Better Know An Author – Teri M Brown

Our weekly spotlight series on authors from around the world. This week we sat down with Teri M Brown!

Please give a brief introduction, including your name and where you are based

My name is Teri M Brown, and I live on the North Carolina coast. I was born in Athens, Greece as an Air Force brat, and spent my growing up years in Ohio. After moving to North Carolina at the age of 15, I’ve never looked back.

I graduated from UNC Greensboro with four degrees – majors in Elementary Education and Psychology and minors in Math and Sociology – because I couldn’t settle on one thing. Now, as a writer, I use all those degrees to create my characters!

I started writing nonfiction for small business clients in 2000 but didn’t start writing fiction until 2017. My debut novel, a timely historical fiction set in Ukraine, launched in January of this year.

What book or books have you published or are working on at the moment?

My debut novel is Sunflowers Beneath the Snow and follows three generations of women in Ukraine. It details the suffering, heartbreak, courage, and strength of this family after the patriarch, a Ukrainian rebel, is forced to flee the country without his family.

I’m also working on an historical fiction, An Enemy Like Me, that I hope to release within the next year. I use the backdrop of World War II to show the angst experienced by a German-American soldier and his family as he left for and fought in a war he did not create. I explore the concepts of xenophobia, intrafamily dynamics, and the recognition that war is not won and lost by nations, but by ordinary men and the families who support them.

What drives you to write?

I have characters in my head that have stories that need telling. I ignored their whisperings for years while I raised my children and dealt with an emotionally abusive spouse. When the kids were all grown, and I had enough courage to leave the bad relationship, I finally began to write. Once I started, I couldn’t stop.

Where can folks find you online and on social media?

My website is www.terimbrown.com. My social media includes:

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Goodreads, and Pinterest.

And if anyone wants to read the first chapter of my new novel, all they have to do is sign up for my newsletter at https://deft-pioneer-4478.ck.page/74331169e8.

What is one piece of advice you would give to another author out there who might be struggling?

If you love writing, then do it. You don’t have to have a degree or the right contacts to get started. The more you write, the better you will get, so start now. Then, once you start, don’t give up.

What are some of your five-year goals with writing?

My intention is to sell 10,000 copies of Sunflowers Beneath the Snow within its first 24 months. I also plan to publish at least three more novels in the next five years, as well as finish my motivational book based on my tandem bicycle ride across the United States (3102 miles) and write a children’s picture book at the request of my grandchildren.

Final Thoughts?

I am eternally grateful to you and to readers who make it possible for me to be an author. Without the amazing writing community and the millions of people who love to read, my passion would have no value. So, thank you!

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