Today we're interviewing Rachel Dilley
FF: How long have you been writing?
Though I was an English major in college, I really didn't start writing until about five years ago. I found myself in a situation where someone was demanding my attention at all times, leaving no time nor energy for myself. I started writing short stories mostly because they were...well...short. I still don't have a lot of time to myself, as a wife, mother, and full time paralegal. However, on those occasions when I do write, I enjoy creating something that is all my own.
FF: What genre do you write in?
I write mostly contemporary fiction with some kind of historical twist. I love history, but writing historical fiction is so much work! I also really enjoy writing non-fiction. I've had some success in publishing personal essays.
FF: Tell us a little bit about your story in the anthology.
As most of my fiction does, my story Full Circle has a bit of my real life at its heart. I started vacationing on the Outer Banks of North Carolina since I was about 5 years old. Back then, it was a bare bones island with very little commercialization. My family started vacationing with another family year after year, and I eventually ended up marrying one of the boys from the family with whom we vacationed. Full Circle is about a woman who returns to the Outer Banks where she spent summers as a girl, to heal from a divorce. She is reunited with a childhood friend who remained on the Outer Banks, and the pair quickly pick up where they left off.
FF: Are you currently working on a novel?
Well, yes and no. I have started a novel and I'm 6 or 7 chapters into it, but I don't have the chance to work on it as regularly as I'd like. It's a contemporary thriller with American History at its core.
FF: Best/worst advice you’ve received?
The best advice I've received, I wish I had actually followed. It is to write every day, even if it's just a few hundred words. Time is elusive and I find that it gets eaten up very easily by the tasks of daily life. You can accomplish big things in writing with only little chunks of time.
Rachel Dilley's personal essays have been published in BGSU Magazine and in the Columbus Dispatch.
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