The Creativity Files: Marilyn Baron

- What artistic medium(s) do you work with? I traditionally write women’s fiction and romantic suspense, but my recent series of humorous, supernatural e-short stories — the Angel Trilogy — is a new medium for me and one I’m really enjoying. So many of America’s greatest writers, including John Updike, Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, J. D. Salinger, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Edgar Allen Poe, excelled in the short story genre. In many cases, these writers are known for their novels but they also wrote short story collections. Short fiction is a respectable story form and a literary tradition I wanted to follow on the Internet, since e-books are the wave of the future.  

- How did you get your start as a writer? I wrote my first story in fourth grade. It was called “East West Island,” and featured all of the children in my class as characters. My teacher read it in installments during class every day. I’ve been writing all of my life. I majored in journalism and creative writing at the University of Florida and have worked for corporate clients as a public relations consultant throughout my career. Now I am focused on writing fiction.    

- As you work on a piece, what things inspire you? A sunrise, a wedding, any phenomenon in nature, a tragedy, or a snippet of conversation I’ve overheard. Inspiration is all around us. We just have to be open to it. I started writing my angel stories this year after my father passed away when I began seeing signs everywhere – a butterfly, a bird, a deer, a cloud formation. 

- Do you have a favorite piece? My second angel story, “Follow an Angel,” is my favorite in the Angel Trilogy. It features The Angel Gabriel, or Gabe, as he’s known on Facebook. Gabe works with the main character, Eden, who has given up on love, to find a million Twitter followers before he can spread his message of love and help Eden find her soul mate. All my standalone short stories feature angels and weddings. They’re all humorous, with unexpected twist endings, where the characters turn adversity into triumph.      

- What is your favorite thing about being a part of the artistic community in Roswell? I love blogging for as part of the Local Voices platform because I get to “meet” so many wonderful people who all enjoy the terrific Roswell lifestyle.

- Where can people view your work and/or buy it? To read “A Choir of Angels,” “Follow an Angel,” or “The Stand-In Bridegroom,” you can purchase a PDF eBook file or find a Kindle, Nook, OmniLit or Smashwords link from TWB Press online or search Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, Smashwords or OmniLit, by title and author.