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Overview
Besides being an author, Brooke is a Life and Career Strategist . She enjoys hiking and photography and lives in Colorado.
She started writing because it gave her a chance to get feelings out, like journaling. This grew into the thought that she wanted to write a book.
Website
You can find Brooke at:
www.rootsofabundance.com
www.facebook.com/rootsofabundance
Book
Favorites
One of Brooke’s favorite books:
Favorite Bookstore: Tattered Cover – Denver, Colorado
YouTube
Transcript
Stephen: All right. Today on the podcast I’ve got Brooke Davis. So welcome Brooke to the
Brooke: podcast. Thank you very much for having me. I’m excited to be here.
Stephen: Great. And I don’t know, is it snowy where you are? We’ve had snow lately. You know
Brooke: what? We did get just a little bit of snow, but it’s supposed to be warmer and it’s melting off very fast, as it always does here in the Rocky Mountains.
It seems to snow and then go.
Stephen: Nice. Yeah we’ve actually had more snow this year than the last couple, so that’s, I like snow, so that’s good.
Brooke: I do too. And we can use a little bit more, but we’ll take what we get.
Stephen: Brooke before we get started talking about your book, tell us a little bit about yourself, who you are, what you like to do besides writing.
Brooke: I’m originally from Southern Indiana and I grew up there. And I went to school there. I actually have. My schooling was in business, ironically enough. Grew up in the country. Loved to be outside photography, hiking, traveling in the west. I’ve been in Colorado a little over 20 years now, and just love it.
Love going around in the mountains. Yellowstone Park is a favorite. Montana is a favorite as well. So
Stephen: you’re an outdoor
Brooke: person mostly in the fall and the spring. Not so much in the summer. It can get a little warm, but it is beautiful here in the west most of the time. So yes I like being out here a lot
Stephen: with all these activities.
What could I ask? Is writing your full-time or do you have a day
Brooke: job? Writing is, would, I would like for it to be my full-time. It’s not quite full-time yet. I also have a certificate in wellness coaching. So that’s what I do. Along with writing
Stephen: several things together, what made you decide to start writing?
Brooke: Writing has always been an outlet for me. Just really a thoughts and emotions. I have been journaling for a long time and I know that writing a book is very much not the same, but it was really about getting thoughts and feelings out to work them out. And then I really started wondering, could I write an entire book?
Is that something that I could pull off, or would it be horrible or could I actually make something into a book that I would be proud of? And it just went from there. And because I am so very creative, I think that’s where it came from. It just really was an outlet for that creativity that I wasn’t really able to express as part of someone who was doing a more analytical job in finance.
Stephen: Okay, so like a lot of authors using writing to get your thoughts and feelings out and felt a pool towards
Brooke: writing. Absolutely, and I think it has to do with the storytelling. I think that is one of the most important things in writing is that. That ability to tell a story and to not only like it yourself, but to say, wow, would somebody else benefit from this?
Could they be amused or transported or whatever, regardless of genre. I think that storytelling is the most exciting part, and putting those pieces together as a writer. It’s just become more fun and more engaging to me as I’ve gone along.
Stephen: Okay. I like that. And I think a lot of writers share that viewpoint.
Did you say how long have you been writing?
Brooke: I’ve been writing off and on probably for about eight years now. I think I wrote the very first draft of something that may never see the light of day in 2014. We have those, sometimes it’s that’s just gonna go in the back of the desk and stay there.
But yeah, I think it’s really been off and on for about eight years. So it’s been quite a while.
Stephen: So you came in when things were really heating up with Kindle and eBooks and all
Brooke: that. I wish I had come in a lot earlier before they had changed some things. They still offer such a wonderful service now, but because I didn’t get published until last year, I still consider myself really a newbie since it’s my first book and the first time going through that process.
Technically I was writing when it was new. But I didn’t actually get in the game until last year.
Stephen: Okay. So you’ve still seen some changes over the last couple years and Yes. Still been able to get your book published? Yes. So your book is called The Adventures of An Urban Homesteader. Tell us about that what the title means and what the books book is about.
Brooke: The Adventures of an Urban Homesteader, the Diary of Kendall Whitney is about a young woman who. Really needs to figure out how to adult. And she’s 28 years old. She moves from San Francisco to Montana. She’s moving to Bozeman. Bozeman is not a super small town. It has about 50,000 people in university.
So it’s not the super small town, but it’s not the super big city either. And she really launches herself on this quest for independence. What does she want as far as a career? What does she want in a relationship? And. Really fist on forehead, faceplant humor stuff of how to live alone. So she’s really trying to figure these three things out during the book A, along with a very funny and endearing cast of characters that are trying to help her along the way.
Stephen: And you talked about a couple things you wrote before this. What made you finally wanna write this book and get this particular book out there?
Brooke: So I. I had to think about that for a while. When you had sent me that question. I’m like, how did this happen? Really what happened was the first thing that I wrote that probably will not see the light of day.
