What
is your favorite part of the book?
I
love exploring things or situations that are difficult to explain,
and the idea of soul transference is one of those things. I did a
lot of research to write about Shyla’s transformation with
credibility and authority. Combining this with what she was
experiencing with her recently-married husband, I think the scene
where she is trying to understand what she has just caught her
husband doing and then the actual incident where her soul
transference takes place is quite strong and emotional. But the
scene that follows that, where she exhibits a new personality—still
Shyla, but more so—will make the readers cheer for her.
All
of her life Shyla had been able to turn to her inner-most self, an
intensely personal place, at the time of crisis. She thought of it as
her quiet center of being. It was where she could work out problems
and reach some level of rejuvenation. She felt protected there. She
went there now, breathing deeply, and trying desperately to think. It
was all just a misunderstanding, she repeated.
His
car was easy to spot since there was only his car and one other
parked in the lot adjoining the office building. After trying the
front door and finding it locked, she went around to the side
entrance that she knew Carl frequently used after hours and on
weekends when he had to work. His office was located at the end of a
long hall and she could hear him talking to someone. When she got
there she stopped at the doorway, unable to move, unable to breathe.
There was a woman sitting on the edge of Carl’s desk. He was
standing in front of her, kissing her. Her bare legs were wrapped
around his waist, her panties—white with black lace—on a chair
across the room. Shyla couldn’t see where his hands were.
Shyla’s
purse which she had been carrying slipped from her hand and dropped
to the floor. When Carl heard it he quickly glanced around, backed
away and zipped his pants while Andrea rearranged her clothing.
“Shyla,
what are you doing here?” He walked toward her smiling with his
arms reaching out.
Shyla
remained frozen while he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her.
“Honey, I don’t think you have met Andrea Ramos. She’s my
office mate. Or was. Unfortunately, she just got some bad news, she’s
been fired, and I was trying to comfort her.”
“Hello,
Shyla. I’ve heard a lot about you.” Without looking at her,
Andrea picked up her panties and something else from her desk and
added them to the stuff she had already packed into a cardboard box.
“Well, I think I had better get going. It’s nice meeting you.”
She picked up the box and walked toward the door. Still Shyla didn’t
move.
Carl
leaned down and picked up Shyla’s purse and gently guided her into
his office.
“Don’t
be a stranger,” Andrea said to Carl arching her eyebrows, and then
she left.
Shyla
heard each step as Andrea walked the length of the carpeted hallway
to the exit. She heard her shift the cardboard box in her arms as she
opened the side door. She heard the gravel crunch outside the door as
she walked on the path leading away from the building, and then the
door slowly close. She didn’t hear Carl tell her how glad he was to
see her, and how beautiful she was, and how much he loved her.
Does
your book have a lesson? Moral?
If
there is a lesson, it is to always keep an open mind about things
you don’t believe or find it difficult to understand. When I was
researching the ancient religion of Regla de Ocha and soul
transference for this book, everything about it was foreign to me.
But I met people who truly believe, and I respect them for it.
Are
your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely
from your imagination?
I
think all of the characters I write about in all of my books have
traits of real people that I have stored in my mind. In Shyla’s
Initiative, the scene where she visits a botanica for the first
time was taken from my own personal experience when I was doing
research. It is certainly something I will never forget.
Of
all the characters you have created, which is your favorite and why?
That
is such a good question, but also a hard one for me to answer. In
order for me to write a book that I feel is worthy of publication, I
have to love at least one of the characters in that book. In my
young adult series, The F.I.G. Mysteries, that turned out to be a
five-book series. That means I lived with the three orphaned
“Females of Intellectual Genius” for years as I wrote all of the
books. I absolutely loved these girls, and I cried when I knew that
book five finished their stories. One of my adult novels, JUST LIKE
FAMILY, has a main character that I also keep in my heart. I think
it is because she went through so much bad stuff to finally find
herself and become a strong woman.
What
character in your book are you least likely to get along with?
I
would definitely not get along with Carl, Shyla’s husband and the
man she divorces. He is self-absorbed, totally selfish, and has
absolutely no consideration for Shyla.
What
would the main character in your book have to say about you?
I
think she would appreciate what I attempted to do; that is, be
objective in writing about a difficult subject, while at the same
time being kind to her and her situation. I think she would thank me
for being brave enough to write about things that I had personally
experienced.
Do
you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a
body of work with connections between each book?
Shyla’s
Initiative is definitely a stand-alone book, as are all
of my books—both fiction and nonfiction—except for The F.I.G.
Mysteries which is a five-book series.
Thank
you so much for taking the time to interview me and for your
interest in Shyla’s Initiative. I wish you and your readers
my very best. ~Barbara
Your
welcome. Thank you for joining us today on The Avid Reader!
