Barbara Delinsky has been entertaining me and educating me, making me laugh and cry for years now and St. Martin's Press is re-releasing some of her earlier novels in digital format for the first time.
If you've read her and couldn't find her early works this is your chance, if you've never read her this is a perfect time to start.
New Re-Release Feature
6-25
Barbara Delinsky
Barbara Delinsky
Please welcome #1 NY Times Bestselling author Barbara
Delinsky to the General Fiction forum.
Barbara is one of my favorite, most prolific authors, and, since late
May, a number of her early romance novels have been re-released digitally. Here is a list
of these books on her website, and these are all available in Nook format too.
Debbie - Barbara,
it is good to have you visit us here at the General Fiction forum. Tell us a little about the re-releases,
how many are being re-released, whether they only being released in e-form, and
why now.
Barbara - Thanks,
Debbie. It’s great to be
here. I am really, really excited
about the rerelease of these early romances. All told, there are sixteen of them, and they’re being
released in clusters, starting with the four on sale now, and continuing on
into the summer. These twelve will
appear only as e-books for now, but knowing that many of my readers still love
holding a physical book in their hands, there will be two 2-in-1 print editions
of others of my oldies in fall and winter.
Why now in e-book? Several
reasons. First, there were no
e-books when these romances initially came out, and given the ease of bringing
e-books to readers, the opportunity was too good to pass up. Second, with so many of my current
readers not having ever seen these early books but being hooked on e-readers, e-books
seemed the way to go. And third,
my work in progress, Sweet Salt Air, captures so many of the same emotions as
these early books that giving readers an advance taste of love this summer
seemed a no-brainer.
I was reading your bio and something intrigued me – it says
that your writing career started as a fluke when you saw an article profiling
three female writers. Who were
they, and did they have more of an impact on you than just their being female
writers?
Honestly? I don’t remember
their names. The sole significance
of their being female was that they were raising families and writing at the
same time. They made it sound
do-able, which was important to me, since I had a young family, too. Beyond that, the impact these writers
had on me was what they wrote – romance.
I had never read the Harlequin-type romance, but I did then. I read dozens, literally, in the weeks
after reading that piece. I
outlined the ones I liked best, sat down and wrote my own, and it sold!
Tell us a little behind your only non-fiction title Uplift,
what’s it about, and what led to your writing it.
The full title of this book
gives you a clue to its contents – UPLIFT: Secrets from the Sisterhood of
Breast Cancer Survivors. It is
comprised of short little hints from more than four hundred survivors, all
upbeat and practical, on ways to deal with a breast cancer diagnosis and
treatment. The inspiration for
this book? Katherine Evans. She is a secondary character who
appeared in my novel, Coast Road, in 1998, and she’d had breast cancer, just as
I have. She was attractive and
artistic and sexy. Readers loved
her and wrote so many notes that I realized they were hungry for a positive, upbeat,
can-do role model like Katherine, perhaps even like myself. I conceived of UPLIFT as a support
group in book form, and that’s just what it is.
I love all my books. They’re my children. But UPLIFT has a special place in my
heart. My mother died of breast
cancer when I was eight, and now, to date, thanks to the proceeds from this
book, I’ve been able to fund eight years of a breast fellowship at
Massachusetts General Hospital.
With the help of those fellows, treatment of breast cancer gets better
and better.
Many writers are also readers. Are you? Who do
you like to read?
Sadly, I read minimally when
I’m writing. The danger is being
drawn into someone else’s book so deeply that I confuse voices when I return to
my own! That said, I am in a book
group, and our list runs the gamut from fiction to non-fiction, literature to
popular fiction. I gotta say – I
love the latter. I’ve been having
a ball with Fifty Shades …
What’s the longest research trip you ever took, and for what
novel was it?
I went to San Francisco for
Coast Road, which, since I live in Boston, is a haul. Funny, though, San Francisco didn’t work for me – maybe
because it’s a romantic city and my husband wasn’t there, so I felt totally
alone. He did join me afterward
for several days in Big Sur, one of our favorite vacation spots. So that’s where I ended up setting my
book, with only the occasional, foggy San Francisco scene.
You describe yourself as a character-driven author. Can you explain that to us?
Interesting choice of
words. I’ve always thought of my plots as being character-driven, since the action
involves people and their emotional growth. But I guess I’m a character-driven person, too – i.e., I
love observing people, love interacting with them, love seeing their growth.
What are you working on next?
I am in the final few
chapters of Sweet Salt Air, the story of two friends who reunite after ten
years apart. One is a food
blogger, the other a journalist, and their plan is to compile a cookbook of
recipes and local lore from the island where they spent childhood summers. Once there, the details of their lives during
those ten years apart clash in unexpected and heart-wrenching ways. Talk about character-driven? Sweet Salt Air explores the
limits of marriage, friendship, and love.
I know a lot of fans here would love to meet you in person. Do you have in-between release events
at B&N stores?
Since I’ve been burning the
midnight oil working on Sweet Salt Air, my personal travel schedule has been limited. That said, I am always available
online, whether at my website, www.barbaradelinsky.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bdelinsky, or on Twitter.
Good luck with all the re-releases. I can’t wait to see what you have for
us next!
Thanks, Debbie. And again, thanks for giving me this
opportunity to visit the General Fiction forum.
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