D.M. Brown, is author of the mystery, Cover To Cover, which received great reviews form our club book reviewers. Thanks D. M. Brown for your participation in our project!

-SCBC, Inc.

Where are you from?   I was born in New York, raised in Southern California, and currently reside in the Pacific Northwest.

When and why did you begin writing?   Not uncommonly, I began writing in elementary school. I still have the reports I wrote about Harriet Tubman, bees, kangaroos, and the invention of the telephone. From then on, writing was added to my toolbox of skills, and I used it personally as well as professionally as a method of communication.

As an adult, I found that keeping a journal helped me keep my sanity. It provided an avenue for personal expression, a place to record history, and an opportunity to have an uninterrupted dialogue with myself. My journal gave me a way to collect myself and my thoughts.

Most recently, writing Cover to Cover was an experiment in expression. It was my way of integrating my creative, intellectual, and revolutionary selves. It was a personal quest to see what was possible…to see if I could write a story that would entertain and please me.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?   I considered myself a writer the first time someone said to me, "Look at what you wrote!"

How did you come up with the title for your book?   I think that I was about a quarter of the way through my book before I settled on the title, Cover to Cover. Up until that point, I probably played with a dozen or so other possibilities. But, the day that Cover to Cover floated into my brain, I knew that was it.

How do you feel overall about self-publishing?  (I would like to change this question to read, "What do I think overall about self-publishing?" because my feelings about it change as often as the course of the wind.) In generally, I think that self-publishing can be a very empowering venture. Basically, it is a writer’s opportunity to take control over the business end of their creative process and then do that business in accordance with her/his own personal goals and philosophy. If these things are important and interesting to a writer, then I think self-publishing is an excellent means to an end. If these things are not important or interesting to a writer, I think that it would be wise to explore other forms of publishing.

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?   Well…first of all, I want my readers to have fun with the book. I wrote it to entertain myself, and I hope that my readers were equally as entertained…that they were swept away and into the story within the first few chapters and felt that they couldn’t put it down until the very last page. Of course, I assume that people did put it down occasionally as they read…smiles…but I hope that they didn’t want to and rushed back to the story as soon as possible.

Beyond the telling of a good story, I hope that my readers came away from Cover to Cover stimulated by their own thoughts about self-expression and a sense of what happens emotionally, intellectually, and socially when we venture to speak out.

Is there anything additional you would like to share with your readers?   Yes…I would like to thank everyone who has supported my writing, purchased a copy of Cover to Cover, and assisted me in spreading the word by telling others about my book. Without you, I know that a much smaller percentage of the reading population would know about my book, and I greatly appreciate your contributions to my self-publishing efforts. Thank you!!