Barri Bryan Day

Hello, and welcome to my blog. The fabulous Barri Bryan stopped by to talk to us today, and she's sharing a very interesting excerpt. Barri, thanks for coming. Can you tell us five things about you that nobody would ever guess?

I’m superstitious. I know in my head superstition is not grounded in fact and to believe such nonsense is foolishness. I do know, but if I spill salt, I throw some over both my shoulders, just in case. I would never intentionally walk under a ladder or cross a black cat’s path. You can never tell. . . God forbid that I should break a mirror.

I once entered a beauty contest. It wasn’t a big contest, just a little competition held by a local night club. I lied about my age in order to be a contestant. When my dad learned what I’d done, he was livid. Needless to say, I didn’t win. I was disappointed. At that time I imagined myself a young Betty Grable.

My husband proposed to me on the main street of our little town, in front of a jewelry store, and on a Saturday night. He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I always thought that was very romantic. It was also very brave, proposing with all those people around. After that he couldn’t back out; I had too many witnesses.

My middle name is Louise. I like that name, but it never seemed to fit me.

I like pickled pig’s feet. That sounds gross, but they are really very good. Now my guilty secret is out and the entire world knows.

Wow! Your husband's proposal was so romantic! It sounds like something from a Valentine story. What do you think makes a book a page turner?

That’s a difficult question; one I’m not sure I can answer with any degree of accuracy. So many factors feed into producing a page-turner. I can best sum it up by saying the way a story is told has most to do with what makes it a page turner. Some writers have the marvelous gift of making the most mundane of subjects seem and stirring and moving. They can make the reader feel a building tension as the story progresses, to wonder who-done-it, or think, how she will ever get him back now?

And don't we all want to have that gift? Which genre of books appeals least to you? Why?

I don’t care much for some horror stories. That’s not to say I don’t read and enjoy what might be classified as horror. I like gothic romance novels, tales about shape shifters, monsters like the beast in Beauty and the Beast, and some vampire stories. I take pleasure in that feeling of fear and anticipation that precedes the reading of terrifying experiences. I don’t care for stories that involve torture, gore, vicious animals, and cannibals. I don’t like the feeling of repulsion that comes after I have read about some ghastly episode.

Well said. I get that feeling of repulsion too. On the average, how long does it take you to write a book.

I’d say anywhere from six months to a year. There are so many variables involved, such as how long will the book be, how much research I will have to do, how much time will I have to devote to writing during that period.


Revision is what slows me down. I think I revise more than I write. Would you share your links with us?

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home
http://twitter.com/texpoet
http://www.myspace.com/barribryan
http://barribryan.com/

We’d to read an excerpt. Be sure to give us a buy link.
http://www.classicromancerevival.com/a-second-splendor.html

"Julie " Max spoke her name softly and then swore, "Damn!"

"And in the future I'll try to be a little more cooperative."

Max dropped into the chair near the door. "It's not you, it's me. I'm not handling this very well." He rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. "We need to talk."

Julie was oh so cautious. "About what?" Was he going to ask her to leave? Common sense told her it would be best for all concerned if she did.

"I know that this is not the ideal situation, but we have to cope with it for the next few months. Maybe if we lay down some ground rules it will be more pleasant for both of us."

She knew how clever he was with words. "What kind of ground rules?"

"I've thought about this all weekend." Max fitted his shoulders against the back of the chair. "I believe I've come up with a workable solution to our problem."

Even Max was not that much of a genius. Folding her hands in her lap she waited for him to speak.

His questioning gaze lingered over her face. "Are you interested in trying it?"

"I might be, if I knew what it was." Her voice softened. "Why don't you explain?"

A smile erased the lines of tension in Max’s face. "Our problem is we're too bound up in the past and too concerned about the future to concentrate on the present."

What he said was true. It also seemed irrelevant. "We can't change what was." Nor could Julie stop being concerned about the many uncertainties that lay ahead. "Or control what is to be."

"I know but we could stop letting the past and the future disturb our present."
Now he was being absurd. "To do that we would have to exist in a vacuum, or find a way to place ourselves in some state of suspended animation."

"Nothing that drastic." Max smiled but his eyes were grave. "What I'm suggesting is that we try to make the next few months a little more bearable."

She had been here less than three days and already Max was pronouncing the situation unbearable. He did have a point. It was well taken. Julie said so and then waited with resigned acceptance for him to explain.

"I’m talking about the willing suspension of linear time."

"Have you lost your mind?" Julie's laughter rang out into the tense atmosphere. "No one can suspend time."

"Oh, but we can, if not actually, at least figuratively."

What was he up to now? "How?"

"By living in the moment; suppose from this day forward we live as though time was on hold? We can operate on the supposition that for us, there was no worrisome tomorrow and no troublesome yesterday."

"How long do you think that would last?" Julie’s doubts gave way to cautious optimism. The suggestion had possibilities.

One of Max's shoulders rose and then fell. "I don't know but isn't it worth a try?"

On the surface the plan sounded childish and a little foolish, but if it worked-- "I've never dared do that, live for the moment, I mean."

"Maybe it's time you gave it a try." Max said.

Maybe it was. "You said we should lay down some rules. What kind of rules?"

Max stood. "Now comes the hard part."

Barri, thanks for coming. The excerpt is very intriguing. I'm dying to know what rules he wants to lay down.