Cover Reveal Bear with Me & Interview Author Marilyn Barr
Give a warm welcome to Marilyn Barr, author of Bear with Me, Pull up a chair, grab a drink of your choice from the cooler, a Chocolate Chip or Peanut Butter cookie from the plate, and let’s find out a little about Marilyn and her Bear with Me!
Bear with Me was originally a journal entry describing my family’s first full day after moving to Kentucky in 2015. Main character Alison’s struggle to act normal with sensory processing disorder mirrors my own challenges. Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) is a dysregulation of how the body perceives the world and its use of our seven senses. Each person has a different combination of over-responsive and under-responsive senses.
.What was your inspiration for Bear with Me. On a road trip between Louisville and Lexington Kentucky, we drove through a multitude of small towns named after fruits and vegetables. When I couldn’t find Strawberry on the map, I knew it would be the name of my fictional small town which became the name of the book series. Each book in the series has a pun for a title. Bear with Me is an Ursa shifter novel. Main character Grant is an exaggerated portrayal of my spouse who uses the phrase “bear with me” often. Very often. The title is a pun of his catchphrase. Good thing he enjoys my sense of humor.
Did you go the traditional route (agent/publisher), small press, or self-pub? Tell us about your experience with the publishing process. I was very naïve in the query process. I wanted to query agents who represented authors with books on my shelves. I made a list of five agents and queried the first one. I had read not to query more than one agent at a time, so I waited for eight months. In the meantime, I wrote two more novels, built the #Strawberryshifters hashtag, read my books in a library book club, and had a #Strawberryshifters tee-shirt printed with my desire for an agent. I was wearing this tee-shirt when I met my favorite author, Lora Leigh.
We talked about my love of her books, my new series, and how she got started by writing for a small press. She told me to find a small press where I wished to have my books sit on their shelves and enjoy being a published author. She told me to stop chasing agents who will find me when or if I need one. With her advice in my ear, I went home to look at my bookshelves. I am a big fan of J.C. McKenzie, so I picked The Wild Rose Press. The experience has been amazing, and I love working with them. I feel like part of a team with so many professionals to show me the way.
Words of advice for fellow writers in the trenches: Be faithful to your bookshelf. Do not try to write a book you wouldn’t read for fun just to please the market, your friends, or your family. You will read your book a thousand times between the initial story and the final print, only to take it on a tour where you read excerpts at libraries, bookstores and coffee shops. You will be miserable if you don’t love it. The answers to all my career questions have been answered on my bookshelf. It is a much smoother ride being true to yourself
Bear with Me book trailer 
cover reveal trailer.mp4
Speed-dating round:
Oxford comma, yes or no? Always
Ice cream (favorite flavor)? Strawberry, duh!
Coffee or tea or wine? Coffee until noon then tea, Wine gives me migraines
What does your desk look like? A fall-out zone
What is your writing vice or must-haves (e.g. for me it’s post-its, red pen, and coffee)?
Scented Candles, Potato Chips, Water, Music
Describe a perfect writing day. Four hours of emotional flow from 5:00 am to 9:00 am,
then a writer’s sprint with my son from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm.
What are some of your go-to methods for writing? Character Aesthetics first, then a
living outline that I cut and paste as my ideas grow
In an alternate reality, what would be your dream job (besides author)? High School
Teacher, I would go back in a heartbeat
Where is your favorite place you’ve visited (or wish to visit)? Turks and Caicos
You have a time travel machine: past or future? Where/when? The future, to see my
son as a healthy, productive adult would allow me to sleep at night.
What do you like to do when not writing? Dance, Piano, Cook, Bake, Socialize
Beach, lake, or mountains? Beach
If you could meet one famous person, living or dead, who would it be? Maria Montessori
You’re a new addition to the crayon box. What color would you be and why? Scarlet
because “Dear Scarlett! You aren’t helpless. Anyone as selfish and determined as you are, is never helpless”.
What are you known for? My drive to succeed.
Morning rooster, night owl, or midday lark? Night Owl disguised as a Morning Rooster
What comes first, character or plot (or other)? Character
You find a $100 bill in your purse/bag, what would you spend it on? Special Needs
Weekly Yoga. We love it and they request to be paid in cash.
How many hours a day (or week) do you write? Always four hours before anyone
else in my house wakes, sometimes I can sneak in a few extra hours to get 30 in a week.
Favorite childhood book? “Monster at the End of This Book”
Favorite book of all time? “Wyrd Sisters” by Terry Pratchett
You’re on a desert island, besides essentials, what do you bring? My spouse. We
are stronger together than the sum of the two of us.
A little about Bear with Me:
Blue eyes, dimples, and silky brown hair; Grant Luther has all of Alison’s weaknesses.
When he asks for one last chance to save their marriage, she agrees to relocate their family to isolated Strawberry, Kentucky in pursuit of his career dreams. Grant views Alison’s sensory issues as limitations and protects her from outside threats. When he finds his new job includes changing him into a shifter in a war against the soul-sucking Sluagh he vows to keep the changes a secret. What he doesn’t know is Alison has been hiding a magical secret of her own. One that makes her a target of the Sluagh.
Will Alison emerge from Grant’s shadow to protect her family? And can Grant learn that being different can be a strength not a weakness?
A sneak peek between the pages of Bear With Me!
“You look perfect. I mean perfectly healthy. I mean mostly uninjured,” she stammers. She places her tiny hand over her eyes.
Feeling braver than ever, I walk right up to her. I gently remove the hand from her face and hold it to my own. “See, I’m fine,” I whisper as I gently rub my thumb over her tiny knuckles.
Her eyes lift to mine and lock our gazes. I have always found the golden color of her eyes fascinating but never studied them up close. They are light brown with a golden star in the middle. I am literally star gazing as she takes in the injuries to my face. We stand there for about a minute, lost in time.
I wonder if she is thinking about when we first started dating, the hard times that followed, the present, or the future. I search her face for clues but don’t want to break the spell by opening my mouth. I decide to put said mouth to better use by lowering my head toward hers.
About the Author:
You can connect with Marilyn at the social media links below:
It was wonderful having you with us today. Please feel free to stop by anytime. Good Luck with Bear with Me!
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Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged Bare with Me, Contemporary Romance, Marilyn Barr by Tena Stetler with 2 comments.
I have nothing but awe for you who can begin writing at 5:30 a.m. 🙂 Dandy new cover, Marilyn. Best of luck with the book releases.
I can’t wait to read your book, and I expect to see plenty of Oxford commas! 😛