Here’s What My Savvy 24-year-old Protagonist Taught Me … By Lisa Barr

Here’s What My Savvy 24-year-old Protagonist Taught Me …

By Lisa Barr

Every author knows that putting out a new book into the world comes with a 24/7 “I’m-SO-Sick-of-Me” social media presence. I made a pact with myself this time around that I needed to do something meaningful to me personally to promote my third novel, WOMAN ON FIRE, a gripping tale of a savvy, young journalist who gets embroiled in a major international art scandal centered around a Nazi-looted masterpiece.

As a mom of three young adult daughters living in a house we once nicknamed “Drama Central” and “Casa Sephora” (don’t ask), I decided I wanted to create a campaign that reached out to GEN Z. I developed an idea I call “Carpool CARE-aoke”.  The goal is to bring seasoned authors together to help create “a strong, kind, confident, body positive young generation. Basically, giving the best of US to help GEN Z navigate and become the best of them.

This gig, I knew to my core, was going to be my kinda campaign.

On a weekly basis (via video) a different author shares advice of the “one thing they would tell their younger self if they could …” I was overwhelmed with gratitude when more than 60 authors jumped on the Carpool bandwagon, and their collective advice has been golden – not just for Gen Z, but for all ages. And this campaign, instead of dreading it, has become something I truly look forward to posting each week.

Hint to my colleagues: Social media can be a time-suck, but find your “thing” so that it puts something positive into the world that you can be proud of – filling you instead of depleting you. 

WOMAN ON FIRE’s 24-year-old protagonist, JULES ROTH, has a lot of “the younger me” in her – the ME of years ago, before I became crusty, old, and jaded. Before life got in the way of idealism. Before kids got in the way of fearlessness. Before I knew better than to take on risky assignments … Now, I just write about them from my little cushy corner in Suburbia.

What would Jules say to me if she could, I wonder? She would DEFINITELY tell me that I’m too stressed out and need to just let shit go. She would warn me to stay from those who bring me down. I can practically hear her confident voice ringing in my ears: Get rid of toxic people and stick with those who are good, kind, generous, and caring. She would emphasize that even though I am of a certain age – not to give up on seeking the truth and to always see the best in people. She would remind me to give my kids more space, more room to fall and rise WITH less worry attached from me. It will help them become who they need to be, she’d emphasize, not who you want them to be. Remember, she’d say, as she taps her trusty tape recorder over my head – You can’t protect them from their mistakes and let’s be honest, your mistakes made you a better writer and made your characters more compassionate, empathetic, and authentic.

Isn’t it ironic that we learn from our characters as we write them? We grow in sync with their development because our ensemble of imaginary friends forces us to dig deeper into our own lives, thoughts, actions. We tend to learn from our own mistakes as we give our characters similar life tests.

So, this is a thank you to Jules … As I wrapped her up, I realize that I gave her the ability to traverse the world as an intrepid idealistic reporter through my younger woman’s lens, and in return, she gave me the gift of remembering who I once was and reminded me to carry those qualities with me as I forge ahead on my literary and life journey.

Author Bio 

Lisa Barr is the award-winning author of WOMAN ON FIRE, THE UNBREAKABLES and the historical thriller FUGITIVE COLORS, a suspenseful tale of stolen art, love, lust, deception and revenge on the “eve” of WWII. The novel won the IPPY gold medal for “Best Literary Fiction 2014” and first prize at The Hollywood Film Festival (Opus Magnum Discovery Award). In addition, Lisa served as an editor for The Jerusalem Post, managing editor of Today’s Chicago Woman, managing editor of Moment magazine, and as an editor/reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times. Among the highlights of her career, Lisa covered the famous “handshake” between the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the late PLO leader Yasser Arafat, and President Bill Clinton at the White House. Lisa has been featured on Good Morning America and Today for her work as an author, journalist, and blogger. She lives in the Chicago area with her husband and three daughters (aka: Drama Central).

Twitter: @lisabarr18

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FugitiveColors

Book Site: www.lisabarr.com

 

WOMAN ON FIRE

From the author of the award-winning Fugitive Colors and The Unbreakables, a gripping tale of a young, ambitious journalist embroiled in an international art scandal centered around a Nazi-looted masterpiece—forcing the ultimate showdown between passion and possession, lovers and liars, history and truth.

After talking her way into a job with Dan Mansfield, the leading investigative reporter in Chicago, rising young journalist Jules Roth is given an unusual—and very secret—assignment. Dan needs her to locate a painting stolen by the Nazis more than 75 years earlier: legendary Expressionist artist Ernst Engel’s most famous work, Woman on Fire. World-renowned shoe designer Ellis Baum wants this portrait of a beautiful, mysterious woman for deeply personal reasons, and has enlisted Dan’s help to find it. But Jules doesn’t have much time; the famous designer is dying.

Meanwhile, in Europe, provocative and powerful Margaux de Laurent also searches for the painting. Heir to her art collector family’s millions, Margaux is a cunning gallerist who gets everything she wants. The only thing standing in her way is Jules. Yet the passionate and determined Jules has unexpected resources of her own, including Adam Baum, Ellis’s grandson. A recovering addict and brilliant artist in his own right, Adam was once in Margaux’s clutches. He knows how ruthless she is, and he’ll do anything to help Jules locate the painting before Margaux gets to it first.

A thrilling tale of secrets, love, and sacrifice that illuminates the destructive cruelty of war and greed and the triumphant power of beauty and love, Woman on Fire tells the story of a remarkable woman and an exquisite work of art that burns bright, moving through hands, hearts, and history.

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Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing