Harrie Rose
I've been writing stories since I was a young child. I see or hear something and start to weave a story about it. For instance, I was watching the helicopters bring patients--or donated organs--to the Massachusetts General Hospital one evening while visiting friends. As they were talking, I was imagining somebody waiting for a liver transplant, hearing the whir of the helicopters and wondering, "Is that for me?"
My life was too busy during my younger years to sit down and actually write a novel and polish it up for publication. Truthfully, I didn't have the confidence that I could do it. After years of raising children, running a household and teaching school, I bought myself a computer and began writing the story in Therapy: A Novel. What sparked it? A chance remark of a male friend who said he wasn't going to go to therapy any more because all he did was fall in love with his therapists.
Being middle-aged at the time, I wondered if I could tell a story about middle-aged woman who falls for her psychiatrist--and what could happen if she did. After numerous rewrites and numerous readings by devoted friends, I managed to finish the novel and publish it. It took about 4 years from the first notes to the finished product, and it was hard and exacting work to get it right. But it was worth it.
Also, as a social scientist, I knew that humans bond with each other through conversation. You know you've met your future mate often because you can talk so easily to each other about everything. The people you like the most are those who you can tell your little secrets. It occurred to me that the therapist/patient relationship is very like the way we speak to a future lover or a very good friend. The act of talking about one's feelings to a sympathetic ear fosters emotions like love. That is why so many people have romantic feelings for their therapists. This is not a new idea, but what happens with Barbara and how she deals with it is original, so far as I know.
Most of all, Barbara's guts in making a new life for herself is inspiring, although, I think, few women would choose the path she did.
As for me, I am middle-aged, married, with four children, all grown and three grandchildren so far. I've been married since I was 18 to a wonderful man who I've traveled the world with. We've been to China, Japan, Egypt, Israel,Morocco, Spain, France, England, Germany, Wales, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Wales, and Scotland, not necessarily in that order.
We both love to cook gourmet meals together, and also to hike and camp out all over the U.S. I hear more stories than I could ever weave into novels.
Presently, we have 3 dogs and 2 cats, which is not unusual for us. The animals choose us.
Starting in 2009, we began going through Julia Child's first two French cookbooks, when we found a recipe that appealed to us, we would make it. If it turned out well, we call friends for an impromptu dinner party. To be appealing, a recipe has to be complex to make, or otherwise be a challenge. So far, we've had friends over for every dish we've made.
Besides visiting with friends, I love to read and, of course, to write. The next story will be.... Oh, I'll keep that a secret for now
