Today’s special guest is D. W. Brooks and we’re chatting about her romantic suspense novel Homecoming Chaos.
D. W. is doing a virtual book tour with Wow! Women on Writing. I invite you to visit her other tour stops, too. Details are below the interview.
Welcome, D. W. Please tell us a little bit about yourself.
I have always been an enthusiastic reader. Breakfast in my childhood home was a slow process, as I would read any object on the table—newspapers, cereal boxes, milk cartons, anything with words. Taking away my books was an effective punishment.
As part of this interest, my cousins and I created a neighborhood of preteen and teenage characters who had adventures and solved mysteries. We drew out this neighborhood, identified where everyone lived, and created character profiles for each one. We were well ahead of our time and wrote many unfinished stories, which ended up in the attic as we got older. After this failed experiment, I still nurtured thoughts of writing my own stories one day.
Becoming an author was an early dream pushed aside by practical thoughts and fears. Hence, I decided to take a more surefire route of going to medical school and residency. While I didn’t write my own stories, I spent time writing in a medical and educational capacity.
A health crisis awakened the desire to write again. And with the ability to self-publish, I could see a path to getting my words and stories out of my head and into a bound book others could read and hopefully enjoy.
Please tell us about your current release.
Homecoming Chaos is my debut novel. It’s about Jamison Jones Scott (Jamie), a physician who has spent a good part of the past four years overseas working with a medical relief organization. She didn’t talk to her family much during her time away, which along with the way she suddenly left fractured many of her relationships with family and friends. Finally, Jamie is back with plans to address the tattered mess she left behind. But before she can, everything becomes chaotic. A murder at the family business. A huge birthday party for her mother. Add in a handsome detective investigating the murder who Jamie is wildly attracted to but also butting heads with. Everyone in the family has some drama to deal with!
What inspired you to write this book?
My original plan was to create a character who was a physician who leaves practice to do something else. That concept was based on my own career trajectory. That character morphed into a physician who leaves her life, fiancé, and family behind because she can’t deal with what’s happening in her life. The idea was hovering around in my mind until I developed kidney failure and finally decided to use my spare time to write the story.
Excerpt from Homecoming Chaos:
Standing in the middle of the driveway, Jamie further surveyed her surroundings. “Why is there a van and a caterer here?” Jamie asked Jonathan. He regarded her strangely. He didn’t have time to respond because a stately man appeared in the front doorway.
“Dad!” Jamie made her way to him. He was older, grayer, but still trim. Jamie and Jonathan got their height from Gregory, who was over six feet tall.
“Jamison! It is good to see you!” Dr. Gregory Scott said, opening his arms. She folded herself into her father’s embrace. Oddly, she felt a few prickles of tears. She had missed him and his insistence on calling her by her given name. “I wasn’t sure you were ever going to return,” her father revealed.
Now she felt like shit. Her beef hadn’t been with him, but she had punished him, too. I have to make this up to him, she thought.
“It’s good to be home. It’s been a long, exciting, and scary four years,” she disclosed to him.
“I want you to tell me all about it. When I was younger, I thought about doing some work in third-world countries, but there was never time,” Gregory said, ushering her into the foyer. “I admire you for doing that.”
Jonathan followed them in.
A small, busy-looking woman approached Gregory and said, “I’ve made a couple of menu revisions based on the space and the number of expected people. Would you like to look, or should I show your wife?” She pushed up her glasses.
“Definitely show my wife. She’s in the study just down that hall.” He pointed to a corridor to the right.
“Thank you,” the planner said as she trotted away. Jamie watched her disappear down the hall. Two men walked by from the backyard to the front door.
“What’s going on here?” Jamie asked, this time to her father.
“Your mother’s sixtieth birthday party. I thought that’s why you came home.”
“Uh, no. I didn’t know there was a party. Jon, you didn’t tell me that.” She whirled around to look at him.
Jon assumed an innocent expression. “I thought you would figure that something was going on. It’s her sixtieth birthday. Did you believe that there would be no celebration?” He smirked and headed to the kitchen. “You have been away a long time.”
What exciting project are you working on next?
I am working on the next novel in the CHAOS universe. There may be a novella or two as well.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I considered myself a writer when I was eight years old! I did not complete any stories at the age, but I was very good at beginning them. Since Homecoming Chaos is in preorder, I feel like a writer, but I will be more confident in that feeling once the book is live, and people buy it!
Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your workday like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
Asking about my workday right now is odd right now. Since I self-published this book, I have spent a lot of time with marketing, which makes my writing day very disjointed. I have finally started working on the next novel, so I am still figuring out how to organize my day. I do have other things that I do—I have a blog and an Etsy store which I have semi-neglected over the past couple months. I am working towards a new normal.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I like to write down what I want to happen to a character. Then, I write letting the character guide me. Then I go back, reevaluate, and solidify my plot. I like to free write, which means I have to edit quite a lot.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Ironically, I wanted to be a writer, but as I got older, I started developing other interests. After meeting one of my uncle’s classmates from medical school, I decided I wanted to be a physician and went for it. Then, due to my health, I ended up writing again. My life went full circle.
Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
I have a lot of stories in my head. I plan to write one book per year in the CHAOS Series for at least the next 10 years.
Links:
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Blog Tour Calendar
November 20th @ The Muffin
Join us as we celebrate author D.W. Brooks and interview her about Homecoming Chaos. You’ll also have the chance to win a copy for yourself. https://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com
November 22nd @ Author Michelle Cornish
Visit Michelle’s blog to read her review of Homecoming Chaos. https://www.michellecornishauthor.com/blog/book-reviews
November 25th @ The Faerie Review
Stop by to check out Lily’s spotlight of Homecoming Chaos by D.W. Brooks. https://www.thefaeriereview.com
November 27th @ Michelle Cornish
Join Michelle to read an interview with D.W. Brooks. https://www.michellecornish.com/blog
November 29th @ Pages & Paws
Join Kristine as she shares a guest post by D.W. Brooks about switching careers from medicine to writing. http://www.pagesandpaws.com/
November 29th HERE!
November 30th @ Life According to Jamie
Stop by Jamie’s blog to read her review of Homecoming Chaos. https://www.lifeaccordingtojamie.com
December 3rd @ Author Michelle Cornish
Visit Michelle’s blog to read a guest post by D.W. Brooks writing as Jamison Scott about the wedding that wasn’t. https://www.michellecornishauthor.com/blog/bookis-bits
December 5th @ Reading Beyond the Book Cover
Join Jaleesa as she shares her review of Homecoming Chaos. https://readingbeyondthebookcover.com/
December 6th @ A Storybook World
Stop by Deirdra’s blog to read her spotlight of Homecoming Chaos by D.W. Brooks. https://www.astorybookworld.com/
December 7th @ Nikki’s Book Reviews
Check out Nikki’s review of Homecoming Chaos by D.W. Brooks. https://nikkitsbookreviews.wordpress.com/
December 9th @ Helen Hollick Author
Visit Helen’s blog to read a guest post from author D.W. Brooks. https://ofhistoryandkings.blogspot.com/
December 12th @ Bring On Lemons
Join Crystal as she shares her review of Homecoming Chaos by D.W. Brooks. http://bringonlemons.blogspot.com/
December 14th @ The Knotty Needle
Stop by to read Judy’s review of Homecoming Chaos by D.W. Brooks. http://knottyneedle.blogspot.com
December 15th @ Sue Edwards’s blog
Stop by Sue’s blog to read a guest post by D.W. Brooks about literary beginnings. https://suebe.wordpress.com/
December 17th @ World of My Imagination
Visit Nicole’s blog to read her review of Homecoming Chaos by D.W. Brooks. https://worldofmyimagination.com
Thank you for sharing!