Interview with Best selling Author, Barbara Taylor Bradford

A long time favorite author of mine, it’s such a delight to get an interview with Barbara Taylor Bradford!

Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing?

A. I have an office in my apartment, which is really a converted bedroom. It’s got a cream colored sofa, a glass coffee table, several bookshelves lined with my published novels, and two desks. The first desk has a computer on it for my research. The second has an IBM typewriter, which is still what I prefer to use when writing my books.

Q. Do you have any special rituals when you sit down to write? (a neat work space, sharpened #2 pencils, legal pad, cup of tea, glass of brandy, favorite pajamas, etc.)

A. I outline my novels before I begin to write them. I have several yellow legal pads laying around with story timelines, research, plus my full outline and list of characters. I also have endless manila folders on my desk with a printout of research for various sections of the story. There used to be a dog bed under my typing desk for my two Bichons to lay in while I worked. Sadly, they have moved on to doggie heaven.

Q. Could you tell us something about yourself that we might not already know?

A. While I am always dressed up and made up for public appearances, I hardly look that way while I’m writing. In fact, I often do my work in a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. Not glamorous, but certainly comfortable.

Q. Do you have a set time each day to write or do you write only when you are feeling creative?

A. I keep to a strict regimen for work. I get up around 5:30am, eat a light breakfast, then get right to my office. There are fewer distractions early in the morning. The phone doesn’t ring. There are no deliveries, or appointments. I often work through until around 1pm. I’ll then take a lunch break, or run some errands. In the afternoon, I’ll edit my work from that morning. Periodically, I’ll write a new chapter once this process is complete. And sometimes, I’ll spend my afternoon THINKING about how to attack the next scene, or character description. I usually wrap up my workday around 4pm.

Q. What’s your best advice to other writers for overcoming procrastination?

A. Just put something on the page. It doesn’t have to be your best writing, but push yourself to get something written every day. Even on my most distracted days, I’ll push myself to create a scene, or a sequence of dialog. I may have to throw it away, or heavily edit this later on. But at least I don’t’ stop myself from moving the story forward.

Q. Do you ‘get lost’ in your writing and for how long?

A. I admit to having conversations in my head with some of my fictional characters. It’s my way of working out dialog in the stories that I write. I try to create believable characters, and sometimes I find them so “real” that I find myself believing it too.

Q. Who or what is your “Muse” at the moment ?

A. I don’t really have a “muse” of any kind. I am often inspired by real-life events, or people that I meet. But never to the point where I base a fictional character, or a story entirely on any one person, or event. When my Bichons, Beaji and Chammi were around, I would sometimes read out loud to them from a typed page. But I wouldn’t go so far as to say that either of them was a muse to me.

Q. When did you begin to write seriously?………..

Don’t Miss Part 2 of our Interview with Barbara.
REVIEW:  ‘The Cavendon Women ‘
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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!    Barbara Taylor Bradford is my May author.  Coming Soon! Dorothea Benton Frank and the writing duo, Tamara Thorne and Allistair Cross.
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