Author Dasha Wallace

INSPIRATION. COMMUNITY. LIFE

Dasha Wallace has always been an avid reader and has always made it a point to get to know the librarians so they would get her new books. She didn’t start writing until she was forced to become friends with (and did become friends with) someone from her church who was also an avid reader. But she also wrote stories, and they ended up writing a story together. The story never was finished, but it was the start. And from then on, her dream was to become an author.

ALL ABOUT AUTHOR DASHA WALLACE

But many things have happened since she met her friend in high school. Dasha has started a few stories (but never finished them), finished a pirate story (which will never see the light of day), and got married at the age of nineteen (has since been married for 11 years). Her husband was completely supportive of her dreams. She decided to go to school for library science, to become a librarian, and be an author on the side.

But life had other plans and the degree was removed from her school, and she changed to creative writing. Isabella and the Beast were started due to class. The idea for it stemmed from a question. What if the beast was a beast (in beauty and the beast) due to circumstances rather than a curse? And it snowballed since then.

It took seven years to write the book. Some due to school, and the other was her pregnancy. Her son was born at 29 weeks, at home, during a 9-1-1 call. It was a difficult journey to get him home, but he is thriving and way too smart for his own good. Afterward, they moved to a different state. It was there that she finished writing her story

Her father was the final push that made her get her work published, instead of falling into the trap that many authors fall into of perpetually editing. He had always believed that Dasha would be an author, and was excited to read her book and show it off to others. After he passed away due to cancer, Dasha didn’t want to disappoint him, and turning her book into a publishing company and was accepted.

After publishing Isabella she realized that she was an author and now had to write more books (and this one couldn’t take 7 years). And so the Fan Society was born. The inspiration came from sitting in church. There was a lady with a dress with fans on it, which made her think of martial arts weapons. Then she thought of historical England and how fans were fashion accessories and why they didn’t use them as weapons. Then it turned into an idea of what if they did use them as weapons but they were spies. Then the story took a life of its own. And now she is writing book 2 and has 4 novellas written of a side story. She also has a huge folder of many ideas on her computer for many more story ideas.

Her inspiration for books comes from different things due to her many interests. She had a black belt in Tae Kwando, and in learning weapons, which has influenced a lot her book the Fan Society, and her love of fantasy and fairy tale retellings as well as the games of spies her sister had forced her to play. She also has ideas about a magic system based on singing that came from her love of music and her days in a choir. And her husband turned her into a gamer (Kingdom Hearts fan all the way), and Dungeons and Dragons fan, which only enforced her love of fantasy and stories

Dasha was born and raised on a family farm in Arizona. The family has always been important to her. As the 8^th child of 9, it had to be. With 300 first cousins (her dad from a family of 13, and mom from a family of 6) they always had huge reunions and did many family activities. They have also been huge supporters of her books, and always make sure to buy her book and share her posts.

Her alpha readers are two of her sisters (she has 6) and two cousins who are avid readers and who have always loved reading her things since she was in high school. Her family has been willing to give reviews, and take pictures with her book for social media, to also help with marketing. They give her many ideas and help give her the confidence she needs to survive in the wilds of what is the author’s world. With a growing family of her own, she also couldn’t have done it without their support.

When she first started to self-publish, she would never have made it without the inspiration and support from the authors/writing community. It was through them that she made many connections an friends. It was with their support that she managed to create a stable social media presence, a necessary need to help marketing and figure out how to navigate the waters of being an author.

It was through them that she received her first interview (found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT4IsS91-BQ ) When she was trying to upload her first book onto KDP (the website to publish on Amazon) she had been very confused and messaged a friend. The first thing that friend said was not to stress she would help. And then spent the next 30 mins. messaging her about how to get it uploaded. Dasha will forever be grateful to them and has passed it on to help other authors in need.

Through the ups and downs of being an author, she is proud of where she is at. Though she is not a best-selling author yet, she is proud of all the work she had put in. Her greatest joy comes from the new readers and the love they have for her books. She always enjoys hearing that someone enjoys her books.

PUBLISHED WORKS:

A story of a young girl who is in way over her head, and being used as a pawn. With courage and kindness, she moves forward to help those around her. In way out of her depths she tries to survive while still being true to herself, while surrounded by the darkness of secrets and traitors, and a stalker who would do anything to own her.

A story of a girl who becomes part of the world of spies, and her first mission. Torn between doing her duty as a member of the society and accomplishing her mission, and her desire to find her missing mother. Problems arise when her desire to find her mother puts the prince in danger. And while distracted by her mother she misses a plot that could destroy the country.

Ella now knows about the secret society that her mother was a part of, but is she good enough? She had spent her life as a servant in her own home, and is way behind the other girls, can she learn everything she need to? Or will her fears cause her to fail before she even starts?