Interview with middle grade author Kelly Byrd

Today’s special guest is middle-grade author Kelly Byrd and we’re chatting about her new fantasy, Far From Home Series Book Two: Great Big Ocean Sky.

During her virtual book tour, Kelly will be giving away a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:
Stories have crept around the halls of Kelly Byrd’s mind since she was a little girl. Not even the combined will of her two loyal pups, her devoted husband, and all her house plants could keep her from putting this story into the world. You’ll find this happy crew in Nashville. Tennessee.

Welcome, Kelly. Please tell us about your current release.
Great Big Ocean Sky is the follow-up to the first book in the Far From Home Series, City of Lights. This book furthers the adventures of Mary Jingo as she traverses the mythical land of LeeChee in hope of saving magic, or as the LeeChee People call it, the Everything. Mary meets new friends, foes, and larger-than-life creatures on her journey as she sets sail on the Great Big Ocean Sky.

What inspired you to write this book?
The children I nannied for in the early 2000s were avid readers. The eldest two were girls, eight and ten years old at the time, and they often brought home fantasy books from the library. So many of those books featured boys as their lead characters. I wanted to create a series where a girl was front and center, living the action and saving the world.

Excerpt from Great Big Ocean Sky:
“Yes—you Shadowlanders. The Everything is created in the Shadowlands. It cycles up and up to places like LeeChee to be kept safe. Over time, it drifts back down to the Shadowlands and the cycle continues, with the ebb and flow of time. Do they not teach you anything in school down there?” Peregrina paused and turned her livid golden eyes to WindRunner.

“And you, the Lumon’s son. Bound by oath to protect a girl from the Shadowlands. Why have you done this?”

“She can save us,” WindRunner blasted back.

“Can she?” Peregrina replied with a grin on her giant mouth. “How? It is the greed of her People that has caused the blight in your lands. They don’t go outside anymore. They are trapped in their own heads, in their own tribes. They don’t listen to each other. They hardly interact with anyone who doesn’t think exactly how they do. How does one child heal rifts and tears that are hundreds of years old? This is why the Everything shrinks. Do you not know, WindRunner, son of Spearwing? Or are you all much too blind to see it?”

“Mellie is to blame for the Void. Mellie has been warping the Everything to her own purposes,” Mary said, yelling across the distance.

“Fool! Mellie was once like your precious Mikeala. As tall as a mountain and charged with keeping the Everything and the flow of the Cycles safe. She could no more turn the Everything into the Void than I can. It is against her nature. But to regain her former strength and form, she may have been tempted to help someone corrupt the Everything. The Void is powerful, even if it is unnatural. She may be helping the flow of the Void, but no, no. She did not create it.”

“Her scars,” Mary said to herself and WindRunner, thinking of the marks that marred the woman’s face. “Her scars are from the Void.”

“Yes,” Peregrina said. Her hearing must be excellent to perceive Mary over such a distance. “Yes. She has paid dearly in service to the Void.”

“You must help us,” Mary cried desperately. “Mikeala said you brought me out here to talk to me. Help me. I know you can.”

What exciting project are you working on next?
I’m hard at work on Book Three in the Far From Home Series! It’s not titled yet, but it will wrap up the story and Mary’s journey. I’m so excited to share this project with the world!

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I really struggled to name myself as a writer, artist, or creative person for a long time. For me, it didn’t seem like a viable career option. When I was in college, I took a creative writing seminar where I wrote a piece about a twenty-two-year-old girl whose best friend Creativity kept un-aliving himself. After I workshopped the piece, the people I wrote with told me I had to start accepting that this was who I was. I haven’t looked back since.

Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your workday like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I do! I write books and blogs, as well as marketing copy and freelance social media. It’s boring, but it pays the bills. I also dabble in stained glass art and hand-thrown pottery. My days are a lot of sitting at my desk, twiddling my thumbs, and taking my dogs on long walks.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
My process entails a lot of stopping and starting. I will write like crazy for days on end and then take a two-week break from a story. I used to try to fight this process and be a “write for two hours at the same time everyday” type of person, but it’s just not me. I’ve learned that I write more and with extra fervor when I give myself the freedom to let the words show up whenever they want to.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
So, so, so many things. I wanted to be a teacher, a microbiologist, a writer, a professional ballerina, a lawyer, a journalist, and a country music star. I also wanted to make lattes. Being a writer was the one that stuck. Not all of us can be Barbara Kingsolver.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
People get after me for saying this, but I really don’t know if my books are good, and I honestly don’t really care? But, I think you’d like them if you gave them a shot.

Links:
Website | Instagram | Blog | TikTok | Amazon | Kindle | Bookshop | Barnes and Noble | IndieBound

The book is on sale for $.99.

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