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. 

Guest Post

Hi every one. I apologize for being technologically challenged. My blog is of a very simple format. As much as I like to reach out to a lot of people and create awareness about what is good for all of us, and how to be on guard when it comes to devastating problems, I am not able to present various issues that might come up in everyday lives of so many of us. I would like to put this button on my blog, but even after trying hard I am not able to copy and paste it on the side of my blog as a lot of bloggers do (I even asked my daughter who is much more advanced than me for help).
I will appreciate if you visit the blog mentioned above. It means a lot to a very special mom, who is able to see her little one grow even after being diagnosed with cancer. Hopefully I might be able to have her as a "Guest Blogger" once I get the technology figured out . Thank You all in advance.

Big Shots?

Sometimes when I write, I feel like I am neglecting my husband. Writing is not his thing and neither is fiction reading. He will read as many non-fiction and informative books as he can in a day. That does not bother me, as I do the same with blog/magazine reading. It is when he is alone, not reading or watching the television I feel guilty about writing. My upbringing always echoed with the instructions to girls about not neglecting their husbands. Why don't I remember boys or men being told to not neglect their wives?  I don't know, maybe men were told just the same way as women were told. Maybe I just don't remember.

Daytime television shows have at least a couple of cases where men cheat on their wives, but also vice versa. I sometimes get disgusted when I see people complaining about their spouses spending too much time in making a living. They just need an excuse to have an affair. Talk about being ungrateful. I don't like being judgmental but I believe in being fair. So when a person marries someone what is the promise? Is conditional cheating included in the lists of things allowed?

In India where (and when) arrange marriages take place parents try to make sure that their daughters go in families where there are enough resources to give their daughters at least the same comfort and material goods as she grew up with, if not more. So if one is to marry a girl from a rich family he better make sure that he is making good money. A lot of times rich father in laws act like big shots in front of their daughters to look better than anyone else and I am sure that it can be hurtful. 

We came back from the movies a couple of hours ago. We saw "The Descendants". Our son in Hawaii said that he saw it three times as it was filmed in Hawaii. It is a very good movie. Now I have to see "The Artist" to compare and see how much better the other actor is. Anyway, I was not shocked about the infidelity nor was offended by the language because of the times that we are in. I was however hurt by the attitude of the father-in-law. He does not even know what kind of a wife his daughter was but he was quick to point his son-in-law that he did not give enough to his daughter. That I think is very unfair.

Mind Games

Before I forget :-  I would like to thank my blogger friends who have shown concern about my fear of memory loss.  I have taken advice from as many people as possible . My fears are somewhat under control. I have been reading a lot also. Reading is helping me understand that there are a lot more factors than we can think of that effect our minds. I urge everyone to please be aware of how you treat your body and what you eat. My concern is mostly for the little ones as they depend on us. 


When it comes to research some people have this reaction: "The laboratory animals that we test chemicals on are too small for the doses given." Also some people say that the FDA has approved so it must be safe. My question is why is something considered safe in the US and not in the UK? Are we, as citizens less valuable to the government of the United States or do we not care about our health or our kids health especially emotional and mental health?
I do not know when and how artificial colors got into prepared food market. I am guilty of serving my kids sugary and colorful drinks and got for them colorful cereal as well. As soon as I read about the ban of artificial food colors in the UK I have become very careful. The strange thing is that manufacturers are using colors where they are not even needed. Why does a box of cereal that is supposed to have chocolate and peanut butter use artificial red and blue? To make the chocolate flavored cereal look extra chocolaty?
                                                         

                                                                           

Believe me, I do not like to see a child cry. I do not have any control on what is sold either.  So what can I do when the end caps of shelves have colorful candy? I am suppose to be there to solve problems, handle complaints and make customers forget their problems. My conscience however tells me to warn moms to keep their kids away from artificial colors. Most of the time moms pay attention and listen carefully and  thank me saying that they will look up and or read more about additives. However, one mom said that her kids are not sensitive to the artificial colors. More over, for her, getting a seventy-five percent deal on left over Valentine's Day treats coated with red and pink frosted with blue,  purple and yellow crinkles was too good a deal to pass up.

Pain For Perfection - -

I keep getting flashbacks, I mean my memory is very vivid when it comes to certain conversations that my mother and father had in our backyard  in India. It would be a moonlit night and my father would be in his easy chair and my mother, sometimes my aunt too, would be sitting on the veranda steps and they would talk till midnight about life itself. They would discuss how certain kings lost their kingdoms to the British, because of their own negligence. Sometimes they would discuss how fine art was a result of struggles people went through. The last king of the famous Mogul Empire had lost everything to the British, because his own courtiers were unfaithful to him. That last king ended up dying far outside his kingdom. His name however lives because of his poetry. A lot of modern day singers have selected his poetry for their song and they are beautiful. Yet since the singers have not gone through the pains that the king/poet had to go through, one cannot hear the spark in their voices. One can only appreciate the beauty of the king's poetry.

                                                                                 

It is Grammy Monday today, I mean a lot of us have gone to work either to sleep or to discuss Adele.  When I first heard "Rolling in the deep", I thought of Adele as a forty some years old woman, who is hurting. I was shocked to find out that she is so young.  Yesterday during the Grammys she mentioned something about bad relationship, I came to understand that she is not just singing that song, she has lived that song. That is the reason that song touches so many people's hearts.

The results of what autotuning is doing to our young people and their songs will be visible only after comparing them to Adele. I hope that no one has to go through what Adele has gone through in her journey of such a young life. On the other hand, I wish that today's singers (including singers from India) try and understand that beauty in singing will be heard if they sing from their heart.

Last week they played a song on the radio, that had the glimpse of a shattered heart. At first I thought that some one was copying Adele. Then my mind went towards Heidi Klum, as she has just broken up with Seal. Then I laughed as Heidi Klum is not a singer. Within a second I said, "Could this be Katy Perry?"  Right after the song ended the announcer said, that it was Katy Perry. Growing up is hard, but music is harder.

One from the general public - - -

Yesterday was wear red for Women's heart health day so I made it a point to wear a red shirt under my black cardigan. Little did I know that some associates  had planned to wear blue for the Giants. I felt a little left out, but I am not the one to let something like that bother me so I told everyone that I will try and wear blue on Sunday as I am working on Sunday. Case closed? Now I have to dig and find a dressy blue top. Times like these bug me a lot. I do not want to spend twenty-five to thirty dollars and buy a blue top that may not be even dressy enough. I am in trouble. Really? One of my coworkers said that I should be gutsy enough to say that I don't care for the Giants or the sports or even New York. The economy is so bad and the unemployment rate is so high.


                                       I simply listen to what everyone has to say because it helps me understand people. I mean, our unemployment rate compared to Florida is not so bad. Exactly how many people have lost their jobs at Cape Canaveral, I wouldn't know but hey that was the pride and joy of America once upon a time and one of man's greatest achievements took place because of the people who work there. The issue however remains about the budget, then again what position does the general public have in saying where the money goes?
Ocean girl had posted a video that got my attention. Someone who lives oceans away from America is trying to understand the politics of the US.  This got me embarrassed. I used to get A plus in political science papers in college, but again that was college and they were just papers. How did Democracy get tarnished? Maybe it is a good thing that I did not become a teacher after all. What would I tell my students when they would ask what say do we have in how and where the money goes.  My husband made a remark while watching Howie Mandel on Pierce Morgan show. He said this guy seems to know that we need to pick someone from general public to be our leader.  I was not paying attention but if Howie Mandel said something like that he is a political genius, a germaphobe he may be.     

On My Mind

Before I forget :-  I cannot begin to say how much I love to read what my blogger friends have to say and how much I like to let them know how I feel about what they have to say.  However, lately I have not been able to leave a comment on certain blogs. I have been feeling helpless because  I was not able to leave soothing messages for them. For eg. when you read/hear that a friend's daughter had to undergo emergency surgery in the middle of a move, or someone's about to lose their home or someone was wrongly accused of something and was summoned to the court but they were generous enough to not even forgive the accuser but take them to dinner because they were elderly people.  I want to say that I wish that things are better. Even with people who are writing happy things I want to say that I am happy for them. Just because blogger is making it difficult to write comments, I don't want to seem to be careless.

I just hope that none of the terrific writers of bloggerhood get effected by the SOPA that we have been hearing about. I really love the stories behind music in Sarah Pearson's blog. Also I have used some YouTube videos in a couple of blogs too. So I ask everyone that this SOPA bill in congress does not have a chance. I don't know enough about it to blog, but I am sure by now a lot of my blogger friends have heard about it.