Author of Interracial Romance and Women’s Fiction
Kim Golden was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA. She has a BA in English from Temple University in Philadelphia and an MFA in Creative Writing-Fiction from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA. In 1995, Kim moved to Stockholm, Sweden with her Swedish husband and has been living there ever since. Golden is a senior copywriter for a Swedish cosmetics company but at night and on weekends, she enjoys writing romantic fiction and posting on her blog, Kim Talks Books. Kim loves “traveling, trying new food, going to the cinema, visiting art museums, walking, yoga, reading and enjoying a beautiful view with a glass of wine.”
Although Kim started writing when she was a
child, she has now found her voice writing Interracial Romance and Women’s Fiction. She wrote her first novel, Snowbound, when she was forty-two and published it in 2013 at the age of forty-three. She has also written The Maybe Series, including Maybe Baby (2014), Maybe Tonight (2014), and Maybe Forever (2015). In addition, Kim has written Under the Midnight Sun and also her serial love series, Near Enough to Hold, available exclusively on Kindle and published between August and December 2017. Likewise available on Amazon are Choose Me, a novella and Linger, as a short story. Of her published work, Kim says, “I write sexy, realistic love stories about people who find love when they least expect it. My stories are often set in Scandinavia and feature beautiful black women who’ve moved abroad for love or work (or both) and the sexy Swedish and Danish men who fall in love with them.” Her targeted audience are “Women (of all ethnicities), 25+, who enjoy traveling, reading, and like reading stories with realistic characters and situations.”
Interviewer: Which is your favorite of all the books you’ve written?
Golden: It’s a toss-up between Maybe Baby and Maybe Tomorrow. I loved writing Laney & Mads’s love story in Maybe Baby, but I think Eddy and Henrik’s story is even more romantic and real. I also really loved writing Nick and Keisha’s story in Near Enough to Hold . . . there’s something so heartbreaking about their story…well, I love them all.
Interviewer: Who is your favorite character of all your characters?
Golden: Mads Rasmussen. He’s got a quiet intensity and the depth of his love for Laney took me by surprise when I was writing their stories.
Interviewer: Do you want each of your books to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?
Golden: Even when I write a series, I like when stories have something that connects them. Could be a character from one novel that pops up in another, or a common setting. But I like when stories can be read as standalone and my readers seem to like that the stories are connected but still stand on their own.
When asked how many hours a day she spends writing, Kim responded that on weekdays she writes about 2-3 hours a day and on weekends she spends “much, much longer. Sometimes 5-6 hours, sometimes more.”
Currently, Kim is very busy writing! She often tests out “a few ideas at the same time to see which one will hold my attention or which one feels compelling enough. I usually go back to them later, but it sometimes takes a long while. I think right now I have four works in progress and three unpublished novels, possibly more.” Over the next five years, she plans to write and publish a science fiction romance, another romantic women’s fiction novel, and a historical romance, among others. Golden chose the self-publishing route after sending her work out to traditional agents and editors and finding that they “didn’t know what to do with what I was writing. I decided it was better to do it my way instead.”
Here is what she had to say about her writing:
Interviewer: What did you edit out of your most recent book?
Golden: A rant about Donald Trump that one of the characters went on. I didn’t edit it out completely, but I felt like it was taking up more space than needed so I pared it down.
Interviewer: What does literary success look like to you?
Golden: Good question! Hitting the USA Today bestsellers list with Hot on Ice box set was a great milestone. Now I want to hit the charts with one of my own titles. Hoping it will happen within the next 3-5 years.
Interviewer: What in your personal life have you included in one of your stories?
Golden: A lot, especially the aspects of being a black woman living overseas. I won’t pick out any specific instances but there is a lot of me in all of my books.
Every writer faces challenges, for Kim, the revising process is the most difficult. “Sometimes I don’t even want to look at a manuscript for months after I’ve finished it because I’ve already spent so much time on it. But I know I need to flog through it and get it done.” In addition, Golden finds that “finishing a story is the hardest part. You keep thinking of things to add, even when you realize that the story doesn’t need anything else. You have to learn to let go.” Balancing life and writing is another challenge, “I don’t think I have the best balance. Sometimes, I neglect my husband because I am writing, but I try to make it up to him once I finish a project.”
As an experienced writer and author, Kim Golden has a lot of advice for the newcomer.
Interviewer: How did publishing your first book change your process of writing?
Golden: I think it made me think more about the revision process. The first novel is flawed, but I haven’t changed it. I need to remember that I made those mistakes. I try to be much more thorough now, even though mistakes still slide past me sometimes.
Interviewer: Do you think that your writing has improved since your first book and what would you change about that book if you could?
Golden: I think so and I hope it improves even more with every book I write. I always want to improve my characterization and conflicts. I think those are the two things I think about most when I am writing.
Interviewer: What’s the greatest lesson you’ve learned from being a published author?
Golden: My thesis advisor in grad school was Tom DeHaven and he believed that you should write what you like to read and not what other people tell you that you should write. I have followed that advice for the last 20+ years.
Interviewer: What was the best money you ever spent as a writer?
Golden: Investing in great looking covers and finding an awesome editor who understands my writing style.
Interviewer: If you could tell new writers anything, what would it be?
Golden: Don’t go into writing and self-publishing thinking you’re going to be wealthy and an overnight success. It takes a lot of hard work and you need to be willing to put in the hours and days and months that it takes. And develop a thick skin when it comes to criticism. Sometimes it’s better not to read the reviews because if someone decides they don’t like your book, they can be unnecessarily rude in their summation.
No one becomes a writer without first being a reader. One of Golden’s favorite authors is Karen Siplin. A few years ago, Kim was able to meet her idol in New York and “really enjoyed chatting with her over coffee about writing and life in general.” Some of Kim’s favorite books are Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austin, His Insignificant Other by Karen Siplin, and Me Before You by Jojo Moyes.
For inspiration, Golden turns to a quote by Toni Morrison, “If there’s a story that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written, then you must write it."
More about Kim Golden can be found on the following links:
