Barbara, a retired teacher with a Masters degree in Reading and Writing K-12 and seventeen years of teaching experience lives with her family in Stamford, Connecticut. When she received her Masters degree, she began writing seriously. If I Could Be Like Jennifer Taylor, Barbara’s first YA novel, was published by MuseItUp Publishing on September 16th and was inspired by Paula Danziger. This novel recently won 2nd place in the Preditors & Editors Poll for the Best Young Adult Book of 2011.
In addition, Barbara has a story in the anthology, "Lavender Dreams," also published by MuseItUp Publishing. All proceeds from this anthology go to cancer research.
Barbara also writes poetry and three of her poems are included in the soon to be published anthology, Prompted: An International Collection of Poems, a collaboration of members of The Anthologists. Her blog, Barbara’s Meanderings, is networked on both Facebook and Blog Catalog. She hosts RRWL Tales from the Pages (Red River Writers Live Tales from the Pages) on Blog Talk Radio every 4th Thursday. In addition, her children's story, “The Trouble with Follow the Leader,” and an adult story, “Out on a Ledge,” are published online. She has written book reviews for Authorlink.com. and several of her reviews have been on Acewriters and Celebrity Café. She is a member of SCBWI. Writing is her life!
Links:
Muse Bookstore Ebook
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Blog
Q) What inspired you to write this story?
I needed to have 3 chapters of a children's story to submit to Paula Danziger for her children's writing workshop at Manhattanville's Writer's Week. So I wrote the chapters using my daughter's problems at the time. She was starting to be bulimic and acting out. Also she had a poor body image. So I divided this into two characters and though the actual first draft was so bad Paula said to cut almost everything, she found some merit in it. So I decided to finish the story.
Q) How long did it take you to write?
It took me about two years on and off and another two years to critique it.
Q) What is your favorite thing about writing?
Writing is like breathing for me. I put my fingers on the keyboard after I get a decent sentence and they fly. It's probably the easiest thing I ever do. When I'm writing I block out the world and there's only me and the keyboard or me and the paper.
Q) What is your least favorite thing about writing?
Sometimes I don't like the revision I have to do when I'm finished with a story. It's tedious and for me, I always seem to rewrite the first chapter over and over until I get it right.:)
Q) If you could be any famous person for one day, who would you be and why?
That's a good question. I think I would probably like to be Oprah Winfrey and have all that money to give away to people and choose the book to publicize. Of course, if would be mine!
Q) What is the oldest thing in your fridge and how old is it?
A tiny piece of parmesan cheese from September.
Q) What can readers expect from you in the future?
I have a young adult novel I am readying to submit called When My Life Changed. It is about a 15 year old girl whose life changes when her father has a heart attack and bypass surgery. It is told in her POV and examines what happens in a family and in her life when her father is hospitalized. This is based on my own true story.
