As a child, I lived in my imagination and dreamed of being the next Beatrix Potter. I crafted what-ifs in my head, wrote and illustrated stories and poems, but never thought of myself as a storyteller. In the teen years, I wanted to become a fashion journalist, and after college, I worked in the industry as a publicist. I’ll never forget the joy of bashing out press releases on my manual typewriter! “Writing is still writing,” was my motto.

Then I married an American professor and emigrated from London to the rural Midwest. While searching for full-time work, I started my first novel. Truly dreadful, it became my learning curve. Once I’d scratched that itch, I couldn’t stop. I began writing in the cracks of life and landed my first pub. deal months before turning fifty. Now I have five novels in print.

Writing is my passion, my escape, my therapy, and the way I process life in the trenches with mental illness (my son and my husband battle OCD, a chronic—much misunderstood—anxiety disorder). On some level, I’m always trying to create a better story for myself. That’s the reason I write hopeful family drama populated by characters who display endless courage as they battle invisible disabilities. I want to scream about that courage from the rooftops, because there is no shame, and it’s time to end the stigma.

http://barbaraclaypolewhite.com/

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