From Bestselling Debut to Timeless Tales, Unveiling the Heart of a Writer
PHOTO: Barbara Conrey, USA Today Bestselling author, shares her journey and insights into the world of writing and storytelling.
Barbara Conrey is the USA Today Bestselling author of Nowhere Near Goodbye, her debut, published on August 4, 2020, by Red Adept Publishing. Liza Fleissig represents her at the Liza Royce Agency. Her sophomore novel, My Secret to Keep, released on August 23, 2022.
Barbara is an active member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, Women’s National Book Association, and Author Talk Network. She also moderates the online book club for the Facebook Group Bookish Road Trip.
Travel is her passion, along with reading, writing, hiking, and exploring antique shops. Her greatest love is Miss Molly, her rescue beagle. Barbara lives in Pennsylvania, close to family and friends.
What are your favorite genres?
Historical fiction, Literary fiction, Suspense
What is the next you’ll read?
The Good Left Undone by Adriana Trigiani
What kind of reader were you as a child?
Voracious. If it was on a bookshelf or my mother’s bedside table, I read it. Which meant I was reading James Michener while my peers read Beverly Cleary.
What moves me most in a book?
The emotions it triggers. I love books that make me cry. If I cannot bear to stop reading. If I read it over and over
What are your favorite authors?
Picking a favorite author is like picking a favorite child. But here are some.
John Boyne – The Hearts Invisible Furies, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Robert Dugoni – The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell, The World Played Chess
William Kent Krueger – Ordinary Grace
What have you learned after writing two books?
It doesn’t get any easier. Although the process is a little smoother, the more you know, the more you question.
What are you working on now?
A contemporary novel about a man who questions his ability to be a good human being.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Hopefully still writing books that people want to read,
What was it like to write a debut best-seller?
Surreal. It was the worst—and the best—week of my life.
What would you tell someone just starting as a writer?
Never give up.
What would you tell someone who worries they are too old to write?
It is never too late. I published my debut at 69. It became a USA Today Best Seller when I was seventy.
I am finishing my third book at age 73.
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