Barbara Delinsky
I was born and raised in suburban Boston. My mother’s death, when I was eight, was the defining event of a childhood that was otherwise ordinary. I took piano lessons and flute lessons. I took ballroom dancing lessons. I went to summer camp through my fifteenth year (in Maine, which explains the setting of so many of my stories), then spent my sixteenth summer learning to type and to drive (two skills that have served me better than all of my other high school courses combined). I earned a B.A. in Psychology at Tufts University and an M.A. in Sociology at Boston College. The motivation behind the M.A. was sheer greed. My husband was just starting law school. We needed the money.
Following graduate school, I worked as a researcher with the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and as a photographer and reporter for the Belmont Herald. I did the newspaper work after my first son was born. Since I was heavily into taking pictures of him, I worked for the paper to support that habit. Initially, I wrote only in a secondary capacity, to provide copy for the pictures I took. In time, I realized that I was better at writing than photography. I used both skills doing volunteer work for hospital groups, and have served on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and on the MGH’s Women’s Cancer Advisory Board.
I became an actual writer by fluke. My twins were four when, by chance, I happened on a newspaper article profiling three female writers. Intrigued, I spent three months researching, plotting, and writing my own book - and it sold.
My niche? I write about the emotional crises that we face in our lives. Readers identify with my characters. They know them. They are them. I'm an everyday woman writing about everyday people facing not-so-everyday challenges.
My novels are character-driven studies of marriage, parenthood, sibling rivalry, and friendship, and I’ve been blessed in having readers who buy them eagerly enough to put them on the major bestseller lists. One of my latest,
Sweet Salt Air,
came out in 2013.
Blueprints,
my second novel with St. Martin’s Press, became my 22nd New York Times bestselling novel soon after its release in June 2015.
Making Up,
my work in progress, will be published in 2018.
2018? Yikes. I didn’t think I’d live that long. I thought I’d die of breast cancer back in the 1900's, like my mom. But I didn’t. I was diagnosed nearly twenty years ago, had surgery and treatment, and here I am, stronger than ever and loving having authored yet another book, this one the non-fiction
Uplift: Secrets From the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Survivors.
First published in 2001,
Uplift
is a handbook of practical tips and upbeat anecdotes that I compiled with the help of 350 breast cancer survivors, their families and friends. These survivors just ... blew me away! They gave me the book that I wish I’d had way back when I was diagnosed. There is no medical information here, nothing frightening, simply practical advice from friends who’ve had breast cancer. The 10th Anniversary Volume of
Uplift
is now in print. And the money I’ve made on the book? Every cent has gone to my charitable foundation, which funds an ongoing research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Connect with me on Facebook: facebook.com/bdelinsky
Look for my photos on Instagram: instagram.com/barbaradelinsky
“My writing style has changed dramatically over the years, growing increasingly clean and exact. I like to think that I'm still improving -- that each book I write is a new personal best.”
“What do I love most? Working with words. Words in a sentence are like pieces of a puzzle; you try out a whole bunch, then turn them this way and that until they fit into the whole. Creating flow is crucial. There's nothing like the moment when, after working and reworking a sentence, everything falls into place, and you know that it's right. What I do love least? Touring. It's grueling, time-consuming, and lonely.”
“I write about the emotional crises that we face in our lives. Readers tell me that they identify with my characters. They know them. They are them. I'm an everyday woman writing about everyday people facing not- so-everyday challenges. And believe me, I love readers like you to bits. I've built my career one reader at a time. I owe a dept of gratitude to you all!”
“Лесно е да държиш главата си високо вдигната и раменете изправени,когато някой те гледа така,сякаш наистина иска да те види.Лесно е да срещнеш очите му,когато в тях съзираш всичко,което искаш да видиш.Лесно е да се усмихваш,когато той ти е показал толкова красив поглед към остатъка от живота ти.”
“Rain didn't make things messy. People did that all on their own.”
“Concentrating when it's the hardest is what builds character”
“I can't spend the rest of my life competing for your attention and coming in last.”
“But you don't know what I want, do you. You formed an idea of who I am and What I do, and you've woven that idea in your life. You may listen to my words, but you don't hear my thoughts. You don't hear my needs. You don't see me. You haven't seen me in years.”
“If you want to disappear, Emily, you can do it most anywhere.”
“The question was whether James would love me if I was someone else.”
“You kids were all in college, and I suddenly saw that I was stuck alone with a man who, all those years later, was still wanting me to be someone I wasn't.”
“What she did have, after raising two children, was the equivalent of a PhD in mothering and my undying respect.”
“I had nothing to fear from my father.Except his disappointment.Which was no small thing.”
“Choices are easy when you have nothing to lose.”
“Clear water sped over rocky clusters whose colors ran from ivories to mossy greens, blues and grays. Though clouds covered the sun, the sway of dappling evergreens gave the water sparkle.”