Interview with D.K. Till 2025

When did you feel called to become an author?

Ever since I read my first book at age six (complete with surprise ending that made me gasp in wonder) I wondered if I could write one as compelling. But I didn’t get serious about it until 2013 when my nest emptied and my sister encouraged me to revisit that dream. I realized the Christian fiction market was in great need of edgier fiction—stories that dealt with social issues that didn’t exist 30 years ago, such as same-sex marriage, school shootings, or the opioid and homelessness crisis. I felt the Lord nudging me to be that author, to write stories of ordinary Christians facing social crises they were unprepared for, such as: How does God want us as Christ-followers to respond to our daughter when she tells us she’s engaged to be married…to another woman? Thus my Hot Topic Fiction series was born, starting with Book I, Paint the Storm, written under the pen name of Dawn V Cahill. (Learn more at dawnvcahill.com) All in all, I published six books under that name before I sensed the Lord nudging me into a change of direction and genre: Christian time-travel mysteries, written under my current pen name, D.K. Till. It’s been a fun switcheroo! Time travel fiction is so very different than women’s fiction and mysteries, and it feels like a new part of my brain is being exercised.


What did you learn while writing this book?

Strangely enough, I learned how potent my imagination is! Many of the details of my future world are completely made up.


What is the toughest part of writing in your genre?

Keeping the timeline straight!


If someone were to look at your Google search history (all for research of course!), what types of things would we find?

Nothing very exciting, I’m sorry to say. My website, Facebook, email, and some author sites.


If you could have coffee with an author, dead or alive, whose work you admire, who would that be? What would you ask him or her?

Agatha Christie. Summer of 1974 I found a box of her books at a yard sale, and went on a binge-reading session. Her books were so cleverly written, with such unexpected endings, I longed to know how she did it. (Over the years, I gradually discovered her secret. But it’s going to remain her and my secret!)

I would ask her if she used the same secret recipe for twisty endings that I use.


What’s your go-to drink while writing?

Boring drinks like water and decaf coffee. I’m not very adventurous when it comes to beverages, I’m afraid. I let the adventurous side of myself loose in my stories ????



If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?

Just be patient…life begins at 50!


What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing?

Puzzles of all kinds; jogging; hiking the wooded trails of the Portland area; singing and dancing, traveling with my marching band (I play the tambourine).


What books are on your TBR pile right now?

Two Kathy Herman mysteries and a thriller called The Crown Conspiracy by Connie Mann


What can we look forward to next?

I’m about a third of the way through Book 3 of Time Passengers, Nights in White Satin. Look for it next year!