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Read some interviews from past editions:
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Zelda Benjamin
April, 2008
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Shirley Marks
December, 2007
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Donna Wright
December, 2007
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Carolyn Brown
August, 2007
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Roni Denholtz
June, 2007
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Tara Randel
April, 2007
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Sydell Voeller
February, 2007
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Sheila Robins
December, 2006
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Ann Holt
October, 2006
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Cynthia Danielewski
July, 2006
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Jane McBride Choate
March, 2006
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Kathryn Meyer Griffith
January, 2006
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Mel Taylor
November, 2005
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Kathleen Fuller
September, 2005
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Tracey J. Lyons
July, 2005
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Ludima Gus Burton
May, 2005
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Holly Jacobs
March, 2005
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Sandra D. Bricker
January, 2005
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Kathryn Quick
November, 2004
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Cheri Jetton
September, 2004
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Heather S. Webber
July, 2004
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Karl Fieldhouse
May, 2004
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Shelley Galloway
March, 2004
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Ilsa Mayr
January, 2004
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Kathy Carmichael
November, 2003
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Dorothy P. O'Neill
July, 2003
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Joani Ascher
May, 2003
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Patricia DeGroot
March, 2003
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Nancy J. Parra
January, 2003
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Christine Bush
September, 2002
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Debby Mayne
July, 2002
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Jean C. Gordon
May, 2002
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Charles E. Friend
March, 2002
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Norma Seely
January, 2002
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Glen Ebisch
November, 2001
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Gina Cresse
September, 2001
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John Paxson
July, 2001
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Terri Alcock
May, 2001
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Clifford Blair
March, 2001
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Amanda Harte
January, 2001
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Kent Conwell
November, 2000
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Carolyn Brown
September, 2000
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Annette Mahon
July, 2000
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Marjorie McGinley
May, 2000
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Jack Lewis
March, 2000
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Amanda Harte
January, 2000
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Joyce and Jim Lavene
November, 1999
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Return to the current Author! Author! interview:
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S.J. Stewart
April, 2008
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Author! Author!: November, 2002
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Click on images to learn more about these books.
An Interview with
Barbara Meyers |
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Why did you choose to write romance novels?
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The short answer is because I love happy endings. There’s enough sadness and heartbreak and violence in real life. I don’t want to read about it when I read for pleasure. The long answer is because for many years romance novels are what I read and loved. After reading one too many poorly written ones, I threw the book down and declared, “I can write better than that!” And so in 1990, I started writing my first romance novel. I wrote for years without seriously marketing my work, until I sold a short romance story in 2000. Then in 2001 Avalon published Hidden Assets, and now Training Tommy, my first solo release.
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Even though the cover of Training Tommy features a dog, the story is about trying to train a man. Where did that idea come from?
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Yes, Tommy is the hero. (The dog’s name is Skid--short for Skidmark.) The idea came from a snippet of an old movie I saw years ago on TV. A bride’s mother suggested she use dog obedience techniques to train her new husband. Everything went fine until the husband found the dog training manual. Of course, I joke that I got the idea from my husband. He’s perfected the sit-and-stay technique--especially when he has the remote control. The truth is you can’t change other people, you can only change yourself, and that’s the real theme of Training Tommy: accepting others for who they are.
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Where do you get your story ideas?
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Beware of fiction writers. When I meet people I warn them anything they tell me may be used in my next book. Seriously, sometimes a book idea comes from the smallest thing. The concept for Hidden Assets sprang from reading the personal ads purely for entertainment. But then I thought why not just match up those personal ads to each other? Then came the idea for a matchmaking mother doing that for her daughter. She mistakenly sets her up with the wrong man who turns out to be Mr. Right. Hidden Assets is sort of a mix between Crossing Delancey and The Mirror Has Two Faces, if you’re familiar with those movies. My short story "The Toothbrush Test" published in Star magazine stemmed from cleaning my husband’s bathroom. How could he ever doubt my love? I was scrubbing around the faucets with a toothbrush! Beyond that I listen, I watch, and I never pass up the opportunity for a new experience.
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What has helped you the most in your writing career?
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Surrounding myself with supportive people, writers and non-writers, but especially writers. They are the only ones who will truly get what you are trying to do and what you are going through as you pursue the creative process. I belong to Romance Writers of America and my local chapter, Southwest Florida Romance Writers. Through those organizations, I’ve been able to build a support system that has helped me tremendously. Writing can be very isolated and lonely. Don’t try to go it alone.
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What are you working on now?
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A young adult/coming of age/mainstream novel which is unlike anything else I’ve done. I expect the protaganist, a troubled 15-year-old girl, to be the voice of an entire generation of neglected, displaced, and abandoned kids. I’ve also got another romance story cooking. No matter what I write, I guarantee my readers an uplifting ending.
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