Why do you write?
I always thought it would be cool to be an author, but I didn’t know what to do. I have a better answer since I’ve been doing it for a while. A lady approached me in my doctor’s office (of all places) and told me she loved my books and when was the next one coming out? My feet didn’t touch the ground for the rest of the day. That’s why I write… for that feeling.
Most often asked question - In what order should I read Kim's books?
The Time Patriot Series is a single story told in four episodes. After the first episode, there is no “catching up” on what you missed. These books should be read in order. The order is as follows:
Episode 1: Hail Mary Pass, Episode 2: Stranger, Episode 3: Politics, then Episode 4: Survival
The Marc McKnight Time Travel Adventure Series are four stand-alone books that need no preface to enjoy the book. However, if you’d like to read them in chronological sequence, then read them in this order:
Time Limits, The Time Twisters, Time Revolution, then Time Plague
What's your favorite thing about your life?
Easy question – my wife, Martha. She’s beautiful inward and outward. She’s a very strong-willed person, and I think some guys are intimidated by that strength. Not me. If you’re going to have a life partner, why not pick the best one you can find? Of course, we do occasionally crash into each other, but it’s all good—still the best thing I have ever experienced. She’s my soulmate (I hope you’ll forgive me if that’s a bit mushy).
Are there any real historical events featured in the books?
The Marc McKnight Time Travel Adventure stories all cover fictional events. However, the Time Patriot Series includes much information about George Washington’s life in the 1787 winter, just before the Constitutional Convention in late spring.
Where can I purchase these novels?
What weighs most heavily on your mind right now?
Welcome, Kim. What inspired you to write The Time Patriot Series?
Maybe your readers can relate to my wife Martha and me. I wrote four time-travel adventure stories before starting this series. Over the last few years, Martha and I have found ourselves regularly arguing (as sometimes shouting) at TV commentators and politicians. I wondered aloud to Martha: “I wonder what our Founding Fathers would think about what we’ve done with the democratic republican government they designed?” Martha responded with: “Well, you have a time machine…Why don’t you go ask them?” It was too big a story to tell in one book, so I created a series of four novellas to tell it.
What exciting project are you working on next?
It’s a labor of love for me. In October of 2022, my daughter Megan passed away at the age of 35. She suffered with severe gastrointestinal problems all her life and her little heart finally gave out. Megan was also an author and wrote a vampire/werewolf trilogy during times when she wasn’t in too much pain. Only the first novel was published. Now that the Time Patriot Series is a reality, I plan to edit and publish the rest of her trilogy in her honor.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I saw myself as a writer when my first novel Time Limits was completed but not yet published. That’s when I was finally sure I could do it. I only planned to write that one book, but I fell in love with the characters, and I needed to say more about them. All my books (so far) are about the same characters. They’re all old friends of mine now.
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’m retired from my computer consulting career now, so I guess you could say I’m fulltime. I started when I was working 60+ hours a week on the road. It wasn’t easy, but I was determined to keep going, so I got up 30 minutes early every day and wrote at home, in my hotel room, on an airplane, whatever.
When I’m working on a project these days, I generally put in 2-3 hours a day, usually in the early morning. I also play bass guitar in a classic rock band with some good friends. We play gigs occasionally, but always have fun.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I don’t know how interesting it is, but I tend to track where I spend my time while working on a project. I’m such a geek. From initial idea to outlining to first draft to my personal edits. I built a spreadsheet to record and calculate all the time spent and word count totals. It’s a very anal approach. I’m trying to train myself to NOT do that. I spent a lot of time making the spreadsheet work when I could have been writing. I’m trying to learn how to be a “recovering geek.”
What writing tools do you use?
I use Scrivener during the draft phase. I do three passes through the story in this phase — the “vomit” pass (create something to revise), the “say what you mean” pass, and the “say it well” pass.
I use Grammerly and ProWritingAid to clean up all the punctuation and make sure I’m saying what I mean to say.
I use an MS/Word template to format the book.
Finally, I have MS/Word read each chapter aloud to me.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
An astronaut when very young. The Beatles came out when I was about 12 years old, so I wanted to be a rock ‘n’ roll star from my teens through my mid-twenties. After that, I wanted to be a millionaire entrepreneur until I found writing. Now, I’m a husband, writer, and a musician.
I’ll let you know what I decided to do when I grow up.
Why did you choose George Washington as the main "Founding Father" in the Time Patriot series?
That’s a good question because there are many great characters from the Founding Fathers to draw from. My first pick was Thomas Jefferson, who was an extremely colorful and controversial figure. But precedents set in my previous books required that the time frame be limited to early 1787, and Jefferson was in Paris at the time, serving as the new United States ambassador to France.
During my research, I found a book that argued that the principal drivers of a new, constitution-based government were Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, James Madison, and George Washington. It became clear to me that Washington’s influence was compelling, and when I learned about his availability (the trips to his properties west of the Alleghenies), the choice became obvious.
Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
I’d like to thank you and your readers for taking the time to get to know me a little better. I wish I could sit down with each of you and hear your story. Everyone has one, but most don’t think their story is worthy of telling. I think it is.