Author Interview ~ Barbara Warren

Barbara Warren lives on a farm in the beautiful Ozarks. She and her husband Charlie, raise beef cattle, have three fox hounds, one blue heeler, and a tiger striped cat named Rosicat who runs the office. Barbara is a Sunday school teacher and youth worker in her church. She divides her time between writing and Blue Mountain Editorial Service, her home business. She is president of the Mid South Writer's Group and enjoys meeting other writers. Her favorite pastimes are writing, talking about writing, and reading.

What new book or project would you like to tell us about?

My current work is about 5 women in their sixties who are bored and decided to form a club solving murders, but first they have to find one. It’s a humorous mystery and I’m having fun with it.

Tell us about your publishing journey. How long had you been writing before you got a contract? How did you find out and what went through your mind?

I’ve been writing forever. I’ve sold short stories and articles, but my first book came out this September. It only took me about fifteen years to get that contract, but truthfully, I didn’t do much marketing until the last three years. I suppose I expected someone to break my door down and demand the right to publish my book. I think I had the same thoughts everyone has, “My book is as good as anything out there, why can’t I get a contract.” The first rejections hurt, but eventually you get hardened and it doesn’t matter that much. I had a lot to learn, and I still do.

Do you still have self-doubts about your writing?

I think everyone does. Mine come at night when I’m tired. I start thinking I’m burned out, can’t write, but then I wake up in the morning and know I’m a writer and God gave me the gift. It’s up to me to use it. So I turn on the computer and get busy.

Was there ever a time in your writing career you thought of quitting?

I was managing a bakery/deli in a grocery chain, and was on schedule for 9 hours a day. I usually managed to get in 10 or 11 hours and get paid for 9. I’d try to write, but I was just too tired. I did quit for a while, and then I retired and went back to writing. Now I know I can’t quit. It’s what I do

What mistakes did you make while seeking a publisher or agent?

Not knowing the market, and sending my manuscript out to inappropriate markets. Also, I assumed the word Christian in front of an agent or publisher’s name meant something. I got ripped by a couple of agents, and now I’m a lot wiser. Make sure your manuscript fits the market to which you’re submitting, and check out those editors and agents on Writer Beware or Predators and Editors. Ask other writers if they know anything about the agent or publisher in which you’re interested. Learn all you can about the business side of writing.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve heard?

Don’t give up. There are more quitters than failures in this business

What’s the worst piece of writing advice you’ve ever received?

If you don’t sell in three years, you might as well give up.

My advice: if you have the gift of writing, never stop using it, not just for your own benefit, but any way you can. And never give up. Success may be waiting just around the bend

Do you have a pet peeve having to do with this biz?

I suppose it would be how long it takes to get a response. I recently received a rejection for my book The Gathering Storm, and it was already published by another company, and had been under contract for more than a year. In my opinion, over a year is too long to go without responding to a query or proposal.

What do you wish you’d known early in your career that might have saved you some time and/or frustration in writing? In publishing?

I wish I’d known more about the business side of writing. I had this fancy idea that it was a magical process; I got the idea, wrote the book, and lived happy ever after. Trust me, it doesn’t work that way. Now I read everything I can find about marketing, editing, agents, and the business of publishing. I have a lot to learn, but I’m trying. I think we as writers, sometimes forget that this is a business. We provide a product, and we need to know as much as possible about how to get that book printed.

What are a few of your favorite books?

Oh my. Since I started doing book reviews I read around 10 books or more a month and I’ve discovered some very good writers. The list would be too long to print here. I read mysteries for fun and I’m becoming addicted to Brandt Dodson’s Colton Parker series. Anything by Hannah Alexander and Lori Copeland. Brenda Minton is a good new writer, Cathy Gohlke’s William Henry Is A Fine Name was very good. And a host of others. We have a lot of excellent writers writing for the Christian market, and they just keep getting better.

What work have you done that you’re especially proud of and why?

This is going to sound odd. I really was excited to hold a published copy of my book The Gathering Storm, but I think I’m proudest of a little book of object lessons I used to do for Children’s Church. I put them in book form and they are still used occasionally in my church. They’re not all that great, but they can be used to teach children about God and that makes me feel good.

Do you have a scripture or quote that has spoken to you lately in regards to your writing?

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary: and they shall walk, and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31

There are days when I feel as if I’m crawling with the turtles, but God promised I could soar with the eagles. I cling to that promise.

Can you give us a look into a typical day for you?

I’m at my computer by 7:30 a.m. back in the house by 11:00. Then around 1:30 I’m back at work until around 6:30. I run an editing business, as well as my own writing, plus I do a monthly on-line newsletter about other writers. Then after dinner while Charlie watches television I read those books I review, write reviews, or work at writing on my Alpha Smart.

Of course not every day is like that. I have to clean house once in a while, do laundry, Monday is grocery and errand running day. But that’s the routine for most of my days.

Do you have a word or page goal you set for each day?

No, and I couldn’t stay with it if I did, because of the edits I do. Since I charge for those, they come first. My job is to help my clients polish their manuscript. I work on mine when I can fit it in.

Are you an SOTP (seat of the pants) writer or a plotter?

I’m a control freak. I want to know where I’m going and how I’m going to get there. I outline the first 8 or 10 chapters. By the time I have those written I’m into the story and I can finish outlining the rest of the book. With an outline I can write a chapter a day.

Seat of the pants writing would drive me right up the wall. I’d probably take a hatchet to my computer I’d be so frustrated.

What author do you especially admire and why?

I admire authors who hold down full time jobs, have a home, family, responsibilities. I work from home so I can set my own schedule. I don’t know how those others do it. It takes a lot of determination to keep writing when there are so many other things pulling you away from the computer. I know God must be proud of them.

What is your favorite and least favorite part of being a writer?

My favorite part is the writing. I love to write. I’d write if I never sold a thing. The least favorite part is marketing. It’s time consuming, discouraging work that has to be done, but I don’t enjoy it.

How much marketing do you do? What's your favorite part of marketing?

Not enough, I’m sure. My Sally Stuart Market Guide is in tatters. I spend hours researching publishers websites, I keep a marketing file showing submissions and rejections for each book, date sent out, date rejected, markets to query, that sort of thing. I belong to several on-line writers' websites and comb them for marketing information. And I try to work on proposals on Friday and Saturday and send them out on Monday, but I don’t keep to that schedule as well as I should. My favorite part of marketing is speaking. Give me a topic and five minutes to prepare and I can talk. And sometimes they feed me. I get to talk and eat. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Do you have any parting words of advice?

Never give up and never stop believing in yourself. And learn all you can about writing and marketing. Get that book finished, polish it to the best of your ability, send it out and while you’re waiting to hear, write another one. We learn from writing and rewriting. Read everything you can in your genre and pay attention to how your favorite writers plot, develop characters, use description, etc. You can learn a lot from them.

I’d like to thank Novel Journey for doing this interview. I appreciate all they are doing to help writers build name recognition and get the word out about our writing.