Meet D.W. Brooks
My hearts, I am excited to introduce you to my new friend D.W. Brooks. She and I met through Nicole Frail’s social media challenges.
D.W. Brooks is a doctor and editor who lives in Texas with her husband and children. She enjoys trying to stay in shape, sporadically cooking, reading (still), writing, and working on her blog. She is eternally grateful to the woman who donated a kidney to her over six years ago and continues to advocate for organ donation as much as she can.
Her books will be on sale during Indie Author Halloween Hauntfest October 25 - 28, 2024.
JEN: Hey, D.W. Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview. I’m excited to talk about your books. What genre is your go-to?
D.W.: My favorite genre to read is mystery-thriller. I really like creating romantic suspense/thriller stories because I still get to have some suspense or mystery in a romantic story.
JEN: I’m writing a murder mystery rom com now, too. It is fun to mix it up a little. What sort of themes do you most enjoy tackling in your work?
D.W.: Boundaries, family bonds, dealing with your past…
JEN: Boundaries? Never met her. [both laugh] Those are great. Tell me more about your writing journey.
D.W.: Thinking of new stories or new plot points in my stories is very exciting. I love the feeling of a new point popping into my head, then spending time to figure out if and where it fits. That part if a lot of fun!
I am self-published. I started writing late. I didn't want to wait for extended periods of time for someone to OK representing me, OK publishing my book, or OK my next book idea. I didn't really have that kind of time. So, I decided to self-publish.
JEN: I can definitely relate to that. Unlike boundaries, impatience and I are well acquainted.
Who is your favorite author?
D.W.: I have several favorite authors from different phases of my life. When I was younger, I was a big fan of Agatha Christie, Alexandre Dumas, and Flannery O'Connor. My older self has added Janet Evanovich and John Sandford to my list of favorite authors. There are also a lot of indie authors and friends that I am starting to read as well.
I am friends with numerous indie authors. Too many to list. It’s important to find your tribe in this industry. While writing is a mostly solitary activity, you can’t go through it alone because it’s hard. My friends offer ideas, critiques, encouragement, feedback, handholding, social media support—you name it. It makes the tough time that happen when you are a writer easier.
JEN: I get it. That’s one of the reasons I started doing these interviews. To build up our community.
Speaking of support, who designs your beautiful, inviting covers? Do you want to give them a shout-out? I just love your covers so much.
D.W.: Thank you! I use 100covers.com. A friend directed me to them, and they have been amazing!
JEN: What does your typical writing routine look like?
D.W.: No day of mine is typical. My daughter has special needs and still lives at home. She often requires attention. I also have several maintenance appointments that I have to manage too. I would love to have a more stable routine, but each day can look different. This may be one reason that I plan to write in the evenings.
My husband has been incredibly supportive. He is also an author and has written two books of his own. He offers suggestions and tips for book marketing. He also reads and gives me feedback on my work. He has also driven me to several book marketing opportunities in other cities.
JEN: What kind of writing does your husband do? Tell me more about you two both being writers! That sounds like a dream come true.
D.W.: My husband's first book was about him finding his birth parents. He wrote another book that was a self-help book about achieving success. He wants to write more like that but has been busy with other things. He gives me tips about what he did when he first published. But the landscape was so different then. When he gets back to it, I will be able about to talk about what I have learned!
JEN: That’s so great. You’re lucky to have each other. So, your family is an influence. What else?
D.W.: I enjoy a wide range of music—from rap to pop to grunge to disco. I usually have the TV on in the background when I am working, but I can work with music as well.
I have read a lot of books, I watch a lot of crime TV, and read and watch the news. There are a lot of fragments of information in my head; the next step is to put them together in a new and different way!
JEN: I can relate to this. My day job is as a journalism teacher—the other day one of my students asked me, “How do you know all this?” I had to laugh. Just been gathering facts for four decades!
How does being a doctor inform your writing?
D.W.: I use some of my knowledge about medicine and becoming a physician in my FMC’s life. I don’t know if I will ever write female main characters who are not in the medical field; it’s where I am comfortable.
JEN: Especially without a writing routine, what do you need to write?
D.W.: I used to be an early morning bird. Now, that I am older, I am a late-night owl. Water is key. I usually have several bottles of water around me—some with different flavors—at all times. My favorite snacks include popcorn, sunflower seeds, chips, or roasted pecans. Sadly, most of my snacks make my fingers greasy or sticky, so there is a lot of handwashing involved!
JEN: What do you do for fun when you’re not creating?
