Interview with Edie D. Browning, Author of Me Here Without You Now

Digital Book Nook recently caught up with Edie D. Browning, author of “Me Here Without You Now.” We are excited to share this insightful interview with our readers today.  

When did you first discover that you enjoy writing and wanted to become a published author?

I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I’ve always been writing. Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve been making up stories in my head, writing about them. Whether it was creating a tale from the beeping of an alarm clock or just daydreaming, I always had a tale to tell. But writing never seemed like a real job in my family, something that you could actually do for a living. I would tell my mom, and my dad that I wanted to write, and they’d just say, Edie, no one reads anymore, get a proper job. This led me to become an English teacher instead of trying to pursue a career in writing. 

I’d keep writing but for myself, I wouldn’t tell anyone about it. I guess life just happens and you put your dreams on a shelf, you know? Then last year I took a break from teaching and took a deep soul search and thought to myself, what the heck, let’s just write this thing, let’s give it a try. The worst thing that could happen was I’d write this terrible book that no one wanted to read, but I would have at least written it. I joined TikTok and announced I was writing a book to give myself the necessary push and the craziest thing happened. I went from 0 followers to over 3000 in a month and I wrote the book in no time. 

I found this overwhelming support from strangers that I don’t really have in real life. I guess, it’s like they always say that when you take a step on the right path, the universe just falls behind and supports you. Then just before the book came out, I also got my dream teaching job, so life has been really good to me after a couple of difficult, dark years.    

What is your favorite and the most challenging aspect of writing?

My favourite aspect of writing is – writing. I just find it so easy, relaxing, and therapeutic, really. You put so much of yourself out there and work through it as your characters are working out their drama. I just recently talked with one of my friends that I for one can’t get into gardening, for example. Everyone seems to get into gardening at some point in their life, but I just can’t. And she was talking about how she finds it so relaxing, how it takes the stress off. And I realized that’s writing for me. I can just get lost in it. 

The most challenging part about writing isn’t really writing, it’s marketing – talking about my book, writing about it, promoting it. I’m shocked every day as to how effortless writing stories is for me but when I need to say something about my book, write about it. It’s like I’m mining for diamonds, the words just don’t come. I would be terrible at copywriting and have the deepest respect for people who can do that. 

Tell us about your latest release.

Me Here Without You Now is a love story after the love story. I think there are so many love stories out there about young people falling in love, about the first love and I wanted to write a different story. I wanted to write about what happens after the one. So, it’s about overcoming grief, getting lost in the process, and finding love again. It’s about dating in your forties when you haven’t been on the dating scene since before mobile phones and deciphering eggplant emojis in the middle of the night, getting entangled in obsessions, and losing touch with those who matter most. It’s a story about love, life, and the resilience of mothers that will hopefully make people laugh and cry simultaneously. 

How did you come up with the title of your book?

I always wanted for it to be something like Without You, because Louise has lost the love of her life, but just Without You didn’t really capture the whole setting and sounded generic. My main character moved to Finland twenty years ago to be with her husband. So, I added Here to it, because she is in this new home – here for her without him. And even before I wrote the book, I knew that I wanted to write the prequel, because if you have the whole story after this great love story, the whole referencing their story and him being gone, you, of course, have to tell about THE love story. So, that’s the reason for the now and together Me Here Without You Now. It’s a long title but I think it really captures the story. The prequel is going to be entitled just the opposite. 

What do you hope readers are able to get from reading your story?

I think in the end the book’s really about how even though grief and loss are universal; everyone has lost someone, something, and knows how that feels, healing on the other hand is unique to everyone and that’s OK. We all have different ways on how we cope with grief, and how we get over it, we’re all different and that’s OK. 

Who are some of your favorite authors?

My favourite authors are Nick Hornby, Sophie Kinsella, Alice Munro, etc. So many, really, I don’t even have a favourite genre, I’ll just as easily get lost in a romance or a thriller.

Do you have any advice for writers looking to get published?

Don’t get lost in the big picture. Writing a novel can be a daunting task, and publishing one is an even greater one. Just start. Write the first chapter, the first scene. Take it one baby step at a time and you’ll see that in no time you’ll climb that mountain.

Follow Edie: Book | Website | Instagram | TikTok

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About the Author

And one day the girl with the books became the woman writing them…

Edie D. Browning has loved getting lost in books ever since she was a little girl. At the age of 12 she wrote her first story about a family winning an ox at a raffle and thanks to her teacher’s encouragement it was actually published in the local newspaper. But as time went on, she shifted gears to teaching, helping others with their writing, and even publishing several scientific articles on topics such as early language learning and gender stereotypes in teaching. All this while, her personal dream of writing stories remained on hold. Now, Edie is returning to her first love: making up stories in her head and writing them.

Her stories are stories about women – about love, loss, and motherhood. All universal stories that all women go through but all in their unique ways. 

A reader at first, Edie likes nothing more than curling with a book. She doesn’t have a favourite author or genre and will easily get lost in a love story or get pulled into a psychological thriller. As an indie author, she holds a special torch for fellow self-published writers, often championing the underdogs of the literary world.

Outside of writing, Edie enjoys moments with her family, her three children, and long runs with her dog—her special way to clear her mind and gather new inspirations.