Welcome to another Coffee Chat!
Our guest author this week is Barbara Brett, who writes in more than one genre but is featuring her romance novel, Between Two Eternities: Some Loves are Meant to Last Forever.
It’s nice to meet you, Barbara. May I get you a drink?
BB: Good morning, Ally. Thanks for having me over for a coffee break. It's great to have some time to chat with you, but I must confess that I'm drinking tea, not coffee. Though coffee is probably the most popular drink in our part of the world, it isn't popular with me. That's because it gives me a terrible headache. I don't miss it, though, because I love tea.
Right now, I'm drinking a steaming cup of Darjeeling tea in a blue mug that was given to me by a friend. It's inscribed with a beautiful Apache blessing: "May the sun bring you new energy by day. May the moon softly restore you by night. May the rain wash away your worries. May the breeze blow new strength into your being. May you walk gently through the world and know its beauty all the days of your life." As my friend wished it to me, I wish it to you, too, and to all your readers.
Ally: Thank you, Barbara, on behalf of all of us. While I fill my coffee mug, please tell readers a little of your extensive background.
Our guest author this week is Barbara Brett, who writes in more than one genre but is featuring her romance novel, Between Two Eternities: Some Loves are Meant to Last Forever.
It’s nice to meet you, Barbara. May I get you a drink?
BB: Good morning, Ally. Thanks for having me over for a coffee break. It's great to have some time to chat with you, but I must confess that I'm drinking tea, not coffee. Though coffee is probably the most popular drink in our part of the world, it isn't popular with me. That's because it gives me a terrible headache. I don't miss it, though, because I love tea.
Right now, I'm drinking a steaming cup of Darjeeling tea in a blue mug that was given to me by a friend. It's inscribed with a beautiful Apache blessing: "May the sun bring you new energy by day. May the moon softly restore you by night. May the rain wash away your worries. May the breeze blow new strength into your being. May you walk gently through the world and know its beauty all the days of your life." As my friend wished it to me, I wish it to you, too, and to all your readers.
Ally: Thank you, Barbara, on behalf of all of us. While I fill my coffee mug, please tell readers a little of your extensive background.
Bio:
I've spent my life working with words. I started out as a proofreader, then became a magazine editor, then a short story writer, then a book editor, and then a book publisher. In between, I began writing novels. Now I have given up the editing part of my life and I'm concentrating on my own writing. I write mainstream novels, both mysteries and romances.
Something unusual, not in my bio: “Though most people see me as a serious, pragmatic, down-to-earth person, I have my whimsical side. Since childhood, I have been fascinated by fairies and pixies, and I have a collection of them that delights me. When I get the gloomies, looking at them can always make me smile.”
Author Contacts:
Readers can find out more about me on my website: www.brettbooks.com And they can keep up with my news and views on writing, reading, and life by following me on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/BarbaraBrettAuthor I can also be found on Goodreads at:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1767558.Barbara_Brett
I've spent my life working with words. I started out as a proofreader, then became a magazine editor, then a short story writer, then a book editor, and then a book publisher. In between, I began writing novels. Now I have given up the editing part of my life and I'm concentrating on my own writing. I write mainstream novels, both mysteries and romances.
Something unusual, not in my bio: “Though most people see me as a serious, pragmatic, down-to-earth person, I have my whimsical side. Since childhood, I have been fascinated by fairies and pixies, and I have a collection of them that delights me. When I get the gloomies, looking at them can always make me smile.”
Author Contacts:
Readers can find out more about me on my website: www.brettbooks.com And they can keep up with my news and views on writing, reading, and life by following me on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/BarbaraBrettAuthor I can also be found on Goodreads at:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1767558.Barbara_Brett
INTERVIEW:
Ally: Why don’t we start the interview with what type of romance you brought today?
BB: BETWEEN TWO ETERNITIES: Some Loves Are Meant to Last Forever is a mainstream love story, and its romantic scenes are PG-13. (You’ll find the cover and blurb down below.)
Ally: Where do you get your story ideas?
BB: Ideas for stories and novels are all around us. Sometimes a newspaper article will set my imagination on fire. Sometimes the kernel of a plot will come out of a conversation with a friend, or from a conversation overheard on the street or in a restaurant. My mind will start spinning, and I'll think, "Yes, but if this had happened instead of that…" and I'll be off to my computer, and the plot will begin to grow.
Ally: Why did you start writing? Why fiction? What keeps you writing?
BB: I think I have been writing since I learned to hold a pencil. From childhood, I have loved making up stories. It just seems to be a part of me. Though I enjoy reading and learning from nonfiction, when it comes to writing, it is fiction that I prefer. I think that is because, with fiction, I am in control of the world and the characters that I am creating. I can decide each character's destiny, see to it that the villains are punished and that the good guys triumph. It doesn't always happen that way in the real world, and it is very satisfying to make it happen in the worlds that I create. That, I think, is what keeps me writing.
Ally: Do the people in your real life show up in your writing?
BB: I've never based an entire character on anyone I know, but I will admit that I occasionally give a character a mannerism or a quirk I've spotted in people along the way. And, just between us (don't give me away!), most of my heroes have quite a bit of my husband in them.
Ally: Do you enjoy research? Does your genre require it?
BB: I think that research is required for every genre a writer works in. I do it for all my books because I want readers to find the stories totally believable. I enjoy doing it. Often I will learn something I never knew before, and that's always fun. Of course, occasionally, I'll discover something that means a plot turn I was planning on really wouldn't work, and that's a downer. But I take it as a challenge, and solving the problem always leads to a better, stronger plot.
Ally: I’d like you to try to few quick answer questions. Ready to go?
Ally: Why don’t we start the interview with what type of romance you brought today?
BB: BETWEEN TWO ETERNITIES: Some Loves Are Meant to Last Forever is a mainstream love story, and its romantic scenes are PG-13. (You’ll find the cover and blurb down below.)
Ally: Where do you get your story ideas?
BB: Ideas for stories and novels are all around us. Sometimes a newspaper article will set my imagination on fire. Sometimes the kernel of a plot will come out of a conversation with a friend, or from a conversation overheard on the street or in a restaurant. My mind will start spinning, and I'll think, "Yes, but if this had happened instead of that…" and I'll be off to my computer, and the plot will begin to grow.
Ally: Why did you start writing? Why fiction? What keeps you writing?
BB: I think I have been writing since I learned to hold a pencil. From childhood, I have loved making up stories. It just seems to be a part of me. Though I enjoy reading and learning from nonfiction, when it comes to writing, it is fiction that I prefer. I think that is because, with fiction, I am in control of the world and the characters that I am creating. I can decide each character's destiny, see to it that the villains are punished and that the good guys triumph. It doesn't always happen that way in the real world, and it is very satisfying to make it happen in the worlds that I create. That, I think, is what keeps me writing.
Ally: Do the people in your real life show up in your writing?
BB: I've never based an entire character on anyone I know, but I will admit that I occasionally give a character a mannerism or a quirk I've spotted in people along the way. And, just between us (don't give me away!), most of my heroes have quite a bit of my husband in them.
Ally: Do you enjoy research? Does your genre require it?
BB: I think that research is required for every genre a writer works in. I do it for all my books because I want readers to find the stories totally believable. I enjoy doing it. Often I will learn something I never knew before, and that's always fun. Of course, occasionally, I'll discover something that means a plot turn I was planning on really wouldn't work, and that's a downer. But I take it as a challenge, and solving the problem always leads to a better, stronger plot.
Ally: I’d like you to try to few quick answer questions. Ready to go?
- a. A book you are currently reading: THE PENELOPIAD by Margaret Atwood
- b. High heels or sneakers? Sneakers!
- c. Do you believe in love at first sight? Absolutely!
- d. Favorite quote: "I need to put up with two or three caterpillars if I want to get to know the butterflies." Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
- e. If you couldn't write anymore, what would you want to do? Read, read, read!
BETWEEN TWO ETERNITIES
Some Loves Are Meant to Last Forever
Genre: Mainstream romance
Rating: PG-13
After ten years of marriage, two wonderful children, and the financial struggles of building successful, but separate, careers—he as an English professor, she as an illustrator of children's books—Robert and Marcie are still very much in love. But Robert's heart is breaking: he knows Marcie is about to die...
Intensely romantic and unforgettable, Between Two Eternities is the story of a man, a woman, and the breathless romance that comes to mean more than life itself-and suddenly demands the ultimate sacrifice.
Buy Links:
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/265464
iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/between-two-eternities/id588951513?mt=11&ls=1
Barnes& Noble (new)
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Between+Two+Eternities?_requestid=428576
Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Between-Two-Eternities-ebook/dp/B00ASSEA5U/
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