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Ask the Author: Barbara Claypole White

“Ask me a question.” Barbara Claypole White

Answered Questions (8)

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What’s your advice for aspiring writers?
Barbara Claypole White Let writing be the cure: write through rejection, negative reviews, publishing disappointments, and bad writing days. Keep writing--always.
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No question (?) - just thanks so very much for joining our book club discussion this afternoon. It greatly enhances our enjoyment of the book to hear your stories of how the characters evolved, your research process, the setting, the challenges of the writing process and balancing family life - and hearing about your new book gives us something to look forward to. Thank you for taking the time to be with us!
Barbara Claypole White You are so welcome. I love Skyping in with book clubs, and yours was tons of fun. Great question, great bunch of women. Thanks for hosting the Fitzwilliams (and Max and Eudora). xo
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Who is your favorite fictional couple, and why?
Barbara Claypole White Such an easy question for me to answer: Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre. Think of everything they had to go through to be together! I love his passion and darkness; I love her resilience and intelligence. Plus, he passed up an admired beauty to fall for plain, but spunky Jane. I could go on…
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How do you deal with writer’s block?
Barbara Claypole White Fortunately this is not something I suffer from. I do have plenty of bad writing days, but the trick for me is always to let more writing be the cure. I treat it like any bad day: you keep doing what you have to do and know tomorrow gives you a fresh start. If I'm really stuck, I tend to do a stream of consciousness exercise that might end up in the trash, or might inspire a new scene. I am very organic writer, so I never have a problem taking detours.
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Have you ever considered writing a book about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder with intrusive thoughts? My 21 year old daughter suffers from this and there is not enough informative education about this. Like you, I am the mother of a very talented daughter with OCD and I want to find a voice for her suffering and would look forward to any input or suggestions.
Barbara Claypole White Funny you should ask…book six is coming back to OCD. (James, my hero in THE UNFINISHED GARDEN has OCD, and he grew out of my greatest fear as a mother: what if, when my amazing son grew up, no one could see beyond his anxiety to love him for the incredible person he is. I've always to write more OCD, because the misinformation never ends.) I have a vague idea for a young mother battling intrusive images of harming her baby. Let's keep in touch. I would love to interview if you're game.
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why isn't the unfinished garden available in the US?
Barbara Claypole White It is. You can order if from your local indie or Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Here's the Amazon link (currently listing 17 in stock): http://www.amazon.com/Unfinished-Gard...
Happy shopping!
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Mrs. Claypole White if you are reading this, know that you touched my life. Know that your writing helped me through a particularly tough time recently. Your words were like a safe warm place for me to be and in that place, I found hope. I am guessing that you are a gardener as well as a gifted writer? This book was full of details about flowers. Loved that!
Barbara Claypole White Melissa--you have no idea what your words mean to me. Writing has always been my therapy and my escape--gardening too. As the mother of a brilliant young man who has battled OCD for most of his life, I'm constantly trying to find hope--what I call light through the trees. I am so grateful you took the time to reach out. Hugs.
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Dear Barbara I just finished reading the Perfect Son....absolutely loved it! I am now going to get your other books. I have a grandson who suffers from mental disease ...plus my mom was kinda like Felix... so the book hit close to home. My only question is are you in the process of writing another book? Sylvia Avila Murrieta, CA
Barbara Claypole White First of all, thank you for reading my book baby. Yes, it's an interesting world for those of us in the trenches with mental illness. The fun never ends, does it? I'm working on novel four, tentatively called MISSING IN MADNESS (in fact I just put in my daily word count!). This one isn't coming as fast as I'd like, but my heroine has bipolar 1, and even though I have a family member with manic depression, it's been a struggle to find the character's voice. She has a pretty severe case… In an ideal world, it would be out next July, but I'm a slow writer and I do a ton of research. Am working hard though--honest! Happy reading and stay in touch. If you're on Facebook, look me up. That's where I hang out. And good luck to your grandson.
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