Meet Our Members ~ Kim Hornsby

Kim Hornsby

Kim Hornsby is an Amazon #1 Bestselling Author, having shared space on the top five bestseller list with J.D. Robb, Stephen King and Nicolas Sparks. 

Kim's Dream Jumper Series is optioned for film with the first movie scheduled to begin filming next year on Maui. She's won the Chanticleer Paranormal Mystery Thriller Award, was nominated for Best Indie First Book and was a finalist in the Rone Award. As a screenwriter, she has won multiple awards including Best Feature Screenplay at Royal Wolf Film Festival.

Please visit Kim's MEMBER PAGE to find out more about her, her books, and prior blog posts.

Conquer a Fear – Try Scuba Diving! ~ by Kim Hornsby

When I first thought about trying scuba diving, I had two emotions—terror and wonderment.

I’m an avid swimmer, lifeguarded during high school, but also saw the movie Jaws and didn’t go in freshwater lakes for years after that. Also, I’m a wee bit claustrophobic and wondered if the pressure of all that water on top of me would trigger something that made me want to rush to the surface for fresh air. Rushing up is a big no-no in diving.

Turned out, I loved it. And the feeling was the polar opposite to being closed in. I felt like I was flying. Slowly flying through a dense medium, but suspended and free from gravity and the need for feet to propel me forward.

My first dive off Nassau was spent trying to gain neutral buoyancy and keep up with the group because the instructor had given me too much weight to keep under, but the distraction of swimming alongside fish and floating through coral gardens was not lessened by pushing off the sand every few minutes. 

I went on to dive off Maui on a vacation in my mid-twenties and loved it so much that I signed up to take my dive certification class over the next five days. It’s a crash course they offer in resort areas where you can cancel all other planned activities to stay wet for five days learning how to dive safely. I then went home (which was British Columbia, Canada) and took the courses needed to become a Dive Master. Diving in dark, frigid water was much different from the turquoise, clear waters of Hawaii but it made me a better diver. And gave me an appreciation of diving in a shorty wetsuit with no hood or legs!

Then, I quit my job and moved to Maui to take my instructor course and work as a dive instructor. I ended up certifying hundreds of students, making over five thousand dives in eleven years and loving almost every minute of it. I say almost because I did have some moments I could have done without like being on a sinking dive boat in the middle of the ocean, getting trapped inside a dark cave with a shark and having a student lose a finger when his wedding ring caught on the boat handrail and he jumped into the water. Even writing that last sentence makes me cringe.

I did see sharks down there, and they had no interest in me as another large sea creature. I swam with dolphins, saw Humpback whales, had an octopus suction on to my bare armpit, dove caverns, caves, went on night dives with an underwater light, and ran a successful business called Kimberley’s Scubadventures. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

In my bestselling book The Dream Jumper’s Promise, the hero is a dive instructor on Maui and has a fear of the ocean after her husband goes missing while surfing. She can’t teach or even go on her dive boat. When an old boyfriend shows up with a strange way to help, she must decide if she trusts him enough to allow him back in to her life. There are lots of diving scenes in the book and I’ve been told it’s quite thrilling to read them.

Write what you know, and I know diving. 

Was it good to push past my fear of being under the water to try diving? Absolutely! It opened a whole new world to me and led me to the fantastic life I now lead, even if I only dive on vacation twice a year now like in these photos of me diving last year at the Cathedral Caverns off Lanai, Hawaii. Conquering fear is a wonderful way to feel good about yourself. And as I always say to my daughter who is very fearful of many things, “It’s not brave if you aren’t fearful in the first place.”

Do you have something on your bucket list you want to try but haven’t because of fear? Tell us…

Visit my page to learn more about Dreams Jumper's Promise and all my books

DREAMING is Free ~ by Kim Hornsby

I am a prolific dreamer.

If I wrote as much as I dreamed, I'd have worn off my fingerprints by now from typing.

Each morning, I wake and try to remember my last dream. I do this because my immediate mood is affected by what I was just experiencing in my dream. This morning I woke slightly amazed because my nephew had discovered how to fly. No one had ever tried this before and he was just brave enough to jump off a tower into the wind to discover if he put his arms out a certain way, he could fly, like skydivers without falling. Like going to one of those skydiving places with a wind tube at the mall. He was able to direct himself over to pick up a jacket he'd left at a park and come back. I woke impressed but worried for his safety.

