Welcome back to Duck Chat!
Today Jo Barrett joins us from Texas, that big old southern state where a lot of duckie reviewers hail from. Currently a columnist for H Texas Magazine, Jo also is a guest speaker for corporations and charitable events. She’s an attorney and is a former Capitol Hill staffer for Congressman Collin Peterson. Of her three books, The Men’s Guide to the Women’s Bathroom and This is How It Happened are being adapted into screenplays, and Don’t Let it Be True is making the rounds in Hollywood. She’s garnering rave reviews on all three books, so let’s find out more about them from Jo!
DUCK CHAT: Jo, your latest book, Don’t Let It Be True, hit the shelves this past Tuesday. Can you give us a sneak peek inside?
JO BARRETT: Read the book. It’s a guaranteed laugh once you get into it. I feature bold Texas characters, and a unique couple who is already madly in love but facing many of the trials that modern day couples tend to face today – family members, childbearing, sex, financial strain, living arrangements, marriage commitment, and community reputation. I didn’t want to do the ordinary “girl meets boy” scene. Instead, I wanted something REAL.
DC: I’ve heard writers often say their stories take them in surprising directions, or dialogue flows from some unknown place. Is it the same with you? Do your characters surprise you sometimes?
JB: I wake up in the middle of the night with my characters speaking to me. This is why I keep a notepad and pen next to my bed so I can write down the dialogue they say to me in the middle of the night!
DC: Do you ever argue with your characters while you’re writing? Who usually wins?
JB: No arguments. I love my characters.
DC: I had such a good time at your website. Your Potty Talk is hilarious and I was definitely laughing out loud. Would you tell folks where the idea for your new book, The Men’s Guide to the Women’s Bathroom came from.
JB: I spent a lot of time listening to women’s bathroom conversations and I realized that the women’s bathroom is a tremendous place. It’s a place for women to come together and discuss their deepest, most profound secrets. The amazing thing about this sanctuary of ours is that women can enter a bathroom as complete strangers, and leave the bathroom as friends.
DC: Congratulations on having Hollywood looking at doing something with the book. Will you be involved in whatever that process turns out to be or is it all too early to know?
JB: I am deeply involved in the Hollywood translations of my novels, and work closely with the screenwriter developing This is How it Happened into a film project, and also the television production people working on The Men’s Guide to the Women’s Bathroom.
DC: What’s your best bathroom story?
JB: Actually, I think the greatest advice women give to one another happens inside the bathroom. Once I overheard a woman tell her friend: “Honey, don’t be the welcome mat to the man in your life; be the door he feels lucky to walk through.” And I thought to myself, “Wow, this should go in a book!” That’s when I started recording the women’s bathroom conversations I overheard.
DC: What is sure to distract you from sitting down and working/writing?
JB: A beautiful, sunny day outside. It’s tough to fight with the sun.
DC: Is there a genre you haven’t tackled but would like to try?
JB: Domestic Crime Fiction, also known as Domestic Malice. I enjoy thinking about the lengths two former lovers would go in order to attain some modicum of revenge.
DC: Who’s your favorite author?
JB: John Irving
DC: And your favorite book?
JB: A Widow For One Year is a beautifully crafted novel and was also made into a film with Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger.
DC: What advice would you give to your younger self?
JB: Stop studying so much and go out and have fun! Go to the U2 concert and go see Madonna perform in Mexico City on her Vogue Tour, instead of spending all of that time in the library!!!
DC: If you had never become an author, what do you think you would be doing right now?
JB: I would be the Governor of Texas, and I would act exactly like Ann Richards.
DC: If you could retire any question and never, ever have it asked again, what would it be? Feel free to answer it.
What is my favorite novel? I think this question is difficult to answer because I have so many favorites. So, I always pick just an oldie, but goody.
Lightning Round:
– dark or milk chocolate?
dark
– smooth or chunky peanut butter?
chunky
– heels or flats?
Nike tennis shoes
– coffee or tea?
both
– summer or winter?
summer
– mountains or beach?
beach
– mustard or mayonnaise?
Mustard. Mayonnaise reminds me of my mother’s bologna sandwiches in the 1970s.
– flowers or candy?
candy
– pockets or purse?
pockets
– Pepsi or Coke?
Coke. No contest.
– ebook or print?
PRINT. PRINT. PRINT.
And the fun continues!
1. What is your favorite word?
evocative
2. What is your least favorite word?
sucks
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
The idea of finishing a project. A “job well done.”
4. What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
Losing my Internet connection.
5. What sound or noise do you love?
Birds in the morning, or the sounds of ocean water lapping on the sand.
6. What sound or noise do you hate?
Smoke alarms
7. What is your favorite curse word?
Fuck has some nice connotations.
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
It would be cool to conduct an orchestra or possibly be Ann Curry and do some huge morning show in New York City.
9. What profession would you not like to do?
Dental hygienist
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
“Your father is here waiting for you.”