D.W.: Reading (of course), traveling, exercising, hanging out with my family, pretending to cook.
JEN: Pretending to cook? Tell me more!
D.W.: I used to subscribe to cooking magazines galore! I have tons of them around the house along with a bunch of cookbooks. You would think I cooked regularly. But alas, no. I may have cooked one meal out of each magazine -- maybe. I have lists of what I wanted to make from various books... everyone would get excited. Then, life would interfere, and nothing would be cooked. Takeout ordered... It's almost an art form now.
JEN: Oh, that’s adorable. And relatable! Do you live now where you grew up? In what way does your hometown affect your work?
D.W.: I am originally from northern Alabama, but I now live outside of Houston, Texas. There have been several stops in between. However, the one location that has influenced my current series of stories was Atlanta. It was my original "forever" location, but since I can't live there right now, I have based my characters there. it will give me reasons to go back and visit too!
JEN: Do you want to talk about why you don’t live in Atlanta?
D.W.: It's nothing bad. We moved here for a job 21 years ago. That is one reason we are still here. In an ideal world, I would love to move, but my daughter has Down Syndrome. She graduated from high school this past May. She is currently attending classes to get ready for employment that works for her. Texas (like most states) offers assistance to help families that have children with special needs take care of them and ideally keep them with their families. Moving right now could mean that she loses those services. So, for now, we aren't moving.
JEN: Congratulations to her! A milestone in any young life. What a joy for you to see her graduate!
What made you want to start writing? Tell me your origin story.
D.W.: At eight years old, my cousins and I set out to become writers, determined to create kiddie mystery books like Nancy Drew or Trixie Belden, but with characters who looked like us. We had such big plans—we even created what would now be called a "story bible," complete with backstories, crushes, and who was friends with whom. My cousin, who’s an artist, drew pictures of our characters, and we dove into writing. But like most eight-year-olds, we didn’t quite manage to finish our stories, leaving behind half-written, illustrated books with no endings. After a few months, our project fizzled out, and my parents stashed our work in the attic. We would talk about it every now and then, reminiscing about what we started.
Years later, life took a different turn when I developed kidney failure from a genetic condition. As I spent long days in bed, I felt restless, like I was wasting time. That’s when I returned to writing. It took me a while to complete Homecoming CHAOS—I had no deadlines, which was nice, but my health and family tragedies kept slowing me down. The first draft was done by the time I had my transplant, but I needed time to recover. After losing my mom and caring for my dad before he passed, I eventually found the strength to get the novel ready for publication. In 2023, I finally saw it in print. Since then, I’ve published two novellas.
Oh, and about those childhood stories? I searched the attic before my mom passed, hoping to find them. When I came up empty, I asked if she’d cleared it out. She swore she hadn’t and blamed it on the squirrels!
JEN: I also grew up on Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden! What a lovely story. Thank you for sharing. Speaking of younger you, what advice would you give to your younger self?
D.W.: I would tell myself, "Don't stop writing." There were probably many stories that I could have told but didn't. I also could have worked on my writing and storytelling skills over time.
JEN: What good advice have you gotten?
D.W.: I have issues with "head hopping" which I and my editors have to watch closely now. Since I write in third person omniscient, I have to make sure I don't bounce around the various characters heads in one paragraph! I got this note from both friends and reviews. The best compliment has been that my stories are engaging, and the readers are looking forward to the next installment.
I have several works in progress going on right now. I also am trying to write a romance novel in first person as a standalone.
JEN: We cannot wait for that one!
Dear readers, I hope you will check out D.W. Brooks and her novels. You can find her on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and her website. It’s the perfect time to get her books! They will be on sale during Indie Author Halloween Hauntfest October 25 - 28, 2024.
Support Organ Donation
My hearts, there are many ways to help with organ donation, including:
Spread the word Tell your friends and community about your decision to donate and encourage others to sign up.
Donate to and volunteer for an organization that supports organ donation, such as the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) or Donate Life America.
Be a living donor You can donate a kidney, part of your liver, and other organs or tissues while alive. 85% of people on the organ transplant waiting list need a kidney. If you don’t know anyone who needs a living donor, check out the OPTN Member Directory for a list of transplant hospitals who will be thrilled to hear from you.
Register to be an organ donor You can sign up to be an organ donor through your state. I signed up through the California DMV.
Are you a human author? A human who narrates audiobooks? A human who designs book covers? Or a human who does PR and promotion for other authors? I’d love to interview you, too. Let me know when you’re ready!
