Barbara Ehrentreu
Gifted Children's and YA writer
Except for one year when she lived in California, Barbara has been a New York State resident all of her life. She has lived in Brooklyn, Queens, and upstate New York in Cortland and Vestal. She and her husband moved to the city of Buffalo so he could go to law school, where they lived for eight years. For eight years she lived in Rocky Point in Suffolk County. She and her husband have two grown daughters. Now living in Westchester, NY she has been there for the last fifteen years. Barbara has over seventeen years of teaching experience and certification in Reading. When she got her Masters degree she started to write seriously and had several stories published online. One is a children's story, published on Story http://www.facebook.com/l/;Stationhttp://viatouch.com/learn/storystation/stories/troublefollowleader.jsp, “The Trouble with Follow the Leader”, which she has discussed on Blog Talk Radio this June. She has also written an adult story, “Out on A Ledge” http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.moondance.org/2002/fall02/fiction/out.html which is published in http://www.facebook.com/l/;Moondance.org, and a memoir, “Summer Memories”. Currently she is still shopping her first YA novel and is in the middle of a second one. She writes a blog, Barbara’s Meanderings, which is networked on both Facebook and Blog Catalog. She also writes poetry and has several poems published online. Barbara has written several book reviews for Muse Book Reviews.. She currently has a review published on Ace Writers website. She also has an article published as an Expert Author on Ezine http://www.facebook.com/l/;Articles.com and she has written several articles on http://www.facebook.com/l/;Helium.com.--------------------
Tell me about your favorite book and how old were you? What was it and what did you like about it?
Even after all of these years I still have the same favorite book. I was about seven or eight when I first read it. I was bedridden due to several illnesses that happened to me all in the same year. My mother bought me this book. It was Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and I loved the language and the idea of being able to change shape and size by eating a cookie or drinking something. I also loved the nonsense words in the middle of a story. It showed me that reading could be an adventure and you never know what will be on the next page.
Did you ever want to rewrite any book that you've read?
Actually I read a book recently that I wanted to change. In fact, I told the author that the book needed to be changed. I am finding that a lot of the books recently published have way too many spelling errors and typos. To be honest, I read a lot of ARC’s but that still doesn’t make it right. Also even the published books have glaring errors. When I see an error I want to stop and change it immediately in the text, but when it’s in a book you can’t do that.:)
Change the ending or the beginning?
No, I didn’t want to change the beginning or the ending of any book. Though I’ve been very disappointed sometimes with the outcomes of stories. What I don’t like is when I’ve spent a great deal of time reading a lengthy story and the author leaves me with a question. Then I am sad that I read all the way to the end and still didn’t have a solution. I’ll think, What the hell? I wasted my time.:) Sometimes you have to go back and reread to find the answer like it’s a puzzle. I remember having to do that with nineteenth century novels that hardly ever spelled out exactly what was happening. The professor told us to go back and trace the different character threads, but when you are just reading for fun that is way too time consuming. Also how many writers are Edith Wharton?
Do you think that writing is your life work? If so why or why not?
I’m not sure I can say that yet, since I’ve only managed to publish my children’s story and a few adult stories. When my novel is published I might change my mind. In the meantime, I think my life’s work is teaching and I did that for a very long time. However, if you gauge by how easy something is to do for me, then I’d have to say writing is in me. It’s more a compulsion that refuses to go away.
What would be your dream place to live and what would your house there be like?
Probably my dream place to live would be where it’s warm and sunny most of the year. I’ve lived most of my life in northern climate, so I could live without snow. I’d miss fall though. So it would have to be a place where I could have fall and spring, but winter would come and go or not.
My house would be a substantial one with a place for everything I need and for my friends and family so they can visit. If I’m in the Caribbean I’d want to be near the water and the beach.
What is your favorite part of the story, Follow the Leader (http://viatouch.com/learn/storystation/stories/troublefollowleader.jsp) that you wrote for young people? I read this story and I was transfixed. If you own the rights to this story you should submit to other sites or to a publisher. Follow the Leader is that GOOD! It's a very exciting and pertinent story. Please tell us about it?
First of all I’m thrilled that my story engrossed you. It means a lot of me that people enjoy my writing. I think it’s a pretty intense story, because of what happens.
