Literary Birthday – 9 August – Barbara Delinsky

Happy Birthday, Barbara Delinsky, born 9 August 1945.

Seven Quotes

1. As a friend, a book had advantages over the human variety. It was there whenever she needed it, it vanished as easily, and it never asked questions, expected witty replies, made awkward suggestions, or otherwise overcompensated for its own inability to right the wrongs of the world.
2. My writing style has changed dramatically over the years, growing increasingly clean and exact. I like to think that I’m still improving — that each book I write is a new personal best.
3. Choices are easy when you have nothing to lose.
4. I write about the emotional crises that we face in our lives. Readers tell me that they identify with my characters. They know them. They are them. I’m an everyday woman writing about everyday people facing not- so-everyday challenges.
5. Concentrating when it’s the hardest is what builds character.
6. Life is like a game of cards. It deals you different hands at different times. You don’t have that old hand anymore, . . . . Look at what you have now.
7. What do I love most? Working with words. Words in a sentence are like pieces of a puzzle; you try out a whole bunch, then turn them this way and that until they fit into the whole. Creating flow is crucial. There’s nothing like the moment when, after working and reworking a sentence, everything falls into place, and you know that it’s right. What I do love least? Touring. It’s gruelling, time-consuming, and lonely.

Barbara Delinsky is an American writer of romance novels, including 20 New York Times bestsellers. There are over 30 million copies of her books in print. She is the author of Before and Again.

Image Source:

press photo

by Amanda Patterson

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