Dunedin
writer Diane Byington wrote her first novel when she was ten years old. It was
an assignment for her English class, and the event that started her on the road
to writing. That path eventually culminated in two award-winning novels
exploring women rising to challenges that result in personal epiphany and
emotional growth.
Byington
moved to Florida with her family when she was 15. “I love the state,” she says.
“I love being by the beach, and I love the people here and how they’re mostly
laid-back and often a little quirky.” After graduating from Brandon High
School, she attended the University of Florida and Florida State University
where she earned a Masters degree and a Ph.D.
Her career included jobs as a college professor, psychotherapist,
executive coach, and social worker. It wasn’t until after she retired that she
made the decision to pursue writing full time. “It’s a bucket-list thing for
me,” she says, “and I’m grateful every day that I have the time to devote to
it.”
Byington’s
first book was released in 2018. Who She Is, set in a fictional Florida
town in 1968, tells the story of Faye Smith, a girl with epilepsy who decides
she wants to run in the Boston Marathon. Despite the physical challenges and
the fact that women runners weren’t eligible, Faye decides to do it anyway.
When she begins to have disturbing flashbacks about an earlier life, her
parents try to dismiss them as epilepsy-related, but Faye becomes determined to
discover the secret that her parents are trying to hide. Who She Is was
awarded a Royal Palm Literary Award from the Florida Writers Association and a
Florida Fiction award from the Florida Authors and Publishers Association.
Byington’s
most recent release, If She Had Stayed, is an intriguing blend of
women’s fiction, thriller and sci-fi, with a bit of history thrown in for good
measure This time-travel tale centers around the discovery of an old diary
written by Nikola Tesla that contains the plans for a time machine. Kaley
Kline, the protagonist, decides to secretly build the machine in the hope that
she will be able to travel back in time and undo a decision she has regretted.
What she sees as the possibility of a second chance soon has her running for
her life.
The most
challenging part of writing the book was figuring out how time travel would
work. “The rules for time travel can be anything, but they must be consistent,
and the mechanism for traveling must be at least a little bit believable,”
Byington explains. “That was tough, especially since my character meets herself
when she goes back in time, and the older self and younger self are both in the
same mind. Getting that right nearly drove me crazy!”
Byington
got the idea for If She Had Stayed after contemplating some of her past
decisions. “I was thinking about some things I regret about my earlier life and
wished I could go back and change them,” she recalls. “I wondered what my
current life would be like if I had that opportunity. Ergo, Kaley Kline was
born!” While Byington’s personal life was the inspiration for the character,
she denies that Kaley is based on her or anyone she knows. “She has far more
courage than I would ever have,” Byington admits. But what Byington likes best
about the book is how the character evolves. “I like the lessons Kaley learns
during the course of the book and how different she is at the end than she was
at the beginning,” she says. “It’s very satisfying to see that she has learned
and grown through the book.”
Byington
is currently at work on a third novel, tentatively titled Grounded. The
story centers around an astronaut who is grounded due to injuries sustained in
a terrible accident. Unwilling to accept that she will never go into space, she
makes some questionable decisions that put her life in danger. Byington hopes
her books will help people deal with regrets. “I’d like readers to take away an
acceptance that the things they regret have made them the people they are
today,” she says, “so they can move
forward instead of always looking backwards.”
For more information, visit the author's website at www.dianebyington.com
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