It’s always a treat when I (Becky Berry) get to chat with a novelist. In this episode of She’s Not Done Yet I chat with author Denise Frost who writes under the name DC Frost.

We cover a wide range of topics including her background, aging well, writing and publishing as a Latina author, publishing her first book (“A Punishing Breed”) at 60+, and, since we spoke 2 days after the election, the future.

In 2024 the New York Times recognized DJ Arias, the protagonist in the book, as one of Four Great Fictional Detectives.

I love to ask authors to share their writing process and their journey to publication. Denise talks about leveraging her own life experience to write the book. She set “A Punishing Breed” on a college campus because she spent 19 years working at a small private liberal arts college. She describes the “hermetically sealed world” of college campuses where every voice is amplified and found it a powerful background for her book.

One of my favorite nuggets is her description of how she finally completed the book. She was stuck, and due to a tragic event, found herself working with a therapist. The therapist got her to commit to writing for 2 or 3 hours a day, at the same time each day. To paraphrase what Denise says, when you show up the words show up – and they did!

She serendipitously met her publisher at a weeklong writing retreat. They stayed in touch.

We also talk about the importance of writing groups to writers. Denise has been a member of several groups, finally finding a group of fiction writers.

Finally, we talk about a couple of subjects near and dear to my heart – aging well and activism. Denise and I recorded this episode the day after the inauguration, so we had a lot to talk about.

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Resources and Show Links:

· https://www.denisefrost.net/

· https://redhen.org/book_author/dc-frost/

· https://www.instagram.com/dcfrost_writer/

· https://www.facebook.com/denisecfrost

Email me (Becky): shesnotdoneyetyall@gmail.com

My coaching website: https://beckyberrycoach.com

My LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beckyberrycoach/

This podcast was recorded, produced, edited, and marketed by me, Becky Berry.

Thanks again for listening and sharing!

Becky