Ask the Author: Susan Shapiro Barash
Answered Questions (6)
Susan Shapiro Barash
My most recent book, A Palm Beach Scandal, that will be publshed this September 2020, written under my pen name, Susannah Marren, came from an idea I had when I did the research and interviews for my nonfiction book, Sisters: Devoted or Divided, many years ago. The complexity of the relationship between sisters is profound. I knew I wanted to put it into play as a novel one day.
Susan Shapiro Barash
I will be 'touring' for a novel that comes out this September and usually when I'm touring, promoting a book that's just come out, both for my fiction and nonfiction, I end up very inspired by the people I meet along the way. Being an author and writing away, alone in a room, is rewarded by going out with a book and meeting one's readers. It is so incredibly meaningful.
Susan Shapiro Barash
I am currently working on my seventeenth book, a novel. My head is filled with ideas and possibilities.
Susan Shapiro Barash
My advice for aspiring writers is to write as much as possible and to take a writing class. Join a writing group too and read as much as possible, a variety of genres and time periods. Immerse yourself in the writing world and never stop, never give up.
Susan Shapiro Barash
The best thing about being a writer is your ideas. What you dream up as a topic to be researched and a story to be told. Creating the format, working on characters and plot, interviewing women (for my nonfiction) and imagining the lives of others (for my fiction).
Susan Shapiro Barash
I write every day and actually believe that's the best way to avoid writer's block. If I'm not writing, I'm thinking about what I will write when I get to my desk. For my nonfiction books, I consider how women feel as mothers, daughters sisters, friends, colleagues, wives, single women in our society. For my novels, I consider the story about how women feel -- how will I convey what I've learned in my research and put it into a dramatic fictional tale. By being engaged in the writing process, I'm able to avoid the dreaded' block'
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