Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Barbara Claypole White. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Barbara, thanks for joining us today. What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your career and how did you resolve those issues?

The author life is full of incredible highs and incredible lows. It’s impossibly hard to find an agent and snag that first pub. deal, and even harder to stay published.

Within two weeks, my third novel, which I had written to contract, was dumped by one publisher and sold to another. My first publisher told me there was no interest in the story. A year later, it became The Perfect Son—a bestseller and a Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee for Best Fiction. My agent is responsible for saving that story, but I learned vital publishing lessons from the experience.

I knew my success wouldn’t last—it didn’t—but l was beginning to accept what I could control: my perseverance, being an active part of the writing community, and maintaining a diehard dedication to improving my craft. And learning to keep the inner critic caged.

If you want to be a writer, you write and keep writing. Even if your manuscripts do

Barbara, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Since I was a little girl, I dreamed of becoming a novelist, but life took many detours. It wasn’t until I married and moved to America (I’m English) that I began scratching away at my first novel, a novel that would die in a drawer. (Thank God. It was awful.)
After twenty years of teaching myself the business and craft of writing, I landed my first pub. deal right before my fiftieth birthday.

That novel, THE UNFINISHED GARDEN, evolved out of my greatest fear as a mother: What if, when my brilliant, quirky, empathetic young son grew up, no one would could see beyond his OCD and anxiety to love him for the incredible human being he is?

That fear lead to a character called James Nealy, the love of my literary life. With James, I discovered my passion for chipping away at the stereotypes of mental illness. I love to create heroes and heroines who battle invisible disabilities with courage and the mantra, “I am not my disorder.”

Since then, I’ve published five award-winning novels filled with dysfunctional families, crazy critters, imperfect love, quirky humor, and hope.

I’m also active with a nonprofit that encourages advocacy over adversity and spreads the belief that we help ourselves when we help others.

To learn more about my books and my writing journey, check out my website: https://barbaraclaypolewhite.com

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

After years of juggling never-ending deadlines with aging parent crises—an ocean-apart—and a surge of mental illness at home, I went off contract. Aha, I thought! Happiness and unicorns await. Wrong.

I spent a year on a manuscript I abandoned and then wrote the novel of my heart. My agent was not a fan, but she rallied to take it out on submission. It didn’t sell. Now I’m finishing up a novel that I hope (fingers crossed) will be successful. I know it’s marketable, but I’ve been off in the writing weeds for five years.

If this one also fails to fly … I’ll start the next one.

For me, writing is the cure for rejection.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I’m always true to my passion and my voice. For me, that bleeds into being part of the public discourse on the stigma, shame, and stereotypes that surround mental illness. (Every book club I visit becomes open therapy, and I love that!)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://barbaraclaypolewhite.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bclaypolewhite/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BarbaraClaypoleWhite
• Bookbub (for my book reviews): https://www.bookbub.com/profile/barbara-claypole-white

Image Credits
Second photo by Krista Moll