didn't do that.
KD 6:36
Exactly. It was, at times, it was so exhilarating. And it's and of course, I mean, this is my debut novel, it was so exhilarating to, you know, write and talk about it. And you know, of course, there's some tragedy in this and I had to put up one, you know, chapter for, I don't know how many days I couldn't write it. And while I wrote it, I'm very close to this character. I admire her and love her. So
Lainey 7:05
telling her I'm actually interested in a little bit in what you were saying, like, it's your debut novel, talk to me about the process of from, from when you started to it making it into the world? Was there a lot of editing involved? Did you go through a lot of revisions, like, what did that look like?
KD 7:20
Yes, they, um, you know, they, maybe the, the preconceived notion that, oh, you just go write a book, and you hand it in to, you know, a publisher, and they go, yeah, you know, you're getting published, doesn't quite probably happen. But I wrote the story, again, because I love this story. And initially, I wrote it pretty much for myself, just just to tell her story. And more and more people read it. And actually, I'm a former, I'm a retired educator. And one of the best things is a former student of mine, who is a published author, she has a lot of novels. Um, she read it and said, you know, you need to think about publishing this. And at first, I thought, Oh, my, I doubt it, I don't know. Um, but it, it came from that, but then learning the process, that that was really something so, you know, handing it over to beta readers and alpha readers and editors, and on and on, and lots of changes, and really trying to research you know, even though it's fiction, to have it be real enough that I'm probably the best compliment that I receive often from readers is, I can't tell where the true story ends and where the fiction kicks up. And that's that that's one of the biggest compliments probably.
Lainey 8:48
So this is an amazing journey, right? Like to go from, I'll write it to myself for myself to Okay, I'll let it sit and release it, too. I'm one of three novels chosen as the three debut novels by women's fiction writers Association for 21. Gosh, what advice do you have? Because that's a heck of a journey. If you were talking to yourself, you know, back a few years ago, maybe even before you started, or you were talking to other writers who look at you and say, Wow, I wish I could do that. Like, what do you advise other writers? You know,
KD 9:20
I left a career that I really loved because of a health condition and thought, Okay, next chapter of life, what is it and found this and I guess what I would say is if it's really your dream, pursue it, go after it. There's so many people in our world right now, who will tell us what's wrong, and what you can't do. Find the people who would tell you you can and surround yourself with that positive and be that positive yourself. Because, again, I've had such encouragement from so many authors and people along the way, and I At times, it's like, it's I feel so undeserving because it's like, I'm one of many. I mean, there are so many gifted writers out there. So if you think you have that, that novel that debut novel in you,
Lainey 10:13
go ahead, write it. I love that. And clearly you are deserving. Because this is not an easy final to get in like you saw there's only three, three, and it is not an easy one at all. So what do you read? Do you read what do you like to read? Write nothing good recently.
KD 10:30
I love all kinds of different genres. Recently, probably a favorite right up there is gonna probably butcher her last name. Barbara Conrey. Nowhere Near Goodbye.
Lainey 10:46
Yeah, she's been on the podcast.
KD 10:50
She's also amazing. It has been so amazing, I believe her book and Facedown in Rising Sun were in a Booktrib public publication together. And, you know, I thought, Oh, that's really interesting. Um, from from the first sentence, it was, it was amazing. I also just read Silver Heights by Jay Cole. I'm also great. So and there's this huge to be read pile is I'm still researching because there is a second now well underway. And so the exit strategy is in there.
Lainey 11:30
Can I ask you about it is the second novel also historical fiction. Yes.
KD 11:35
And it's even closer to where I actually live on. And it's involved in entire community, and a young woman again, but her story is this. It was amazing. As I'm starting to research it and thinking, Wow, there is really there's some substance in here that did tell her story.
Lainey 11:56
Well, let's take a quick peek at how people can connect with you. I know on on Instagram, your Katie Alba author that's be a UGH, author. And I'll make sure to put the links on the episode page along with the books that you recommended links to the books that you recommended for folks. And I always like to wrap up by asking, Is there anything you wanted to talk about today that I haven't asked you about?
KD 12:19
I think just the gratitude that I have for so many readers reading this and sending maybe a message or or finding me on Instagram or Facebook or something like that, and just sending a message of encouragement. I never realized until now, you know, I always thought well, I really enjoyed that book, maybe I'll review it or something but to just reach out to an author especially, you know, novice, and encourage them and such great advice.
Lainey 12:51
That's really thought
KD 12:53
pay it forward and be encouraging to other people because it it helps you go the extra mile.
Lainey 12:59
I love that and I feel the same way like you don't think necessarily the an author who you perceive is like let's take Barbara Conrey, Barbara Conrey is a USA Today bestseller. Okay, but you don't necessarily think like oh, write to this USA Today bestseller and tell her I'm really enjoying your book. But my goodness that can make that authors month if you do that, like never underestimate.
KD 13:20
I was I was so I mean almost a little fan girling because I just posted something on one of your Instagram pages with I loved this book. And she wrote back to me, I'm like, ah,
Lainey 13:32
lovely. And she was on the podcast. And she's also a friend. So she's done a wonderful job with the debuts she helped a lot of the debuts during her year as well. So beautiful, beautiful
KD 13:42
writing. And like I said just she she reminds me of one of those people who is positive and just helps other authors to be to be the best they can be. And I think that's what we all need within like, you're doing great. And I mean, I know you just want another award
Lainey 14:01
Won the American fiction award, which
KD 14:06
but yeah, just encouraging each other.
Lainey 14:09
Okay, well, it's been a pleasure talking with you today. And I'm excited that we're going to get this out while people can still read the book before it's even announced. I don't know who's gonna win because we won't know until the end of the month. So I get it from my perspective, you're a winner. You got picked as one of three buddies. You're a winner. All right. And whatever happens in the actual night, I'm going to be there celebrating actually in person with lots of people with masks on in a ballroom and Albuquerque and I will be jumping up and down for you.
KD 14:35
Take care and it was wonderful to chat today. Thank you so much.