{"id":3726,"date":"2022-05-30T10:09:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-30T09:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.novlr.org\/?p=3726"},"modified":"2025-06-04T16:45:29","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T15:45:29","slug":"author-spotlight-dana-wilkerson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.novlr.org\/the-reading-room\/author-spotlight-dana-wilkerson\/","title":{"rendered":"Author Spotlight with Dana Wilkerson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In this series<\/a>, we interview published Novlr authors to learn about their work, routines, and how they use Novlr. D.A. (Dana) Wilkerson is the author of the Totally 80s Mysteries cozy mystery series. She has been a professional writer and editor for almost two decades and was the collaborative writer of two non-fiction New York Times bestsellers: The Vow: The True Events That Inspired the Movie (Kim and Krickitt Carpenter) and Balancing It All (Candace Cameron Bure). Dana is a native of Missouri, USA, and currently lives in Oklahoma. She enjoys traveling, reading, being an aunt, binge-watching crime shows, and attending Oklahoma City Thunder basketball games.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Can you tell us a little about yourself as a writer?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I recently published my first cozy mystery, A Totally Killer Wedding<\/a><\/em>, but I have a long and winding publishing career. I\u2019ve been a professional writer and editor for almost 20 years and have worked on all different types of publications. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started writing books first as a non-fiction ghostwriter, then as a memoir co-writer (like ghostwriting, but I got cover credit), and then as a novelist. Two of my co-writing projects became New York Times bestsellers. One was The Vow: The True Events That Inspired the Movie, which was #1 for several weeks. (I, unfortunately, did not get to meet Channing Tatum.) The other was Balancing It All <\/em>with Candace Cameron Bure, Full House\u2019s <\/em>DJ Tanner herself!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last fall I decided to start writing cozy mysteries, and I knew I needed a theme or hook \u2014 a cozy mystery staple. My hook needed to be something I was well acquainted with, so I chose the 1980s! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I grew up in the 80s and have fond memories of those years. I also love the music, TV shows, and lack of technology. It\u2019s been fun researching random facts like which car models were available in which years, release dates for popular songs, and when everybody and their sister started getting a perm. My \u201cTotally 80s Mysteries\u201d series begins in the spring of 1985 with A Totally Killer Wedding <\/em>and continues into the summer in Book 2 with Most Likely to Kill <\/em>(which will release this summer). <\/em>I plan to write at least five books in this series, but possibly more. And I already have several ideas for the next series!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What publishing route did you choose, and why?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My ghostwriting and co-writing books were all through traditional publishing, but when it came time to write my own novels, I chose self-publishing. There are varied reasons for this, but the primary one is I get to retain all control over the content, pricing, pace, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I actually hated writing when I was a kid. I dreaded writing papers at school, though I always got good grades on them. My 9th grade English teacher suggested I send one of my short stories to a magazine for publication, but I had zero interest, so I didn\u2019t do it. It wasn\u2019t until grad school that I began to enjoy writing and started considering it as a career. But I still don\u2019t write just for the fun of it. I don\u2019t keep a journal or write short stories on a whim. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is your writing routine?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t really have one. My schedule is very random. But it\u2019s hard for me to write unless I know I have at least a couple of uninterrupted hours available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you have any interesting writing quirks?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t plan my cozy mysteries out ahead of time. I know where the death will occur, but that\u2019s it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my first book, I had no idea who was going to die until I was halfway through the first chapter (and the death occurs at the end of the first chapter). I didn\u2019t know how the person died until about 1\/3 of the way in, and I didn\u2019t know who did it until about halfway through. That pattern has repeated in the second mystery I\u2019m currently writing. It\u2019s almost like I\u2019m solving the mystery as I write it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dana’s Best Ladies of the 80’s Playlist<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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