Renata Barcelos Interview and Giveaway!!!

Author Bio:

Renata F. Barcelos lives in Brazil with her beautiful and creative daughter and teaches English and Spanish as Second Languages.
She watches way too much TV and reads perhaps too many (almost exclusively) mystery novels. Nonetheless, she has somehow convinced herself it's all work - research for her own stories.
She writes for as long as she can remember, and has two published works: 'Mean: a Psychological Thriller Novelette' and 'My Sore Hush-a-Bye'.
She's now working on a novel called 'Myself in Blue'.
http://renatafbarcelos.wordpress.com
@RenataFBarcelos
https://www.facebook.com/RenatalFlBarcelos

Hey all my crazy little bats, visiting us today we have the amazingly talented Renata F. Barcelos, author of MEAN a psychological thriller novelette and My Sore Hush-A-Bye.
Welcome Renata and thank you so much for taking the time out to spend with us batty ones today :)

1. So first let me say MEAN absolutely blew me away, I have never read anything like it and I was just mind blown. Where did your inspiration come from for that book?
Thank you so much for saying that, Chasity. I really loved your review of ‘Mean’.

I always wanted to write about therapy sessions having the reader somehow as the therapist. The idea of a dialogue that was actually a monologue was at the back of my mind for a long time. I had started it some times, but never found it good enough.

Then, one day I was going to work and as I was entering the train, the opening sentence just popped in my mind: “I don’t mean to be mean, you know.” I started writing on my cell phone, and within two days, I had the basic plot done.

It may sound a little weird, but it’s usually like this with me; the story just comes and tells itself in my mind!

2. Both of your books are very deep, dark reads, are any of the experiences based on someone you know or events in your own life?

Unfortunately, yes. Events in my own life and other cases that we heard about the last few years on the news.

I had a very difficult, abused childhood, and was severely bullied in my early teen years. That’s why I write about dark and twisted themes—in the hope that one day they will only exist in fiction. Unfortunately, there are lots of kids suffering ordeals like the one Camille faces in “My Sore Hush-a-Bye”. Since most of them are never going to have the chance to tell their stories, I think it's important to read about it, even if it's fictional, so people will perhaps be more alert to recognize the signs. There may be a child right next to you in need of help, and you may not see it if you don't know what to look for. I hope that my fictional story might help give a voice to helpless children everywhere.

3. What books have most influenced your life?
I’ve been a compulsive reader ever since I learn how to read. I used to read anything, but when I was 13, I read “The Killing Doll”, by Ruth Rendell. I was completely hooked up to the genre! Recently, “A Cupboard Full of Coats”, by Yvvette Edwards, and “What They Do in the Dark”, by Amanda Coe.

4. If you had to come up with a soundtrack for My Sore Hush-A-Bye what are some songs that would be on there?
Mama Cass would be in almost every scene, that's for sure! Especially "All the Pretty Little Horses", (the song that inspired the title) by The Big Three, featuring Mama Cass.
And a lot of old songs: The Beatles, Johnny Cash, Petula Clark, David Bowie, Desi Arnaz (Rick Ricardo),The Carpenters, etc. I’d buy that CD! J

5. My Sore Hush-A-Bye is a book that tells a story that unfortunately happens much more than we would like it to, is there a message you would like to give to girls that may have experienced something like Camilla did?

I guess the message is to never give up. Don’t let the abuser win; don’t let them ruin your life. It is possible to recover and be happy, be positive, be YOU. The scar is going to be with you forever, but you can choose to see the marks of a survivor, a winner, not wounds of defeat!

6. Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
My mind is chaotic. I have ADD, so it’s not easy to focus. Sometimes I have so many pieces of the story wanting to be told at the same time that it’s a challenge to write one at a time.

7. What are you currently working on?

Now that ‘My Sore Hush-a-Bye’ is released (November 2^nd), I can focus on ‘Myself in Blue’.

This book will tell the story of Sunday Morning and her mother, a famous singer called Iris Morning. The story starts with twenty-year-old Sunday coming back home in 1989, after 5 years of absence, to make amends with her past before her time comes, since she has terminal cancer. The book will focus on Sunday, but also on Iris, ever since she was a teenager in the fifties, trying to become a professional singer against her dominant stepfather’s wishes.

