Barbara Quick, on when she’s not writing!
The lovely Barbara Quick, author of the recently reviewed A Golden Web, is here today to share with us a little bit about what she does when she isn’t busily writing her amazing books. As a reader, I love to know things like this! So away we go!
For the past two years I’ve been living in the countryside in the Wine Country of Northern California with my fiancé (very soon to be my husband!), who is a violist with the San Francisco Symphony. Between his practicing, teaching and the weekly concerts I attend, I’m pretty much immersed in the world of classical music—a world that I’d immersed myself in imaginatively when I wrote my 2007 novel, Vivaldi’s Virgins.
Wayne has a small hobby vineyard here—and I’m growing flowers, vegetables and berries in little garden areas I’ve been cultivating around the property. We don’t use any pesticides, and we compost all our kitchen garbage—which means that the soil is very alive here, and I want to keep it that way. The frogs sing during the rainy season, and there are birds singing all the time.
When I’m not writing, I love working in the garden. Right now we have the most fantastic strawberries, sweeter than anything you could ever find in a store. During the summer and fall, I hardly have to buy anything at all in the produce section (apart from tropical fruit). Twice a week I take an African dance class, which is such fun because there are live drummers and it’s all very high energy.
Wayne and I both love cooking. He makes pasta from scratch (am I lucky or what?).
Most of the time I go around in old jeans and flip-flops. But once a week I get all dressed up in an evening gown to go to the Symphony. I always liked playing dress-up when I was a little girl, and now I get to do it in style. The only time that Wayne and I are in formal clothes at the same time is at Intermission, when he comes over in his tails to sit with me for a moment and say hello before he goes back onto the stage.
I have wonderful friends, and it’s always a treat for me when one of them comes up here for a visit. Same thing with my 18-year-old son, who has just finished his first year at college. He plays the guitar and sings, and sometimes he asks me to help him figure out a song or play the base part or try to sing harmony.
It’s funny, because even when I’m not writing I’m storing up impressions that I know I’ll use in my writing later on. Being a writer is a 24/7 kind of job—a very lovely job, but one that you’re working on all the time.
Thank you so much Barbara for stopping by and sharing this with us!
