Behind The Words
http://plone.barbarawood.com/blog
A weekly journal by Barbara Wood
daily
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Behind The Words
http://plone.barbarawood.com/blog
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Inspiration For 2009
http://plone.barbarawood.com/blog/archive/2009/01/06/inspiration-for-2009
<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img src="/images/blog_090106_new_day.jpg" alt="(image of sunrise over the ocean)" /></div>
<p>I collect quotes. All kinds, for all sorts of reasons. Mostly, they have to do with writing (the nuts and bolts of the craft) and many are motivational (after all, you can be the most talented writer in the world but you won't get far if you aren't motivated to write). I confess that my top favorite motivational quote is from Nike: "Just do it." These three words are printed in bold letters on a piece of bright orange cardboard on my desk. It keeps me going, and, let's face it, "Just do it" is something you can't argue with.</p>
2009-01-06T10:09:46-06:00
2009-01-06T10:09:46-06:00
Barbara Wood
Happy New Year!
http://plone.barbarawood.com/blog/archive/2008/12/29/happy-new-year
<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img src="/images/blog_081230_new_year09.jpg" alt="(image of cartoon squirrels cracking nuts)" /></div>
<p>As we face a new and exciting year filled with promise and hope, I would like to share a few of my favorite quotes from famous authors.</p>
<p>"Rejection slips, or form letters, however tactfully phrased, are lacerations of the soul, if not quite inventions of the devil - but there is no way around them." ~Isaac Asimov</p>
<p>"It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by that time I was too famous." ~Robert Benchley</p>
2008-12-29T21:11:17-06:00
2008-12-29T21:13:49-06:00
Barbara Wood
Holiday Wishes
http://plone.barbarawood.com/blog/archive/2008/12/23/holiday-wishes-1
<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img alt="(image of court jester)" src="/images/blog_081223.wishes.jpg" /></div>
<p> </p>
<p>Hello Friends,</p>
<p>While I am wrapping the eggnog and drinking the presents, I wanted to take a moment to wish you all a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, and the hope that in 2009 all your dreams come true!</p>
<p>Barbara.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
2008-12-23T16:58:56-06:00
2008-12-23T16:58:56-06:00
Barbara Wood
A Christmas Riddle
http://plone.barbarawood.com/blog/archive/2008/12/16/a-christmas-riddle
<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img src="/images/blog_081216_jester.jpg" alt="(image of court jester)" /></div>
<p>Hello there! In case you are still doing your Christmas shopping, and you are stumped on what to get for those special people on your list, allow me to introduce myself.</p>
<p>I am the Perfect Christmas Gift. Can you guess what I am? Here are a few hints:</p>
<p>- People always love to receive me as a gift (so I am not an ugly Christmas sweater!).<br />
<br />
- My name is easy to remember and easy to pronounce. But I am also known by many names, and I come in different sizes, shapes and colors.<br />
<br />
- I am a gift that can be opened many times, and each time is just as delightful and full of surprises as the last.</p>
2008-12-16T10:20:24-06:00
2008-12-16T10:40:30-06:00
Barbara Wood
A Tale Of Two Covers
http://plone.barbarawood.com/blog/archive/2008/12/09/a-tale-of-two-covers
<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px;"><img alt="(image of Das Perlenmadchen by Barbara Wood)" src="/images/wots_german_cover_thumb.jpg" /></div>
<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img src="/images/wots_final_cover_front_thumb.jpg" alt="(image of Woman of a Thousand Secrets by Barbara Wood)" /></div>
<p>I am thrilled that the German version of WOMAN OF A THOUSAND SECRETS is now available, and as I look at the beautiful cover art for <a href="http://www.barbarawood.com/de/my-titles/featured_book">DAS PERLENMÄDCHEN</a>, I am struck by how different it is from the art for the American version.</p>
<p>Both covers depict the heroine of the story, Tonina, and yet each is a vastly different aspect of the same woman.</p>
<p> </p>
2008-12-09T11:31:57-06:00
2008-12-09T11:35:35-06:00
Barbara Wood
My Favorite Holiday
http://plone.barbarawood.com/blog/archive/2008/12/02/my-favorite-holiday
<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img src="/images/blog_081202_christmas_ornaments.jpg" alt="(image of christmas tree ornaments)" /></div>
<p>Today is December 2nd. With Thanksgiving behind us and the fridge packed with left-over turkey, we can now look forward with excitement and anticipation to what I think is the absolute best time of the year. Christmas!<br />
<br />
Christmas is my favorite holiday. I love the lights, the music, the friendship and the food (especially the food!). I would like to share with you a few of my favorites things (as the song goes) about my favorite holiday:</p>
2008-12-02T14:21:24-06:00
2008-12-02T14:21:24-06:00
Barbara Wood
Happy Thanksgiving!