Probably my favorite part of “The Trouble with Follow the Leader” is when Terry realizes that the kids really want her to be the leader the next day. She understands that she has to take charge when it’s her turn and not run away because she can’t do the things the leader does.
In my neighborhood in Brooklyn we played Follow the Leader, Giant Steps, Red Light, Green Light, Potsy, Hit the Penny and Hopscotch. The sidewalks were our playground. Parents were rarely involved or around. My parents owned a store, called Dimm’s, which was a material and trimmings store on the street where we are playing in the story. Gangs of kids roamed around playing all day. This story comes from a real experience that happened to me when I was around seven or eight. I did get my head stuck in a gate because I didn’t see how the leader did it. I never forgot this incident, because it was so traumatic. For years I tried to write about it as a memoir, but it didn’t work. Then one night I had a discussion with my sister-in-law about the real experience. She asked me if I had ever written about it. I told her no. She said, “Why don’t you write it as a children’s story?” After that night I went right to my computer as soon as I could and wrote this story in one sitting. I saw the info for Story Station and that they were paying writers. I sent it to them and they published it immediately.
What are you working on now?
I’m in the middle of a YA novel called When My Life Changed. I started it about three years ago for NaNoWriMo and continued writing it when I liked what I read. I’m probably about three quarters through with it. It’s about a girl whose father has a heart attack and bypass surgery and her entire life changes in one minute. She goes from being a fifteen year old tomboy who cares only about baseball and her best friend Joey to not knowing what she likes or how she feels. Her relationships with everyone around her change and suddenly Joey becomes much more than a friend to her. I haven’t figured out an ending yet and it’s still in first draft, but it’s gotten great comments from my critique group.
In ten years what genre do you think you would like to be writing?
I think I will probably be writing children’s and YA novels, though I like to write adult stories too and for this year for NaNoWriMo I wrote a mystery/suspense/romance novel that is also still in first draft. I don’t think in terms of genre. It depends on the topic and the story which genre I will choose.
How will books and stories change in the information age?
I’ve been following the development of the Kindle and the handheld reader may be the wave of the future. Though I think IPods and other mobile devices are going to become even more savvy and if they ever find a way to type comfortably on an IPod then they will also be used for writing as well.
I think more books are going to be on the internet, though there will still be books to put in childrens’ hands and art books and regular books will still be popular, though they will probably be fazing out.
How will it be easier to enjoy a string of words molded to fill a line?
I think I kind of answered this in the last question, but whatever needs to be done for a publisher I’ll do.
Will you want to participate in the new changes or will you want books (hard-bound and paper back) to be in the hands of your readers?
I like reading online, but I also love having a book in my hand. I like to read books when I have the time. So before I go to bed and at odd moments I read. So I think they should be offered both online and in book form.
Do you have a comfort food that you eat when you are writing?
My comfort food at all times is chocolate. I like to pop a little bit of chocolate in my mouth when I’m tense, but it’s not only when I’m writing. I’m not the kind of person to sit and have a cup of tea or have a set regimen. I mostly write at night, so food is not usually necessary.:)
What do you think it is about your stories that young people love? How is it that you speak to them?
Well, I’m not sure how many kids have read my story, but I’m hoping that maybe they can identify with the kid who has a bully pushing her and worries that she won’t be able to keep up with the rest of the group. I would love to have some feedback from the readers of my story.
One of my critique group members read my story to her daughter and she told me that she loved it. I’ve had some great feedback from adults about the story including you.:)
RD th,ank you so much for inviting me and I had a great time answering your questions. I’m looking forward to hosting you when you are my guest author next week.
I would like to let your readers know that I am going to be on Blog Talk Radio for Red River Writers on August 5th at 2PM Central time. I will be part of a large group of writers, authors and illustrators talking about our own work. If you are interested please tune into Red River Writers Live Special with co-hosts Laurie Zieber and April Robins.
On November 16th, also on Robins Falls Kids Story Time on Blog Talk Radio I will be interviewed by Barbara Hodges in a 30 minute show devoted to me.
I will be posting details to both of these shows on my blog, Barbara’s Meanderings: http://barbaraehrentreu.blogspot.com/
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