Hi! I’m Deb!
I’m married to my best friend, Nate. Together we’ve made three weird and wonderful children, written nine books, failed to start two church communities, and helped start two more that are miraculously still alive. I lived for nearly a decade in Argentina where I learned to speak Spanish, experienced friendship and heartbreak, and got addicted to mate (mah-tey)1. Now I call Indianapolis home, and I spend my days writing books, managing the lives of teenagers, drinking even more mate, and loving on an extended community of odd but resilient humans.
1Mate is a plant grown in South America. You grind up the leaves, pour hot water over it, and drink it through a straw. It’s not a drug, just a smooth caffeine delivery system. No, that’s not it in the picture to the right. That’s Butterbeer from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. A girl can be in love with more than one drink, after all.
Twenty-two years with this guy and that’s just the married ones. He’s still my all-time favorite person and the one I know will always have my back.
There’s too much to say about these three. (That’s why I wrote a whole book about it.) They are orders of magnitude beyond anything I could have imagined.
Ellie, Scott, and Lucy, who patiently put up with me writing about their lives
My books
In April of 2013, I published my first two novels, The Book of Sight and The Broken Circle. They’re books 1 and 2 of a series (also called The Book of Sight) for young adults. The three other books that completed the series came out one each year after that, so that the series was completed in December of 2016. Check it out!
In September of 2018, my short story book UNA came out as a teaser for my full-length sci-fi novel, TWIN, which hit bookshelves a month later. This is my first foray into science fiction, and I’m hooked.
My memoir, Laughing at the Dark, launched in April of 2021. I wrote this book for the young moms in my life, but it’s grown into so much more than that and I couldn’t be happier about it.
On my bookshelf
If you really want to know a person, you have to know what they read, so here’s a peek into my brain. Spoiler: I’ll read almost anything that’s fiction, though I’m not a fan of crime novels. Find my book recommendations here!
My Community
Nothing is more important to me than my people, and we’ve stuck together through some serious sh-t. Yeah, we swear more now. And laugh more. And pray more. Mostly, we just keep on being there. Because books can only feed one part of your soul.
Deborah Dunlevy 
I heard about this from 18to88, the FINEST blog on the web. A) because it’s about the Colts and B) because of Deshawn Zombie (wish he would have kept the moniker)
I read everything he writes and throughly enjoy the site, but enough about Deshawn (er Nate).
I would recommend Robert Jordan, the Eye of the World be added to your kindle.
Hope the site goes well and looking forward to reading your (and others) stories.
JW
I’m checking out the Eye of the World right now. Thanks!
Of course, you’re right about Deshawn and his general awesomeness. Please feel free to keep calling him that. I encourage it as much as possible.
And thanks for the visit!
Hi,
Really great blog. Love it! The stories are simple, sweet and fun! 🙂 Keep up the great work.
Thanks! And thanks for stopping by to check things out!
Are you working on a book of sight #3? I really hope so i loved the first 2! Have you ever read The Sword Of Truth? Its by Terry Goodkind and its a series of books and i loved every one of them and theyre super long so they last for a while. I hate when ai dont have a good book to read. My name is Lisa and i cant wait for #3!!! Thank you for your books so far,,,
I AM working on #3! Outline is all done and maybe half of the first chapter is written. So yeah, it’s going to take a while. 🙂 I’m hoping to crack down this fall and get a first draft finished so we can look to publish by next summer. No promises, but that’s the goal. I’m really glad you liked the first two. That completely makes my week. Also, I haven’t read The Sword of Truth, but I am checking it out now. I’m always excited to get new recommendations, so thanks!
Adult reader here, mom to a 16 year old daughter and teacher to third graders. Loved, loved, loved! The Book of Sight and The Broken Circle. I was home sick for two days and in between bouts of miserableness, I read both books – I couldn’t put them down. I love the concept and the relationships between the characters. The Broken Circle was heart pounding and irresistible as I kept trying to yell at Logan about what he forgot was the most important thing to their group. I have some very high readers this year and feel that I could recommend these two books without qualms to parents to check out and read with their kids. The imagery is great for visualization as well. I love the GILF – I would love to see a picture of these joyful little creatures! I would give just about anything to see the changing tree. I am hooked! Please write more in this series – I will gobble them up, even if I am not really in your target audience, since I am a teacher, I can stick my feet into pretty much any age level and genre with good justification. 🙂 I enjoyed these trips of fancy far more than Harry Potter! Keep up the good work!
Marci Jo, you just made my Saturday morning! I’m so pleased that you enjoyed them. I’ve had so much fun writing them, so it makes me happy to think that I’m not the only one. Don’t worry, I’m hard at work on the third book, and the last two are banging around in my head, too. I’ll get them out there just as soon as my crazy life permits. And just between me and you, you pretty much were my target audience, since I wrote exactly the sort of thing I like to read myself. 🙂
Hi,
I’m Tokoni, A student and poet. Its nice to meet your I’d like to invite you to my blog, http://www.insanitybeautiful.wordpress.com if you’re interested. Thanks!
Lovely! Thanks!
I am your daughter’s friend and enemy and she’s really weird and I know where you live, I think. Also, I’m gonna steal your cat, Ollie, and your dog, Toby, because they are really cute and funny.
From Madeline
P.S, your daughter and probably you know where I live, in case you want to get back at me 🙂
Same. I haven’t read any of your book but I like talking about your blog to your eldest daughter and annoying her. Here, we have a passion for rubber duckies. #joinmycult
That photo is embbarrsing mom did u have to put taht in their. Also ellies freinds are cringy.
hi i am leuz deanlevyws best friend :))))))))