Interview with Darrell Dunham

Author of “The Yoke”

Where are you from originally and where do you reside now?

Born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska
Now reside in Carbondale, Illinois

If you currently reside somewhere besides where you were born, what’s the story that lead from there to here?

I went to law school, and I decided to go in to law teaching. I taught for 24 years at Southern Illinois University which is in Carbondale.

What made you decide to write and publish your first book?

I wrote the book as a hobby, and enjoyed it. I showed the book to one of my clients, who is an author, who insisted that I publish it.

How would you describe your books to first time readers?

It is a book about a young lawyer’s spiritual journey. Along the way he runs in Bill, who is rich, self-absorbed, and believes that other people exist for his own ego and pleasure. He also runs in Stephanie, to whom he is strongly attracted, who has a deep faith. He has no faith. She makes it clear that she will not be “yoked” to a non-believer.

Who do you feel is most likely to connect with the topics you write about?

Target audience would be young Christians ages 16-28, or those seeking the Lord.

What unexpected or surprising thing did you learn during the process of writing and publishing?

1) Writing a non-fiction book is the closet thing to being a God that one can ever do. You get to create characters and control their environment.
2) Even with characters you create there are significant limitations to what you can have them say and do. The characters take on a life of their own, and you can never have them say or do something that would be “out of character.”

If you could, what advice would you give to your past self before embarking on this journey?

1) The process takes an extraordinary amount of patience.
2) You need to find people who will read the drafts and be honest with you about what they really think. Too many people will say nice things for fear of hurting your feelings.
3) You need to be willing to be open to constructive criticism.
4) You cannot be satisfied with anything but the highest level of excellence that you posses.
5) As you come close to excellence, others likely will see the potential of your book, and some of them may attempt to take the book in a direction that violates your own conscience. You need to be able to identify these people.

How many people would you ideally like to reach with your books?

I have been told that “everyone” should read this book.

What has been the biggest challenge and frustration during the process to date?

Although the reviews are very high, the book still has no traction.

What’s your biggest strengths when it comes to book a) writing, b) publishing and c) marketing?

A) Everyone says my characters are very believable.
B) I don’t think I have great strengths when it comes to publishing.
C) After much trial and error I think I have finally found a professional who can teach me how to market this book.

What’s your biggest weakness when it comes to book a) writing, b) publishing and c) marketing?

A) There are places where, because I didn’t want to make the book too long, there may have been too much telling and not enough showing.
B) If I had to do it over, I would not have gone with the first publisher who offered me a contract. Very few of the smaller publishers have any idea how to market a book.
C) I should have done a much better job learning how Amazon works to get you book noticed very easy in the search engine.

When do you think you will write your next book?

Don’t know for sure. Maybe next year if this book actually gets some traction.

Are you self published or did you use a hybrid publisher, or a traditional publisher?

Hybrid