http://plone.barbarawood.com/blog/archive/2008/11/25/happy-thanksgiving
<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img alt="(image of pilgrim family with Indians)" src="/images/blog_081125_pilgrims.jpg" /></div>
<p style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);"><font size="5" style="font-weight: bold;">Happy Thanksgiving</font></p>
<p style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);"><font size="5" style="font-weight: bold;">Everyone!</font></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><font size="2" style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Image Source:</span></font></p>
<p><font size="1">www.crewsnest.vispa.com/tgivingusatop.jpg</font></p>
2008-11-25T10:25:13-06:00
2008-11-25T10:26:35-06:00
Barbara Wood
I Remember Michael Crichton
http://plone.barbarawood.com/blog/archive/2008/11/18/i-remember-michael-crichton
<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img alt="(image of author Michael Crichton cover of Time Magazine)" src="/images/blog_081118_michaelcrichton.jpg" /></div>
<p>I was saddened to hear of the unexpected, recent passing of author Michael Crichton.<br />
<br />
When his first novel, Andromeda Strain came out, I was working in the operating room at Santa Monica Hospital. Although I was writing stories in my spare time, I did not have dreams of being published. And then here came this fabulous novel from a man who was not only a doctor, but who had, it was soon revealed, financed his way through medical school by writing novels under a pen name! I felt an immediate connection with Dr. Crichton – there I was in the hospital setting, working on the open-heart team (those were pioneering days!) and writing novels in the evenings (at the time, I was working on <a href="http://www.barbarawood.com/my-titles/book-03">Curse This House</a>). That was when it occurred to me that I could do the same thing – work as a surgical nurse while pursuing a career in writing.</p>
2008-11-18T11:42:46-06:00
2008-11-18T11:49:37-06:00
Barbara Wood
Congratulations, Mr. Obama
http://plone.barbarawood.com/blog/archive/2008/11/11/congratulations-mr-obama
<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img alt="(image of president elect Barack Obama)" src="/images/blog_081111_obama.jpg" /></div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Barack Obama’s victory in our presidential election has touched me personally in two ways.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When I was a teenager in the Sixties, I participated in civil rights marches.<span style=""> </span>We were thousands-strong as we swept down the broad avenue of Van Ness in San Francisco, carrying signs and singing “We Shall Overcome.”<span style=""> </span>Words cannot describe the incredible feelings of unity and brotherhood in those days – we were not just hippies, we came from all walks of life, we were all colors and ages, rich and poor.<span style=""> </span>Strangers who came together for a cause – it seems so simple now in retrospect: we thought black people should be allowed to eat at lunch counters and sit anywhere they wanted on a public bus.<span style=""> </span>It was such a big fight, but we were determined.<span style=""> </span>Some of us got clubbed over the head for it, many were carted off to jail.<span style=""> </span>But we continued to paint our signs and march down streets and sing freedom songs until we got our voices heard.</p>
2008-11-11T10:54:09-06:00
2008-11-11T10:54:09-06:00
Barbara Wood
What's In A Title?
http://plone.barbarawood.com/blog/archive/2008/11/04/whats-in-a-title
<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img src="/images/blog_081104_stack_books.jpg" alt="(image of a stock of old books)" /></div>
<p>Choosing a title for the novel you have just written should be something given great care and thought. While a general rule of thumb to remember is that your title should be easy to read and to remember, and perhaps gives the reader a hint of what the book is about, you also want to make it intriguing and catchy.</p>
<p>Sometimes, however, the author is not always the best person to choose a title, as editors and publishers (and even agents) often come up with a better one.</p>
<p> </p>
2008-11-04T10:49:28-06:00
2008-11-04T10:50:14-06:00
Barbara Wood
Which To Choose?
