Interview with Barbara White Daille

I’m very pleased to be interviewed for the Harlequin American Romance blog, but I have to be honest and admit you’re not always getting my absolute first-choice answers here. (smile)

You see, some of the questions are geared to my “best,” my “favorite,” etc. I’ve had to make an effort to deliberately leave my husband out of my responses...because he is, of course, my favorite in anything.

And would you romance readers and writers have it any other way?

Okay, here we go....


Q: What’s your favorite dessert?

A: Anything with chocolate and without coconut.


Q: What item not yet in existence would be the world’s greatest invention ever?

A: Bags for cookies and chips that automatically refill when empty.


Q: If you were stranded on an island for a month and could bring three things along, what would they be?

A: Ah. See, that’s why I had to give you the warning, because #1 would have to be my husband! However, I’ll try to work around him....

#1. See previous response about the world’s greatest invention. (grin)
#2. a case of books and blank journals
#3. a box of pens

(Am I cheating here?)


Q: If you could be lazy for an entire day what would you do?

A: Curl up on the couch with a good book or three, a cup of tea at my elbow, and a plate of cookies in my lap. (Hmm... I think you should see that answer about the world’s greatest invention for this response, too!)


Q: If you could wish for anything, what would you wish for?

A: More money than Bill G. so I could give food, clothing, and shelter to anyone in the world who needs them; pay off the National debt; pay off our mortgage; and buy a lifetime supply of gift cards for my favorite local bookstore.


Q: What do you like to do when you're not writing?

A: Read!


Q: What inspired you to write your first book?

A: Many things and many people, including the wonderful writers I first discovered as a child; my mom, for her love of reading; and my fourth-grade teacher, for encouraging me to put words on paper. Though I’d been writing smaller pieces, poetry, and of course diary entries long before this, I wrote my first “official” short story when I was in fourth grade. I wrote my first book when I was in eighth grade.


Q: How long have you been writing?

A: See above. ;-) Although I have to add, I’ve probably been creating since before I knew how to write and started writing fiction as soon as I learned the alphabet.


Q: What did you want to be when you grew up?

A: Three guesses, and I’ll bet you only need one. (A writer, naturally.)


Q: What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

A: I don’t feel completely comfortable with my characters until I know their names.


Q: What is your writing routine?

A: Routine?! I’m supposed to have a routine?


Q: What is the hardest part of writing your books?

A: Accepting that it’s time to let them go. (See next question....)


Q: Do you re-read your books once they’re in print?

A: Of course. To me, re-reading any book is like a visit to old friends. And when those friends are characters I’ve created, the trip is extra-special.


Q: Why did you target the Harlequin American Romance line?

A: I love home and hearth stories and reading and writing about small towns--or those places with a small-town feel. For me, it doesn’t literally have to be a small town, as long as it’s a place where people are in close quarters--whether they like it or not--and are then almost forced to make their relationships and interconnections work. A hospital, a school, an Army base, snowbound in a mountain cabin, marooned on an island--anything with an “enclosed” setting like that really catches my interest.


Q: Tell us about your next book.

A: (Taking a deep breath....) A responsibility-ridden art teacher from an eccentric Irish family butts head with an uptight lawyer who's determined to protect his mom from the teacher's con artist uncle. (Whew!) That’s it in a nutshell.

The book just went in to my editor this weekend and is currently awaiting both a title and a publication date, so watch this space. You can be sure I’ll share the news as soon as I learn it myself!


Q: Now that we’re wrapping this up, what is the one question we should have asked you, but didn’t?

A: “We love your books so much, Barbara--couldn’t we please pay off your mortgage and give you a monthly salary just so you could stay home and write more of these wonderful stories?”


All right, that last answer was a bit tongue-in-cheek--but, still, wouldn’t it be fabulous to hear someone say it? LOL

Thanks for taking the time to read this interview! I hope you found the responses interesting and feel you’ve gotten to know a little about me.


All my best to you,

Barbara

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Barbara White Daille
http://www.barbarawhitedaille.com