Was very heavy and very serious and pretty emotionally draining to write. And I realized afterwards, I’m like, I need to write something fun and lighthearted that is gonna make me laugh. That is gonna make people laugh. And so that’s how this came about. And I’ve been to Bozeman many times. I’ve been going up there with my family and on my own since the early nineties, late eighties.
And I’m like, I think I can write about this. Enough to know the town and also from this point of view of saying these are some things that could happen along the way that could be really fun and educational and enlightening to this character.
Stephen: So like a lot of authors, you wanted a book that resonated with you, which would then resonate with others, but also if it wasn’t out there, then you might as well be the one to write it.
Brooke: And I knew by writing it in diary form, which it is in. It would be a little different, but I also had that concern of this cannot be Bridget Jones’ diary and it’s not, so that was definitely a consideration of saying, this needs to be different. Kendall Whitney’s journey is different than Bridget’s journey in many ways.
And so I had that in mind as well. But mostly it was about telling a fun and lighthearted story that moved along with relatable characters that people were like, oh yeah, that’s probably happened to me. That was embarrassing. Let’s not do that again, type of thing.
Stephen: And this is traditionally published or you published it yourself?
I
Brooke: did self-publish this one.
Stephen: Did you consider trying to traditionally publish or did you always want to publish it
Brooke: yourself? I always wanted to self publish this one. I think in the future I. I would consider some type of hybrid publishing with traditional and self. We’ll kinda see how that plays out.
But for this one, I really did wanna self-publish this one. Do you have
Stephen: plans for a follow up, or is the next book something completely different?
Brooke: The next book is something completely different.
Stephen: And the current book, have you gotten any feedback from readers? What are people saying about it or telling you,
Brooke: you know what?
For the people that it’s really speaking to, it has been very relatable, very funny, mostly positive reviews, and some people, it truly is not their cup of tea, but for the people that are really. Into that and are getting the humor, they are really enjoying it. I would say it has some pretty good reviews out there on Amazon at Good Reads right
Stephen: now.
And you said it’s on Amazon. Is, are you just on Amazon or do you have it available
Brooke: elsewhere? I do have it available elsewhere. It is also on Cobo, apple, Barnes and Noble and Google.
Stephen: And so the next book, can you tell us a little bit about that one? Yes.
Brooke: The next book is, A micro memoir. It was, I hope to publish it sometime in 2021.
The working title is Without You, I would be Nothing. And it’s nonfiction as a micro memoir. And my interpretation of micro memoir is short memoirs and I mashed two books together. So there’s an author named Beth Ann Fenley. She had a micro memoir book called Heating and Cooling, and she had 52.
And then Grant Faulkner had a book of stories called Fishers, not Fishers, with a fishing pole, fishers as in F I S U R E S. And each of his stories were exactly 100 words. And I thought, what would happen if I wrote 100 micro memoirs that were exactly 100 words each? And Yes, that is as daunting as it sounds.
Wow.
Stephen: So that nothing like a good
Brooke: challenge. Exactly. And it really was. But it forces you to be really smart with language and emotion and what you wanna convey. And that book right now is in the beta reader stage. So it’s moving along. And again, I hope to have that out. I do plan to self-publish that one as well.
Hopefully sometime in late summer, maybe early fall.
Stephen: Even though it’s nonfiction, just from what you’re talking about, it sounds like your style of writing it will be very similar to the quirky humor from your first book. Does that sound accurate?
Brooke: There, there’s definitely some quirky humor in there.
It does take on a little, a more of a serious tone. It’s about really talking about how place experience and people. Move through your life. And it talks about the aging process. It also talks about me losing my father to Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s and how it moves into that. But there’s definitely a mix of that quirky humor in there as well.
Stephen: The adventures of an Irvin homesteader, how much would you say is like a reflection from your experience in life? Compared to the memoir?
Brooke: I’m, I wanna make sure that I understand your question. I definitely think there were some reflections of things that did happen to me in Adventures with an urban Home.
Because we’re going from fiction to non-fiction. Clearly as a micro memoir it is very personal. Stylistically, there will definitely be some things that are similar, but because everything I chose to make everything 100 words in that micro memoir, obviously that was more challenging.
Is that’s what you were wanting to know?
Stephen: Yeah. A lot of times when we write we, we write a story that is, Not based on our life, we put a lot of ourselves into it and obviously that’s what a memoir does. I was just curious if your fiction book was a bit of a fictionalized account of some of your life or experiences?
Brooke: I would say in many ways, no. It really was Kendall’s experience. I definitely think there were bits and pieces there, but I think really Kendall, the main character in adventures. Is her own person because she comes from a very large city and I did not have that experience growing up.
I also am an only child and Kendall has siblings. So I would say there are a few things, but not too much. She really is her own woman in that
Stephen: book. And are you finding any challenges going from fiction to nonfiction? Yes.
Brooke: Luckily enough, I didn’t, probably because I had been working on this micro memoir project, and in all honesty, I told my editor I almost didn’t do it.
