 AUTHOR
PROFILE: Barbara Gale
Author's Name: Barbara Gale
Website: www.barbaragale.com
Barbara Gale is a multi-pubbed writer who has written for Silhouette
Special Edition and Fawcett Crest. Her latest Silhouette Special
Edition is available this month, and she is currently working
on another SSE to be released in March 2006
New Releases:
Picking up the Pieces
March 2005 from Silhouette Special Edition
PICKING UP THE PIECES is an interracial romance, and a sequel
to another interracial romance THE AMBASSADOR'S VOW, (which won
RT Magazine's 2002 Best SSE Reviewer's Choice Award). It recounts
the story of the ambassador's wife as she returns to New York
to pick up the pieces of her life, after a devastating divorce.
It ratchets up series romance, too, because it discusses the issue
of race in no uncertain terms.
From Barbara's website:
He supposed if he could have one wish, it would be that he were
anywhere else. But watching her push past the revolving doors
of Kennedy Airport, wrapped in lush sable, memories rushed to
the surface. Carefully, he set them aside. She was married now,
to an ambassador. Still, he was left with a breathless feeling.
Or was it simply the churning motion of a certain pain that filled
his gut whenever he saw her picture in a newspaper, or heard a
story about her on the radio? Or thought about her. It didn’t
matter. He knew, he just knew he should do an about face and run
in the opposite direction, but there was no way to stop his foolish
feet, they were going to follow her through those shiny brass
doors no matter what his common sense told him. Old wounds…curiosity…a
deadly combination.
On Writing
I began writing Regency romance in 1980 and was subsequently
published by Fawcett Crest. I switched to contemporary romance
in 1998.
Becoming a Full-time Writer
I began writing when my first child was two. Up till then, I was
a fulltime homemaker, and my husband was in graduate school. The
combination allowed me a bit of free time in the evening. At that
point, the balance wasn't difficult, but when I had more children,
I stopped writing. Ten years later, when my youngest started pre-K,
I began to substitute teach, but I also resurrected my career. When
I sold my third book, my husband agreed that I could stop teaching
and write fulltime, which is what I now do. I really would like
to say here that without his generous support, this would not be
possible.
Her "Big Break"
I never got a big break, in the sense I think you mean. I sold
my first book to the first publisher who read it. It was a solid
book, a well-researched historical. I sold my contemporary the same
way. Both books were agented, by the way.
On Perseverance
I never felt like quitting because of the nature of writing, or
the pitfalls of the industry. I stopped writing (for ten years)
because I had a houseful of children, and a demanding marriage,
a husband running his own business. As most women will agree, it
was just too much to juggle, but honestly, it was no sacrifice,
career-wise. I really liked being a mom and homemaker. I knew I
would write again, and I did, as soon as my last child began school.
On Genre
My books are character-driven, my voice is inquisitive. Special
Editions are a perfect match. My brain doesn't compute those kind
of plots; as a matter of fact, my brain doesn't compute plot at
all, a real problem when your editor wants a synopsis! I couldn't
write a suspense to save my life, although I wish I could, and admire
writers who can.
Writing Schedules
As a fulltime writer, I write four days a week, until the dinner
hour. Working toward a deadline (as I am now) I increase that to
six-seven days a week, and also return to the book after dinner,
for another two hours. I am very focused, but I am also an extremely
slow writer, so I need big blocks of time. I can agonize over a
paragraph for hours, and if I need to do research, it can take days.
(My family eats lots of spaghetti, by the way.)
Works in Progress
I am writing another SSE entitled The Emissary, to be released
March 2006.
Biggest Challenges
In a word, the biggest challenge is dealing with the distraction
of THE INTERNET! It is a seductive, green-eyed monster that steals
your time, wastes your energy, and gives very little in return.
When I had this epiphany, I immediately changed my habits.
Biggest Rewards
Well, I have to say… I think it's the creative process, itself.
Yesterday (3/2), I had to force myself to walk over to Barnes and
Noble and see if my new book was on the shelf (It was). I was so
involved with editing The Emissary, I didn't want to stop. The only
thing that dragged me from my PC was a reminder to smell the roses.
On Starting a New Story
I gave a speech last year, at National, at the FTH party, about
this very subject. I'm not sure how well it went over, but I know
that I said that I never plotted, and it is the truth. All my books
begin with the phrase once upon a time, a line that I later delete.
But it gets me started. My plots evolve as a natural consequence
of a conversation, or the simple act of shopping in a mall. The
most profound moments in my books are confrontations between people
in crisis, and the crises are reflections of everyday life. No one
in my book goes on a safari. He/she goes to work; my character's
playing field is the supermarket, or driving the kids to soccer/baseball/the
pediatrician/grandma's. There is more action at a Thanksgiving table
than any trip to the moon.
Thoughts on Agents
I have always had an agent and I strongly recommend it. A good
agent gets your book read in a timely fashion, directs your career,
runs interference with your editor, critiques your work, and listens
to you whine. Beyond writing the best book possible, an author's
number one priority should be to secure an agent. It is the sign
of a professional.
About Her Publisher
Anything I know about Torstar and Harlequin can be found on the
internet. I am not privy to insider information. On a one to one
basis, I consider myself lucky to be working there, and to be guided
by an editor who likes my work.
Nice to Have known at the Beginning
I know this might sound like a contradiction, but it's not: I wish
I had kept writing through the child-bearing years-not on the level
I do now, but just enough to hone my craft. The discipline of a
writing class might have been beneficial, but of course, that's
easy to say now…
Advice for New Writers
Oh, I have lots! Write as often as you realistically can, and
don't torture yourself when you can't. Listen to your own voice,
it cannot be faked. Be careful of critique groups (they can be intrusive).
Be careful of your mother (she shouldn't even be reading your stuff,
quite frankly, nor your husband, sister, brother-you get the picture).
Behave in a professional manner and you will be a professional.
On FTHRW
FTHRW has offered me a new venue, and the opportunity to meet
new faces. It's very lonely here at my PC, and FTH livens up my
day (in the middle of writing a torrid love scene, a smile is
no bad thing).
It has also been interesting to be interviewed because it gives
me the opportunity to take stock of myself, to reassess my goals
as I explain them to you.
Finally, one last word. I once heard another writer say that
if you were writing in your nightgown, you were not taking yourself
seriously, that writing was not something you did, fly by night.
She really fired me up and changed my life, and I would hope to
transmit this fire to FTHRW. I would like everyone reading this
to know that although I am here by invitation, I took this hour
to be interviewed out of respect for an organization devoted solely
to the craft of writing, and sincerely interested in furthering
the writer. The support of the loop is a reflection of this, and
I salute you all.
Visit Barbara online at http://www.BarbaraGale.com
Bibliography
For Silhouette Special Edition:
The Ambassador's Vow, 2002
Down From the Mountain, 2004
Picking Up the Pieces, currently available! (ISBN: 0-373-24674-9)
|
