Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein is represented by the interviewer's Pump Up Your Book Promotion, a public relations agency specializing in online book promotion.
Written by a ten-year-old girl as a diary, Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein’s latest book, The Truth (I’m a Girl, I’m Smart and I know Everything), embeds lots of positive truths that we all need to remember and live by, regardless of age. We interviewed Dr. Holstein to find out more about her new book and her life as a published author.
Thank you for this interview, Dr. Holstein. Can you tell us a little about yourself and how long you’ve been writing?
I am a positive psychologist in private practice in Long Branch, New Jersey. I’ve also been a teacher, a school psychologist and a learning consultant. I’ve been writing since I kept a diary in the fourth grade. As far as writing books that have been published, I’ve been writing for the past 18 years. My first book, The Enchanted Self, A Positive Therapy was about five years in the making. I wrote several earlier drafts that have never been published, and also conducted research. My last book, The Truth (I’m a girl, I’m smart and I know everything) was published in 2008 and was also the outgrowth of a draft that has never been published. This book took about four years to move from a first draft, to an edition for women, entitled, The Truth, I’m ten, I’m smart and I know everything, to the final book for girls, tweens, teens and their moms.
Do you write full-time?
No, I write part-time. I usually write late at night or in the morning. I dictated my first book, but have used the computer to directly write The Truth – both versions.
At what point in your life did you make up your mind you were going to become a published author?
I think that happened around the age of 30. I remember writing a secret list of what I wanted to accomplish and that was one of the items. However, at that time I had no idea as to what I would eventually write. I had to practice psychology for many years before I realized that I had a mission in the field of positive psychology to help women, and girls, to hold on to the best of themselves and not sell out to anyone!
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