Happy Book Birthday to Tia Barber!

Another book birthday author is joining me on the blog today! Please meet my pal Tia Barber... 

The Book! 

On a scale of one to dead, Stephanie's date with the mysterious, uber-sexy Theo ends at a six--as in 'feet under.'


She's the country's premiere online matchmaker, but Stephanie's own love life is a disaster. So, when 'Death' phones her for a date, she knows her mom, a fading Hollywood starlet with bucket loads of free time, is taking yet another stab at her self-imposed spinster status. And the best way to get back at a meddling parent? Do the exact opposite of what her mom expects. Date on.

Greek primordial, Theo, is at breaking point. Loneliness and boredom are sorry bedfellows, and walking the newly departed to their final door drains him. Then he gets Stephanie's soul call. He's certain she'll have good advice for him before her time is up, but . . . she wants a date?

What follows is nothing short of mythical.

Sizzling chemistry, near-miss accidents, soul-changing travel, a magical gown, and a wine bar full of secrets: god-powers are at work for Steph, but her death is inescapable, sending Theo into a downward spiral that threatens reality itself.

But Stephanie's end is just the beginning . . . and it'll be her job to prove . . .


It's never too late for love.

* * * * * * *

Death On Line One is a modern day paranormal romance featuring primordials, gods, mythical monsters, and a quirky 35 year old heroine with a knack for fumbling, well, everything.

The Links!
​
​Website
Facebook
Twitter
Book Bub
Goodreads
Instagram
Amazon
Newsletter

​The Interview...

​Who are you and what do you write?

Hi! I’m T.K. Barber, I write Romance in several different veins.

Where and when and how did the writing life begin for you?

Gosh. Well, most writer’s stories probably begin like “I wanted to read a book about something and couldn’t find it, so I decided to write it.” That’s mostly true for me, but I was simply too impatient to search for it, to be honest. I’d never been a big reader, so I wasn’t even sure what to look for. And it only officially started 3 years ago, though I’d written poetry in high school.

How has the journey to this point been? Can you give us a basic rundown?

The journey has been...interesting and fast. Once I decided “hey I could probably do this book thing” I wrote a TON. My very first book, Arrhythmia, (which will be coming out—rewritten—in a couple years) was such a lil newborn baby. I honestly didn’t know anything. EXCEPT I learned I could really tell a story. Mechanics—ehhhhh, needed a lot of work. Even so, it was well received, which only spurred me to write more, and faster. I couldn’t type as fast as these ideas wanted to come out of my head. (Death On Line One was actually conceived, written, and given cursory edits in a little over 3 months! It was a push to make #KissPitch.) To the date of this interview I have 63 wips. In 3 years. 🤣

What's been the hardest part of your writing/publishing experience so far? And the most enjoyable?

Hands down the hardest part is my disability. I have a rare neurological disorder called Intracranial Hypertension (IH) which mimics a brain tumor’s worst symptoms, but has no true cure. There are only a couple medications that help with the swelling around the optic nerve, and the preferred one I had a bad reaction to. So, second tier for me!  I lost some vision in my left eye before I was officially diagnosed and started treatments, but there are days when I can hardly see at all. Imagine having a migraine and wearing two pairs of someone else’s glasses, (opposite prescriptions, one upside down) at the same time, plus tinnitus. There have been days where I’ve passed out from the raised pressure, as well. The problem is, my muse kinda doesn’t care, and keeps shoving words and plots into my brain. So, on flareup days I use my ipad & keyboard attachment, throw my screen up to the apple tv and blow the font up large enough so it goes from seeing quadruple to seeing double—which I can work through. Now, when the vision issue piggy backs one of the pressure headaches...well, those days I just sleep.

BEST thing, has been learning that I’m actually a tad bit more capable than I thought I was, even though I’m still kinda all over the place. Also, meeting fellow writers, finding a group of people who truly cheerlead for me at every turn, and learning that these bizarre things in my mind are actually things people want to read—and love!

Would you go back and change anything?

Oooh. That’s a tough question. I think I’d go back and turn off the self doubt. It’s such a pointless, vicious monster that’s cost me a lot.

Where would you like to be in 5 years time? And 10? Or, what are your plans for the future?

In 5 years I hope to have achieved at least one official best seller status. Not because I think it means my work is somehow magically better than another author who doesn’t have it, but because that would solely mean that in the course of a week (or two—I can’t recall) 5000 people will have bought one of my books. That’s a lot of people I might touch with my stories.

10 years I want at least one of my books turned into a movie. Past that, I dunno. I just want people to love my characters, talk about them like the real people they are to me, and clamor for more words. I’m all about the fans.

What's one piece of advice you'd give to new writers just starting out?

Stop relying on advice all the time. Here’s why. There’s good advice, and there’s crap advice. Problem is, you’re too green when you start out to know which is which. The single worst thing I ever did for myself was look up what a particular VERY famous author had to say about writing multiple books. (see above ‘self doubt monster.’ Someone made a passive aggressive comment about how many WIPs I had.) According to *famous author*, I was doing it all wrong, and it wasn’t possible to be successful that way. So I decided to make my brain focus on one book. Just one. It broke me. I nearly gave up writing. I cried a LOT. Because the book I was writing wasn’t working, no matter what. And my muses were seriously upset that I’d turned off the fountain. I still get sick when I think about how many ideas I lost during that time. But *famous author* said the only way to be successful was to stick to one book. I was obviously a failure, right?! It was a very, very low point in my career. Thank God I had a couple good people help me through it, otherwise Death On Line One wouldn’t exist!!

Ketchup or Mayo? —mayo!
Night or Day? —night
Inside or Outside? —inside
Dogs or Cats? —cats!
Twitter or Facebook? —tough...uh...facebook
Ebook or Paperback? —ebook
Walk or Drive? —omg drive.
Sun or Rain? —rain (I’m sounding more and more like a moody hermit as this list goes on)
Keyboard or Pencil & Notebook? —keyboard (ipad preferrably!)
Comedy or Drama? —Comedy! (Ha! See? Not all moody!)
Chips or Chocolate? —chips. Only because chocolate and I aren’t on speaking terms anymore