My writing day: K J Dando

The ideas-rich, time-poor thriller writer

Keith Dando, writing as K J Dando, has had several careers and is still working. When he left school, he served in the British Army. ‘I actively engaged in operational duties in Iraq, Kosovo and Bosnia before pursuing a career in the health and fitness industry, and then falling into my current profession,’ he says. ‘I’m now a business manager for a large motor group, so I spend my days working with numbers and my spare time working with words. I work an average of five and half days, alternating six and five day working weeks, meaning fifty-plus hours a week. This combined with a young family means finding time to write can be extremely challenging. I tend to sacrifice any downtime for myself and can often feel like I’m constantly working.

‘The challenge of having such limited time for writing is what led me to write the entire first draft of Lies After Death on my phone. The convenience of being able to pick it up and chip away at it wherever, and whenever I had the opportunity, even if it was only for ten minutes at a time, really helped me to get it done.

‘One thing I have got into a habit of doing, is leaving early for work to avoid most of the rush hour traffic and then when I arrive, usually 45-mins to an hour before I’m due to start, I find a quiet spot where I can get a bit of writing done. I also try to do the same during my lunch break, and then I squeeze in whatever I can during the evenings when my daughters are in bed.

‘Even though writing on my phone started out as a necessity and convenience, it has now become my preference – at least for the first draft – but I can’t use it for any of the editing process.

‘I had a go at writing a novel back when I was in my twenties, but was never really happy with it and ended up throwing it away with my old laptop. I then parked the idea of writing a novel for a while, but creating a story to entertain people always remained a dream of mine. As my forties approached, I decided it was time to have another go and I embarked on the journey of creating Lies After Death.

‘Prior to writing it, I wasn’t on any social media platforms. I now have accounts on most platforms in order to help promote Lies After Death. However, I’d say I’m only really active on X, (formerly Twitter) and Instagram. I try to limit the time I spend on social media to an hour a day, but often get frustrated with myself for spending more time on it than I should, especially as it eats into my very limited free time, when I should be writing.

‘I first fell in love with reading as a child when I got my first Goosebumps book by R.L. Stine, and then went on to collect most of them. I remember being fascinated that reading words on a page could effectively create a movie inside my head. I was excited by the idea of creating my own stories, and that never left me. It’s been a lifelong dream. During my army days, especially when I was away on tour, I would read the likes of Lee Child and Clive Cussler, and the desire to write my own stories only grew.

‘My debut novel, Lies After Death, is about a man called Tom Crane who is plagued by the death of his wife after a tragic car accident five years before. Crane, who works as a fixer for wealthy and powerful clients, suddenly begins receiving mysterious letters and phone calls from someone claiming to know the truth about his wife’s death. As Crane uncovers more and more secrets and lies, he finds himself being pulled into a dangerous game of cat and mouse. Can he trust the messages, or are they part of a larger conspiracy?

‘I do a lot of research throughout the writing process. If I’m referencing things from the real world, I try to be as accurate as possible, but as a work of fiction there is also a lot which is made up.

‘I’m hoping Lies After Death will be the start of a series and I’m currently writing the follow up.’