http://plone.barbarawood.com/blog/archive/2008/10/28/whcih-to-choose
<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img alt="(image of book titled Short Stories by Kevin Crossley-Holland)" src="/images/blog_081028_short_stories.jpg" /></div>
<p>People occasionally tell me they want to write a novel, but in order to get their feet wet, so to speak, they will start by writing short stories. Short stories, however, do not necessarily lead to novels, because they are in fact a very different writing form. While novels are by definition longer, they offer the writer greater leeway, room to breathe and explore, and require far less discipline than the short story.</p>
2008-10-28T12:49:16-05:00
2008-10-28T12:49:16-05:00
Barbara Wood
Happy Birthday, Kathryn Harvey!
http://plone.barbarawood.com/blog/archive/2008/10/21/happy-birthday-kathryn-harvey
<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img src="/images/blog_081021_happy_birthday.jpg" alt="(image of quote asking when you are going to write your novel)" /></div>
<p>Twenty years ago today, a star was born. My alter-ego: author of <a href="/my-titles/book-12">Butterfly</a>, <a href="/my-titles/book-14">Stars</a> and <a href="/my-titles/book-21">Private Entrance</a>. Ms. Kathryn Harvey.</p>
<p>I am often asked why I chose to write those books under a pen name. The reason is because <a href="/my-titles/book-12">Butterfly</a> was such a divergence from my other books, and also, frankly, because Butterfly is a little risqué (it is the story of a bordello where the customers are women). My editor at Random House suggested I use another name so that Barbara Wood readers would not be confused or shocked (yes, she used those words). And so I set about to thinking up a name.</p>
2008-10-21T09:51:25-05:00
2008-10-21T09:52:38-05:00
Barbara Wood
It's Never Too Late . . .
http://plone.barbarawood.com/blog/archive/2008/10/14/its-never-too-late
<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img alt="(image of quote asking when you are going to write your novel)" src="/images/blog_081021_novel.jpg" /></div>
<p>At a book signing recently, I was chatting with a reader who confessed that she was thinking of writing a novel. I gave her my usual pep talk and said, "Don't think about it, do it." She then explained why she hesitated: "I'm fifty-five years old. And I know the book will take five years to write. So by the time I am done, I will be sixty!" I agreed with her arithmetic, and said, "Yes, by the time you finish the book in five years, you will indeed be sixty. However, if you do not write the book, how old will you be in five years?"</p>
2008-10-14T10:33:48-05:00
2008-10-14T10:33:48-05:00
Barbara Wood
The Magdalene Scrolls
http://plone.barbarawood.com/blog/archive/2008/10/07/the-magdalene-scrolls
<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img alt="(image of Magdalene Scrolls cover)" src="/images/magdalene_thumb_med.jpg" /></div>
<p>With the re-release of all my older titles this year, thanks to the magic of Internet publishing and print-on-demand, I decided to hold one title back, <a href="http://www.barbarawood.com/my-titles/book-01"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Magdalene Scrolls</span></a>. Since I receive a lot of inquiries about the book, and since it is very hard to find (even on eBay) I decided to explain why I held this book back from my new <a href="http://www.barbarawood.com/my-titles/barbara_wood_collection">Barbara Wood Collection</a>. (I speak now of English language books only. All my titles, including The Magdalene Scrolls, are all available in French, Spanish, German and other languages.)</p>
2008-10-07T10:08:16-05:00
2008-10-07T10:08:16-05:00
Barbara Wood
I Remember Paul Newman
http://plone.barbarawood.com/blog/archive/2008/09/30/i-remember-paul-newman
<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><img alt="(image of trees in the Autumn))" src="/images/blog_080930_paulnewman.jpg" /></div>
<p>Years ago, at an elegant home in the hills of Bel Air, I had the supreme honor of meeting Paul Newman at a fund raiser for one of his many charities. His movie, "Butch Cassidy" was playing in the theaters at the time, and so it was quite amazing to be able to meet him in person and shake his hand. As famous and popular as he was, Mr. Newman was far from snobbish (as some celebrities unfortunately tend to be). He was the ultimate class act, chatting with everyone, sparing time for each person who had come to attend the event, shaking hands, offering warm smiles. He was one of those men who rose above his celebrity status and looked you in the eye and let you believe, for just a moment, that you were the only person in the room with him, and that what you had to say was all he cared about.</p>
2008-09-30T10:49:20-05:00
2008-09-30T10:55:42-05:00
Barbara Wood