Hello and welcome to Writer Wednesday! Our author today is Dana Hayward, whose previous work includes the science fiction novel Entropy, a five-star reader’s favorite. Today we’re talking about his his new book, Downwind. Let’s sail right in!
Welcome and thanks for joining us! Tell us about your book.
Downwind is me revisiting Costa Rica 50 years later. It is full of fact and fiction.
Description:
Downwind is not the same as downstream, though life, like time, flows only in one direction.
Had I the perspective of midlife or, better still, old age, I might not have been in that boat; my brazen countenance might have softened with the years, so too my sense of agency. But I was twenty-four, and a year ago I had finished grading the morning’s exercise and looked out of that classroom window onto the playground in Arizona, watching the children at recess without seeing them, still believing that teaching was my calling, yet unable to quell the yearning for something more.
It was the yearning that brought me to Costa Rica as I chugged up the Sarapiquí river to enter into the lives of those unsuspecting campesinos1, forever.
That sounds intriguing! Where can readers find it?
They can find the Kindle and paperback versions on Amazon at this link.
How did you get started writing?
I have always written, from childhood to the present. It’s either a calling or a compulsion.
Are you a plotter or do you write from the seat of your pants?
Probably both. I love to get insights and inspirations, which I methodically log for later incorporation into the story.
What’s your favorite part of being a writer?
Inspiration, creativity; the wonder of watching the art take place.
What is a typical writing day like for you?
I wait until I’m drawn to my writing desk, then I follow the muse for as long as she dictates.
If you could spend a day with anyone from history, dead or alive, who would it be, and what would you do? What would you ask them?
Ernest Hemingway. I’d take him France and Spain, and ask him to recreate the fishing of early 20th century.
What’s next for you, as a writer?
I’m considering making an audiobook out of “Downwind.”
More about the author:
Dana Hayward is a retired medical psychologist who wrote several textbooks. He turned to writing fiction, which was always his true passion, some 5 years ago. He adopted his pen name from his middle name and his mother’s maiden name in order to distance himself from the previous nonfiction.
You can find him on his Amazon author page, and email him at Danahayward1@yahoo.com.
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Dana Hayward’s Downwind will take you on a journey through the jungles of Costa Rica, blending real-life experiences with a touch of fiction that’ll keep you turning pages. So, if you’re ready to dive into a world where fact and fantasy collide, grab your copy of Downwind and set sail!
Now, I’d love to hear from you: What’s your favorite setting for a captivating story? Let us know in the comments, and we’ll see you on the next Writer Wednesday!
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- campesino: (in Spanish-speaking regions) a peasant farmer. ↩︎