Writing that most influenced me
(in no particular order):

• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
• A Separate Peace by John Knowles
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
• anything by Ray Bradbury
• J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings
• Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier
• A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
• To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Dune by Frank Herbert
• Dominion: the Power of Man the Suffering of Animals by Matthew Scully
• A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman
• The Lonely Silver Rain by John D. MacDonald
• Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh
• Birds in Fall by Brad Kessler
• Poetry by Billy Collins, Tim Siebles and Mary Oliver

About D.C. Brod

D.C. Brod: Deborah (Deb) Cobban Brod

I was born quite a while ago. Sometime around the middle of the last century. Before President Kennedy was assassinated but after the bomb fell on Hiroshima.

I grew up in LaGrange, Illinois.

I attended two Beatles concerts. Didn't hear much at either.

My husband, Don, and I live in St. Charles, Illinois. The Fox River runs through it. Nice place to live. Two cats live with us: Skye and Jura. My husband likes the convenience of cats. He is allergic to them, so he gets props for agreeing to two in the house. (The deal was two cats or one dog.) I occasionally have bettas.

Strangest thing I've ever done: jump out of a perfectly good airplane (with a parachute). Six times. Enough to know there were better ways (for me) to have fun.

Better ways to have fun: cooking dinner for family and friends, watercolor painting, mosaics, traveling, listening to the rain while I'm reading, birdwatching.

Favorite places: The Hebrides; Shetland; County Galway, Ireland; Helsinki, Finland. Chicago.

Music: Runrig, Beethoven (especially that 7th Symphony), Tom Paxton, the Beatles, Neil Young

iPhone ringtone: "The Shire" from LOTR

Tradition: My brother, Bruce, and I have been alternately gifting each other the same piece of coal every year for about 25 years. Gets harder and harder to come up with a clever delivery system. If we keep at this long enough, one year one of us will get a diamond.

Why crows and ravens? They're beautiful, clever and don't like people staring at them.

A few of the things I've learned:

• Don't wait until you're old to wear purple.
• Woody Allen was right when he said: Ninety percent of life is just showing up.
• There is life after failure and dumb-ass choices.