Dreams are the result of an active hind brain that won't go to sleep when the rest of the brain shuts down for the night. Like an ADD child, this part of the brain keeps going, nudging the rest of you to pay attention. Playing with toys, essentially, while you sleep.

But what if outside forces could penetrate those dreams, your subconscious, to insert suggestions? Like in the movie Inception? Leonardo diCaprio was developing a way to insert suggestions into a business mogul's mind, taking dreaming to a whole new thriller level.

I love the mystery surrounding dreams. Like the weather, it's something that we all have in common whether we are rich people, dirt poor, athletes, housebound, old or young, everyone dreams.

It's with that in mind that I write books that mention dreams. In my Dream Jumper series, dreams are crucial because the heroes can enter other people's dreams and use that to solve a mystery and eventually do good in the world. I wrote this first book before Inception was a movie and thought I had a unique idea. And now, the first book in the series, The Dream Jumper's Promise, is optioned for film with hopes to begin filming in the next year. In my series, Moody & The Ghost, the hero, Bryndle Moody has gone blind but dreams with sight. She’s also a psychic so her dreams can be prophetic and meaningful. I often insert my dreams into my books. Look for a baby owl or a haunted house.

If dreams are metaphorical representations of our waking expectations, I now know I have some degree of concern over my nephew and his life. It's interesting to remember dreams, interpret them and move on to your waking life every morning.
Happy Dreams, Everyone!

Follow Kim on Twitter to read about her #strangedreams 

Escape Into Fiction! ~ by Kim Hornsby

I believe in entertainment as a means of escape. I believe in art as a way to bring beauty in one’s life. I believe that reading a book can take a person to another land, another life and provide escape.

When the world looks grim, having something to laugh at and enjoy, is worthy and necessary. 

I used to sing for a living. That felt like I was giving people a moment of pleasure, maybe even helping some forget their troubles for a brief time. Now I write novels. My audience can be entertained whenever it suits them, picking up my books at their convenience.

For years, I haven't admitted that I write romance novels. And some would say my books are light on the romance. I don't write formulaic romance where the hero is introduced on page 3 and the first kiss happens by page 10, etc. I write stories where the romance creeps in, almost organically.

I want readers to know that the world is full of love too. And not just romantic love but familial love, neighborly love, even stranger love. I don't mean a one-night stand. Yesterday I had a conversation with a stranger in a store. We found common ground quickly and exchanged information that may make life better for a family member of mine. It was ten minutes of sharing information, out of nowhere, in which both the stranger and I ended tearing up. These moments are everywhere when you remain open to listening and taking time.

For that reason, I write a romantic story line in every book. No woman in need of good love is left behind. She gets her happily ever after when I'm in charge. And there are no shades of grey in my books, just plain grey. And no hiding behind fetishes and calling it love. No degrading college girls with torture. I want my readers to feel pampered, lovely, not frightened. I want to show empowerment and possibilities. Hope.

This Christmas season, I put together a box set of ten books, all with happy endings, and filled with the spirit of the season. The books are written by USA Today Bestselling Authors, Award-Winning Authors, women who know how to pull at heartstrings and give a satisfying conclusion. Some write mystery, some write family stories, some write romance. My contribution is a Christmas story first, and a romance second, written originally as a screenplay to be considered by the Hallmark Channel.

I hope you can support our cause. If you do, I guarantee you will escape into other lives, worlds, and loves.

For more information visit Kim's page 

Welcome to Originality by Design

Welcome to the launch of Originality by Design. Our members consist of authors, artists, editors, musicians, yogis, and other creative individuals. We will share our passions, interests, hobbies, stories, and life’s twists and turns with you. Here you will discover a diversity of subject matters and interests. 

We hope you will join us through this journey. We encourage you to add your thoughts and opinions along the way.

We love guest bloggers. If you are interested in being a guest on our blog please contact us.

Please join us tomorrow to enjoy the first member post.

Meet the members of Originality by Design

Our Members