Because I was like, who is going to wanna read this? And I’m like, no. The more I got into it, I’m like, there, there are nuggets of wisdom here that I think are useful and valuable. So I went ahead and did it and she’s given me some really good feedback on the book, so I’ll be very excited to see what the beta readers have to say.
I think it will have been a good use of time in the end.
Stephen: And one, one more question on your book. Do you think you might write a sequel to the fiction book, urban Homesteader?
Brooke: I don’t have plans to, I think I could, but I don’t have plans to at this time. Let’s put it that way.
Stephen: I find interesting because there’s so much of a push nowadays for everything being a series that you write three books of anything instead of just one.
Which is and I think
Brooke: that’s gonna be fascinating because I have writer friends who very much write in this series. I tend to write my ideas as single standalone books. Yeah.
Stephen: And that’s completely valid. I think too often people get stuck on, oh my God, everyone’s saying I have to do this.
And you don’t necessarily have to there are plenty of books out there by authors that are standalone without being in a series that are very popular. Absolutely. So let’s let me ask you, when you were growing up, I assume you’ve been reading for most of your life what are some of your favorite books and authors?
Brooke: So they really, I did have some in childhood. Most of the authors that I’ve been reading lately, I that have come to be my favorites. One is Kate Morton. She wrote the distant hours, also the clock maker’s daughter. I read the distant hours in one day. I literally could not put it down. I had the Olympics on mute.
That’s a good recommendation. Yeah. I had the Olympics on mute. I had, I talked to my mom for 30 minutes and I’m like, I gotta go cause I gotta finish this book. Nice. MJ Rose also is one of my favorites. Eleanor Brown with One N. She wrote The Weird Sisters. And then also I tend to not read a lot of fantasy books, but I’m becoming more interested in them.
One of the authors that I read recently was Tessa Gratton and she wrote The Queens of Enni Lear, and I have her latest one called Lady Hot Spur, but I’ve not started it. So yeah, those are some of the authors I’ve been reading that I really do enjoy.
Stephen: Great. I’ll have to make some links to those.
I haven’t heard of most of those. Where, and you live in the Rocky Mountains. Do you happen to have a local bookstore that you enjoy going to?
Brooke: Absolutely. I live in suburban Denver, so the local bookstore that I go to is tattered cover, and it’s been on the scene for 50 years here in the Denver area.
Stephen: Nice. Yeah. I love bookstores that have a quirky little flavor to them.
Brooke: Yeah. It’s an institution
Stephen: here. Okay. So Brooke to finish up our talk about your writing tell people why you think they should get your book. The Adventures of an Urban
Brooke: Homesteader, if you’re really looking for a laugh and you enjoy romantic comedy, focused really on a quest.
Of is she going to achieve the independence that she wants in the areas of her life and is quite, she quite frankly, going to survive living in Montana after having lived in San Francisco. Really? It’s just a lighthearted kind of fun beachy read. That will transport you for a while and hopefully leave you just really satisfied with the ending.
Stephen: Nice, nice. This just popped into my head. So do you, would you picture this book as being a movie or a TV show?
Brooke: Oh wow. That’s an interesting question. I would say, Off the top of my head, it strikes me more as a movie versus a TV show, but I could see where things could be episodic with her various quests in life.
But yeah, probably a movie around this, the hilarity of adulting really.
Stephen: You could always push people that if they like Bridget Jones diary, read
Brooke: this. Yeah. It is different in some ways, but if you like diary form and you’re really on that quest for independence and trying to see if she actually pulls off the trifecta and trying to adult then definitely.
So yes.
Stephen: Tell us again the name of the book, where to Get it, and if you have a website where people can find you.
Brooke: Yes, so the name of the book is Adventures of An Urban Homesteader, and my website is www brook davis writes.com. And Brook is spelled with an E. You can get it there. You can also get it on Amazon, Cobo, apple, Barnes and Noble, and Google.
And I do have both. Brooke, I appreciate, I do have both print and ebook editions available.
Stephen: Nice. Let me ask A lot of people don’t do print nowadays. Why did you choose to do print? I
Brooke: think because I’m one of those readers who likes to hold the book in my hand. If I’m reading, generally I’m reading from a paperback or a back.
In all honesty. And I also think that as a new author, I really just wanna the experience of holding that hot little book in my hand and saying, I did this because it’s a big deal, right? It takes a long time. It’s quite the journey. And at the end of the day, You really sometimes just wanna have that thing you can hold in your hand and say, look what I
Stephen: did.
And that’s very valid. I think a lot of authors like that, tactile, Hey I have an accomplishment. I agree. It’s not as fulfilling to put up a digital. Bunch of zeros and
Brooke: ones. It’s really not. It’s so awesome and amazing that we can do what we do now as writers, but there’s still something about holding that book in your hand.
Stephen: Great. Brooke, I appreciate you taking a couple moments to talk about your book today. And we are going to continue in a moment with the second half where we talk about getting it done. So thanks for being on today. Thank you.
Brooke: Thank you for listening to Discovered Wordsmith. Come back next week and listen to another author, discuss the road they’ve traveled, and maybe sometime in the near future it might be you.