Wednesday, October 23, 2013

#WriterlyWisdomWednesday: #Romance Author, Barbara Barrett #WritersLife



A special welcome to fellow TWRP author, Barbara Barrett!


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Water, Water Everywhere

Near the end of my latest release from The Wild Rose Press, Driven to Matrimony, the hero and heroine stage a water fight in the massive, three-tiered fountain behind the heroine’s movie star mother’s summer home to entertain a reporter who shows up to interview the missing parent. With all due respect to the fountain scene in “La Dolce Vita” and “Three Coins in a Fountain,” the idea seemed to come out of nowhere. Yet, when I stopped to wonder about the source, I realized my fascination with fountains goes way back.  

When I was growing up, one of the highlights of my summers was to attend band concerts in Crapo Park in Burlington, Iowa. The music was accompanied by the park’s magnificent fountain behind us, which shot crystals of water into the air while illuminated by changing colored lights. What a precious memory.

A few years passed, then along came the television sitcom, “Friends.” I’ve been watching a lot of its reruns this summer, enjoying this gem yet again. Though the show ran for ten seasons, the opening credits for every show featured the sequence from the first season which included umbrellas, a floor lamp, a sofa and a fountain. That fountain is a both a unifying force, bringing together the six friends, and also their playground, which would underscore the whimsical nature of their relationships and the crazy situations that would befall them.

A favorite day trip has been a visit to Kansas City, Missouri. Besides great shopping, one of the primary reasons for this destination is to admire the city’s many fountains. It is said only Rome, Italy has more fountains. Many of these treasured artworks of water can be found in Country Club Plaza, an open air shopping district just south of downtown, frequently called America’s first shopping center. Built in 1922 to reflect the style of Seville, Spain, the Plaza boasts beautiful examples of Spanish-style architecture, mosaic tile artwork and the fountains. On my visits, when I wasn’t browsing the many high-end clothing stores or sampling the great food, I was admiring those incredible waterworks. Of particular note is the J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain by Henri Léon, which dominates the east entrance.   


The more I write, the more I wonder at the incredible ability of the brain to store memories and images, sometimes for years, then suddenly bring them forth as part of the creative process. I suspect that, buried in the recesses of my memory bank, is the unmet desire to climb into one of those fountains of my past and be a child again. One of the joys of writing is to search those vaults, withdraw those yearnings and let our characters experience them for us.

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About Barbara Barrett

Barbara Barrett spent her professional career as a human resources analyst for Iowa state government, and that training has stayed with her in her writing of contemporary romance fiction. Now retired, Barbara spends her winters basking in the Florida sunshine and returns to her home state of Iowa in the summer to “stay cool.” Her first two books, The Sleepover Clause, Crimson Romance, and And He Cooks Too, The Wild Rose Press, were published in the past year. A third, Driven to Matrimony, TWRP, is available on Amazon for Kindle and will be released worldwide on January 15, 2014. 



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Driven to Matrimony
Romance
Release Date:  Jan. 15, 2014

Dina Maitland spends almost as much time extricating her movie star mother from personal messes as she invests in her forensic accounting job. So much time, she may no longer have a job once she cleans up her mother's latest fiasco, her engagement to a twenty-something film student. Vowing it's the last time she puts herself on clean-up duty, Dina sets off for South Carolina to stop the pending nuptials, and along the way, almost literally, runs into the father of the groom.

Ben Cutler has troubles of his own with his business under attack from competitors and a government audit looming. Not one to trust women, he must team up with Dina to balance his books as well as stop the wedding.

Though unwillingly thrown together Dina and Ben are surprised to find their interest and passion for each other growing. Can they face their pasts in order to create a union of their own?


The Sleepover Clause


And He Cooks Too

2 comments:

  1. I always wonder what the draw is toward water of any source--be it a fountain, lake or stream since I love boating and serene lakes. Nice post!

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  2. It's not like I planned it that way. It just kept "dripping" into the story. Truly a case of " going with the flow." :)

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