Having spent most of my working career as a television journalist, I was immediately fascinated by the biography of today's guest in My Writing Corner, ML Barrs. She grew up one of thirteen children—the first girl, with three older brothers—a birth order she says shaped her essence by the time she was eight.
"A girl’s gotta be a bit pugnacious to get along in that environment," ML says. Amid the chaos of fourteen people living in a mobile home (not a double-wide), she tells us when she turned fifteen, she dropped out of school and ran away from home. Being homeless, then working minimum wage jobs quickly grew old. ML earned her GED and went to college, where she met and married the father of their two grown children and became a television journalist. She ran TV newsrooms for years, guiding and managing the content and production of more than eight hours of live newscasts a day.
"I started as a reporter, then moved into management," ML says. " I ran television newsrooms in markets large and small, leading teams covering everything from terrorist attacks and devastating storms like Katrina, to major elections and sports. I later moved on to become a General Manager, before deciding what I really want to do is write mysteries."
Her debut book, Parallel Secrets, will be published later this month, and she has a sequel in the works in her Parallel Mysteries Series. In her book, her protagonist, Vicky Robeson, shares the author’s passion for justice, especially when it comes to the safety and well-being of children and other vulnerable people. She has a sequel in the works. Let's learn more about ML's writing career.
What do you enjoy about being an author?
I enjoy disappearing into the world I’m creating as I write. Writing fiction is fun, though writing a book is harder than I expected. I love putting thoughts and words into other people’s minds and mouths.
How do you develop characters?
In some ways, they develop themselves as I write. For example, I was determined that my protagonist, Vicky, would be everywoman—not a remarkably fit former FBI agent with an eidetic memory and flawed personality, not a surly detective with remarkable intuition and a drinking problem, etc. Initially, Vicky was to be ‘normal’—emotionally healthy, average physique, etc.—just someone who was good at getting people to talk and at seeing connections others did not. As Vicky’s character evolved, however, it became increasingly obvious that her troubled past shaped her persona. She and her inner thoughts became more interesting.
Tell us about your road to publication.
It’s been a steep and sometimes rocky road. Writing a book was not easy, at least in part because I assumed that since I’d written and edited TV news stories for decades, writing fiction would be easy. Just make stuff up! My first experience with a professional editor was truly humbling. I’d resisted certain tenets of writing fiction, including the necessity of maintaining clear POV. I assumed readers would surely follow along as I hopped from head to head. Not so.
I began querying long before I had a good book. When I pitched agents in person and via letter, several requested more material, including the full manuscript. Some replied with rejection letters that were encouraging, others sent terse form letters, and many simply did not reply. My publisher, The Wild Rose Press, initially rejected my full manuscript but invited me to resubmit after I made a few (major) changes. I hired an editor, who pointed out not just flaws in my story but also opportunities to develop the plot and characters. She helped me clarify what I wanted to accomplish.
What is your book that you will feature today and how did you come up with the idea to write it?
Let's get a blurb:
After a young girl goes missing, former TV crime reporter Vicky Robeson joins the search with the help of her attractive new love interest. They take his RV to a tiny town in rural Missouri that's filled with odd characters and darker secrets. But Vicky has secrets of her own. She believes this kidnapped girl may be linked to a case she reported on nine years ago, when a mystery child was found walking on levee, bloody and unable to speak. Back then, Vicky failed to follow up clues only she knew. Now, she has a chance to redeem herself.
As she uncovers secrets, it becomes clear someone will kill to keep them hidden.
How About an excerpt?
Her eyes burned and the campfire smoke now smelled dangerous. She lifted her camp chair and moved away from the fire, away from the heat and light, closer to the RV to have something solid behind her. She read and reread the short article about the missing girl. Ten years old, disappeared from in front of her house while playing with a friend. No witnesses.
Fear and terrible images of a child taken, tortured, possibly killed—especially in Walkers Corner—swept away all thoughts except for what she needed to do next. She might not be able to undo the past, but this time she would do everything she could to help save the child.
It would definitely blow a hole in the camping trip, though, her first with the delectable Pete Harris in his eight-year-old RV. Damn. She liked the way he traveled, the way he thought, the way he looked, the way she felt with him. His jeans and plaid shirt hugged him nicely, and he moved smoothly while making sure everything was just so. And now, he wanted to get a place together. Too bad things were more complicated than that.
When he came over and kissed her, the fire reflected in his smiling eyes, color melting somewhere between chocolate and caramel.
Her return kiss was quick. “Sorry, something urgent’s come up. Would you mind driving me back to town?” Her voice felt tight and strained. “I need to go to Missouri for a few days.”
“What? Now?” He stepped back, looking concerned. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes, fine. I hate to disrupt our trip, but I need to look into something. A girl’s gone missing there, outside St. Louis.”
Pete tilted his head. A lock of light brown hair threaded with gray fell onto his forehead.
A bit more explanation might be called for. “There’s an Amber Alert. Her name’s Rose Willwood. I want to help find her. And I might write about it, and something else that happened there.”
Pete’s brow cleared. “Want me to go with you? I have free time. We can take the RV. If we start early and both drive we can make St. Louis by late tomorrow night.”
“Really?” Just like that, no more questions? What an amazing guy. “That’d be great. It’s about an hour or two this side of St. Louis.” Six months now, and he just gets better and better. Would he be like that if they lived together?
“No problem.” Pete started folding the tarp he used as a tablecloth. “I’d like to see more of Missouri.” He put the tarp and a lantern in one of his crates, already packing for an early departure. “How long do you think we’ll be there?
What’s your next project or what are you working on now?
I’m working on the second book in the Parallel Mystery series.
Wonderful! We look forward to it and for now here are the Pre-Order Buy Links for Parallel Secrets and ML's contact information:
Amazon (ebook): a.co/d/4aSGkOO
Amazon (print book): a.co/d/5Wubt07
Barnes & Noble: https://tinyurl.com/BNParallelSecrets
Goodreads (print book): tinyurl.com/yne66wuh
Goodreads (ebook): tinyurl.com/4j6jajzr
Social contacts:
My website: MLBARRS.COM
Amazon (Author): https://tinyurl.com/AmazonMLBarrs
Goodreads (author): tinyurl.com/bes3wndk
Goodreads own short: www.goodreads.com/mlbarrs
M Facebook: https://tinyurl.com/MLBarrsWrites
M Instagram: tinyurl.com/y45shn9x
ML Barrs (@mlbarrswrites) • Instagram photos and videos
M Twitter X: MLBarrs (@MLBarrsWrites) / X (twitter.com)
MLBARRS@OUTLOOK.COM
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