Barbara Bretton is the USA Today bestselling, award-winning author of more than 40 books. She currently has over ten million copies in print around the world. I had the chance to interview her for the Crosse Harbor Time Travel Blog Tour. Check it out below and don't forget to drop a comment to say hi!
Tell us a little about yourself and the genre you write.
Thanks so much for inviting me to visit, Catherine! I'm Barbara Bretton and I've been a published romance novelist for thirty years! (No, I can't quite believe it's been that long either.) I sold my first romance to Vivian Stephens at Harlequin American in 1982 and in 1983 LOVE CHANGES became one of the launch titles for the line. In the years since I've written contemporary romance, historical romance, mainstream novels, women's fiction, and paranormals for Harlequin, MIRA, Crown, Pocket, and Penguin Berkley --somewhere around fifty titles in all.
What do you love about being a writer?
Living inside my imagination. Not being part of the 9-5 everyday world. Being able to slip in and out of different personalities, different lives, every time I sit down at the computer. I'm living my childhood dream and it never gets old.
What do you hate about being a writer?
When you decide to become a working writer, you take a giant step away from normal. Deadlines rule. The Muse (or just plain hard work) is everything. You learn quickly that the ability to say no ("No, I can't go out to lunch or to the movies or just hang out") is paramount. The freedom from punching a metaphorical 9-5 time clock is only an illusion because deadline pressure rules a writer's life with an iron hand. And deadlines don't much care if it's Christmas Eve or your birthday or your anniversary. That's definitely the downside of writing for a living.
If there was one thing about the industry you could change, what would it be?
The length of time it takes to turn a finished book into a published book is right up there at the top of my list. Of course, while that's true of traditional publishing it no longer applies if you're taking the indie route. That freedom is exhilarating.
What do you like better, Twitter or Facebook? Why?
Definitely Facebook. 140 characters? Really, Twitter?? I am way too wordy for Twitter, although I keep trying to master the format.
Tell us about your latest release and where we can find it.
The three books in the Crosse Harbor Time Travel Trilogy were published original in paper by Harlequin and MIRA. I regained the rights to them last year and am delighted to say they're available now in digital form through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, iTunes, Kobo, Sony, and other e-retailers. Right now SOMEWHERE IN TIME (the first book in the series) is free everywhere but Barnes and Noble. I urge you to download a copy and join the fun.
Reviewers Choice Award - Best Historical Time Travel --Romantic Times
Historian Emilie Crosse dreamed of a love that would last forever Who knew she'd have to sail across two centuries to find it?
When her ex-husband Zane Grey Rutledge showed up at her door with a Revolutionary War uniform that was part of his grandmother's estate, neither one suspected that their lives were about to change in ways they couldn't possibly imagine.
Swept back in time to 1777 where a nation is struggling to be born, Emilie finds herself torn between two men: Zane, her ex who still holds the key to her heart, and Andrew McVie, the Patriot hero of her long-ago dreams . . . .
Amazon | B&N | Smashwords
Timeless Lovers . . . Different Worlds
Shannon Whitney didn't believe she had a future until Andrew McVie crash-lands his time-traveling hot air balloon in her backyard one summer afternoon and changes her life forever.
He is a Revolutionary War patriot. She is an independent modern woman.
Their paths should never have crossed but apparently fate has other plans.
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It's not every day a woman goes traveling through time.
Dakota Wylie is a wisecracking, unemployed, overweight psychic librarian from Princeton.
Patrick Devane is an angry, hard-headed spy with a six-year-old daughter who hears voices.
The only thing they have in common is New Jersey.
But when Dakota leaps from the basket of a hot air balloon to help his crying child, little does she know that she's leaping into history . . . and love.
Amazon | B&N | Smashwords
RAPID FIRE QUESTIONS
Milk or Dark Chocolate?
Darker the better.
Wine or Beer?
Sorry, but I'm a pina-colada-served-in-a-pineapple-with-a-paper-umbrella kind of girl.
Beach or Mountains?
Both, please. (Not that I'm greedy or anything.)
RV or Hotel?
Hotel. With room service. And a pool. And a view of beach and mountain!
Driving or Flying?
Driving. (Which would make you think I'd love an RV, wouldn't you?)
Toilet Paper...Over or Under?
Did you know that a personal valet folds Prince Charles's Charmin into neat fluffy squares and stacks them on a silver salver?
Barbara has been featured in articles in The New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Romantic Times, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Herald News, Home News, Somerset Gazette, among others, and has been interviewed by Independent Network News Television, appeared on the Susan Stamberg Show on NPR, and been featured in an interview with Charles Osgood of WCBS, among others.
Her awards include both Reviewer's Choice and Career Achievement Awards from Romantic Times; Gold and Silver certificates from Affaire de Coeur; the RWA Region 1 Golden Leaf; and several sales awards from Bookrak. Ms. Bretton was included in a recent edition of Contemporary Authors.
Barbara loves to spend as much time as possible in Maine with her husband, walking the rocky beaches and dreaming up plots for upcoming books.
5 comments:
Thanks for inviting me, Catherine! Great site.
OMGeee... can't believe that about Chuck! Funny! Thanks for being here, Barbara.
What a wonderful interview. So informative and special. Thanks for this great giveaway. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com
I have enjoyed your special novels for years and loved this post. Best wishes. elliotbencan(at)hotmail(dot)com
These sound interesting
bn100candg at hotmail dot com
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