Meet Kevin Cady

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kevin Cady. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kevin below.

Kevin, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
My purpose comes from the desire to craft something original. I think creating something that didn’t exist before is an awesome pursuit—no matter the medium. And no doubt influences exist, but the goal is to craft a style all one’s own. That’s how I find purpose.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I’m a dark mystery author, and I’ve been developing my brand for about ten years.

When faced with a choice around 2012—spend my time trying to get my books traditionally published, or own it myself and move forward—I decided to move forward solo. I believe my writing is special, as I believe I’m crafting a style all my own.

I often get the question, “What is dark mystery?”

My brand of writing builds upon the genre of murder mystery. All my novels have a death or something akin driving it forward, but dark mystery entails a bit more. Generally you’ll find events or descriptions that might be a bit more shocking or visceral than a traditionally published paperback. I like to push the envelope and create moments of shock or intrigue, and I think many times that requires pushing boundaries.

My writing also contains elements of philosophy that might not be included in mass market novels. If you want to read my work to experience an interesting story, you can. But if you want to analyze and dig deeper, I believe that can be quite rewarding in my books.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Persistence, authenticity, and patience.

I’m guilty of wanting things to happen quickly. Back when I was writing the trilogy, I had a picture in my head of what the books might be some day and an idea of how I’d want things to go. And really that picture is still there, kind of in the shadows at the back of my mind, ever evolving.

The point is that picture has yet to come fully to fruition. I’m appreciative for the success I’ve had thus far. But (something I never really considered) I don’t necessarily control what happens once my books are in existence. I can be positive, and I can put myself into positions for making new contacts or capitalizing on new opportunities—sure. But when it comes down to it, I can only control the piece of art I create.

I need to have that persistence to get it to production, but it can’t be done inauthentically. I’m just not willing to publish something I can’t stand by in that moment.

This outlines both the challenge inherent in my process but also the need to simply keep going. Therefore, patience pulls these things together.

Write the best, most authentic book I can, look for opportunities to disseminate it and its ideas, and hopefully, someday, it ends up in the right hands.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
One thing I remind myself of pretty often—I can’t force anything. As a teacher, I say the same thing to my students. I can’t force good behavior or hard work. I can facilitate. I can advocate. But at the end of the day, I don’t control anything. And I think that’s an important lesson to internalize.

Similar to how I say I don’t control my students, I feel I don’t necessarily control the story I’m writing.

I have ideas and things outlined, but once I’ve started writing, the story goes where it needs to. I have to listen to the characters and pay attention to the circumstances, I have to look for connections, but I can’t shove a square block in a circle hole.

Same thing once the books are completed. I can’t control if someone picks it up and reads it, even if I can advocate for that. I can’t guarantee an agent picks me up or a publisher decides they want to invest in me. But what I can do is create the best damn book I can.

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