Saturday, March 17, 2012

An Interview with Barbara Whittington




Hi everyone. One of the biggest fears I have in life is the day when there will be no one to write things for people to read. To me writers have a very big place in my heart and in this world. We should never fail to remember that. Like my father's gardener always said, "We leave our words behind, our deeds and the trees we planted."


I recently had a chance to interview Barbara Whittington about her recently published book, Vada Faith.


It is my utmost pleasure to have known you. Your book Vada Faith seems like it is heart warming and has some very nice reviews. I am glad that I have the opportunity to ask you some questions as I am always very much interested in understanding authors.


1)  How long have you been interested in writing?


FIRST,  let me say thanks to Munir for asking for an interview. My first blog interview - and I'm excited!!! So a big thanks. I've been writing for over 20 years. I started out writing essays and I 
took a creative writing class at the local college. I was thrilled that I sold one of the first essays I wrote  to The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohio's largest newspaper.  The essay was about trying to get a sun tan in cloudy Cleveland. It was a cross between fact and fiction. Or "faction." The newspapers were more accepting of essays and slice of life pieces than they are now in this depressed economy. 
My interest in writing began in high school when I had to write a short story for an assignment for English. It was love at first word. The story was pretty pitiful but I realized then that I loved writing stories.



2) What motivates you to write?


I'm motivated by many things. When I came up with the idea for Vada Faith, at the time I was intrigued by the topic of surrogacy. Who could carry a baby nine months and give it up to another mother. So I started doing research, learning about the issues of surrogacy, the procedures at that time, 10 years ago, and I must say it's changed much in the last few years with surrogacy centers now found in many large cities. When I started this book it wasn't this way. So much was left
to the individuals who wanted to participate in this way of having a child.




3) What has motivated you to write this particular book?


As I said I was interested in the topic of surrogacy and that lead to the story of Vada Faith Waddell and how she got involved with Roy and Dottie Kilgore - small town criminals - and went down the wrong path of being a surrogate mother. With no contract, and flying by the seat of her pants, she got in more trouble than she bargained for. Plus she used her own egg to create this baby, unbeknownst to her family. You'd better believe this caused some battles at home.




4) What other books do you read ? What genre?


I love women's mainstream fiction and read mostly that. Though I have to admit I have several friends who write romantic suspense and I enjoy that as well.


My favorite authors include Anne Tyler, Elizabeth Berg, Jeanne Ray (Eat Cake), Southern author Lee Smith, and Irish writer Maeve Binchy, who writes beautiful fiction.




5) Can you give us a clue as to what your next book is about?


I have several books in the hopper. I believe I'll to do a book of short stories next because they're ready. Then I have a follow up book about Vada Faith. This one is called SWEET BABY JAMES and returns to Vada Faith's family after the surrogacy story ends. Vada Faith goes on to have a baby boy named James and he is kidnapped from her front porch in Shady Creek, West Virginia. This is not a REAL kidnapping story. The child is taken by mistake by someone who cares for him and only wants to get him home safe.


VADA FAITH is offered for $2.99 at Amazon.com


Paperbacks will be available in the next month or two.


My advice if you want to write is to READ READ READ.


I hope that every one enjoyed this interview. 

22 comments:

Belle said...

I'm always thankful for authors and their books too, Munir. Excellent interview and the book sounds like it tells an amazing story!

Tracy said...

Munir,
You did a very lovely job! It sounds like a fantastic book and especially since she mentioned Ohio, my home state and you know? so true about what your gardener said; 'we leave our words behind...' that's actually say, although I hope they are absorbed into the lives of others.

Drora's minimundo said...

I often wonder what will happen if there will be no more books to read. It is very sad that in a small country like ours many very talented authors cannot make a living out of writing.
And the situation is worse when it comes to poetry.
Thank you for your interesting posts.
A hug

Shelly said...

I love reading about authors and their creative process, so I really enjoyed this and I also appreciate you putting it together for us, Munir.

You did a great job yourself on this!

fishducky said...

Very interesting interview, thank you! I'm going to look up this author.

B. WHITTINGTON said...

Munir,
I'm so pleased that everyone is enjoying the interview you did with me.
I appreciate anyone who wants to hear or read what I have to say. It's the greatest compliment anyone can pay an author.
Again, blessings to you for doing this. You did a lovely job.
Barbara W.

Susie Swanson said...

You did a great job with this Munir..I love reading about authors and Barb is on my follow list..Thanks Susie

Lisa said...

Hello Barbara, hello Munir. A nice sweet interview Munir. I never thought of it but now I am kinda scared of writing to no readers.

Chatty Crone said...

I'm stopping by to say hello and wishing you a happy St. Pat's day! sandie

Austan said...

Munir, as long as there are readers there will be writers. As long as there are interesting people there will be audiences who want to know, as this interview proves. I do wish you'd gone further. Maybe next time? I look forward to it.

Sarah Tokeley said...

Lovely interview Munir, and this sounds like a thought provoking book.

I think if people couldn't write things down, we'd go back to word-of-mouth, but there will always be stories :-)

momto8 said...

I did very much enjoy this interview!! thanks for sharing,,,and hanks for the advice!!

yaya said...

Thanks for sharing this interview! I'm looking forward to reading her book and I enjoy her blog as well.

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

People will do anything for money, including surrogacy. It's just a matter of finding a person's price. But this is a good topic for a book.

Judy said...

Nice interview! I remember a Twilight Zone where there was one lone man left in the world. His favorite thing to do was read books. He was in heaven with millions of books - all his. Then his eyeglasses broke. So sad :(

Crazy Life of a Writing Mom said...

So intriguing. I'd love to read this. I've never thought about surrogacy this way. It's very interesting.

DWei said...

That's impressive. She's been writing for nearly as long as I've been alive...

Romance Book Haven said...

Excellent interview and amazing sounding blurb! Thanks for this interview.

Arlee Bird said...

Nice meeting you, Barbara and I wish you great success with the books.
Excellent interview, Munir.

Lee
An A to Z Co-Host
Tossing It Out

romance-of-roses said...

Hi Barbara, very interesting post and a wonderful interview. I admire authors, Vada Faith sounds like something I would like to read. Hugs...Lu

Rick Watson said...

When you start down the path to become a writer, reading is essential.

Vanilla Mama said...

Going to check out this book! Thank you so much -