8. Who are some of your favorite authors and what do you like about their writing?
Ruth Rendell, first of all. The way she presents apparently random facts and people to perfectly tangle them along the story is fascinating.

I like Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch series. I used to say that Harry is like an old friend of mine. I enjoy Connelly’s sometimes poetic descriptions.

Yvvette Edwards, Camille Way, Amanda Coe, Simon Lelic, Leslie A. Gordon, Gillian Flynn, Chevy Stevens and Tanya Byrne are authors that I’ve read recently and really loved. Their prose is beautiful.

9. Who designed the covers for you books?
My daughter and I. She’s a great artist, and also an amazing model!

10. Will you continue to write these deep, intense stories or do you see yourself branching out into other genres someday down the road?
I’ll definitely continue on this path. I am a very positive and—people normally say—funny person despite my past. I chose to be happy, and I don’t even like to watch the news, because I don’t want to hear about the horrible things happening in the world… However, when it comes to writing, all I can produce are dark, twisted and damaged people! I believe that the first complete book I wrote was called Angellina’s Curse. It was a school project on second grade about a city consumed by fire after a criminal attack! My teacher loved it, but I think she was a little worried about me...

Plus, I want to continue alerting people about those themes and hopefully help along the way.

 

A huge thanks to Renata for being here today and being such a sweet person!!

You can visit Renata here:

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6428116.Renata_F_Barcelos

http://renatafbarcelos.wordpress.com/

http://www.twitter.com/RenataFBarcelos

You can purchase her books here:

MEAN: http://www.amazon.com/MEAN-A-psychological-thriller-novelette/dp/1479102814/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1351907350&sr=8-2&keywords=mean+a+psychological

My Sore Hush-A-Bye:http: http://www.amazon.com/Sore-Hush---Bye-Renata-Barcelos/dp/148010034X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1351910125&sr=8-1&keywords=my+sore+hush+a+bye

My Sore Hush-A-Bye

Renata F Barcelos
Publishing Date: November 2, 2012

 

Book Description:

 

Camille is a young girl stuck in the past. Classic TV shows, old music, and dresses that never made it into the 21st century.

After her mother left a puzzling note leaving her in the care of Uncle Bob, she had a rough go of it, not wanting to conform to his rigorous rules and this new life. But she learned. She learned to love and accept her sheltered life.

That all starts to change when Camille finally goes to public school once she reaches her teenage years. She meets a friend who mysteriously disappears. She has suspicions that Uncle Bob may not be the perfect man she once thought. She starts thinking about her mother.

Most important of all, she begins to grow up, and that is what changes everything...

 

My Thoughts:

 

‘My Sore Hush- A -Bye’ I was one of those books I could read in one sitting, if I had the time course. Which currently real life is really getting in the way of my reading habits, so it took me a little bit longer to finish. However, this was such an amazing book. Renata really has rare writing talents. This book made me cry, I loved that it was told from the girls point of view so that you could really see how everything affected her. You could really grasp just how deeply she was victimized, how she couldn't even like a normal human being with think because of the things that had been done to her. Almost like Stockholm's syndrome but until the end, she didn't know she was the victim. It was such a sad story. But unfortunately things like this happen more often than we'd like and this book gave us insight into the damage it causes in the victim's mind.

 

Hopefully Camille’s story can help other people that have been victimized realize that they can move on. They can recover and be okay and I hope that this book really opens people eyes to see what really is going on outside and to pay attention to the signs because there are so many children out there that need help and don't get it because people do not know what to look for.

I think were not does amazing work, her writing is just phenomenal and I think she is just a great person all around and her writing goes much deeper than just writing the book. She has a much bigger purpose for why she writes the stories that she writes. ‘My Sore Hush- A- Bye’ is a book that you absolutely have to read it would just blow your mind and make you really think about this world and the people in. So please take the time out and check this book out and check out this author. It means a lot to me. I know I don't normally say that, but this one definitely hit home.

Giveaway!!!

Now for the giveaway!! Renata has been kind enough to gift a paperbook copy of her lastest novel My Sore Hush-A-Bye and boy let me tell you, whoever wins is a very lucky duck :) It's a great book!!

The rules:
Open to the US only, sorry guys.
Fill out the rafflecopter below
The winner will be announced on here and will be contacted by email, the winner will have 48 hours to respond before I will be forced to choose another winner.
Have fun and please share the word!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway