#Interview ~ The Little Girl Inside: Owning My Role in My Own Pain by Tonya Barbee ~ iamstillarose

This is one of my stops during the two month tour for The Little Girl Inside: Owning My Role in My Own Pain by Tonya Barbee. This virtual book tour is organized by Write Now Literary Book Tours. This tour runs October & November. Follow the tour here.  Book your own tour here WNL

The Little Girl Inside: 

Owning My Role in My Own Pain 

by Tonya Barbee

Interview with Tonya Barbee:

Crystal: Today I am so happy to host Tonya Barbee! Welcome Tonya! I'm so excited to have you join us today. Would you share a little bit about yourself with us today?  

Tonya: I’m from Durham, NC, an Army brat, went to Frank W. Ballou H.S. in Washington, DC and have been in the DMV since then.  I graduated from National-Louis which is based in Chicago where I earned my MBA.  For the past twelve years, I’ve worked as a project manager for Department of Defense in which I am responsible for managing both the internal controls and records management for the agency.  I have 35 years in the operational field.  While accomplishing all of the above, I also managed to raise four beautiful children, a product from three marriages.  During the span of a little over thirty years, I managed to raise my kids on my own. I rose through hardship, “potential” poverty, depression, betrayal and a host of other challenges.  I chose to make changes by self-reflecting, to never quit.

Crystal: Do you have a favorite scene you would like to share with us? 

Tonya: There are a few great scenes that I like because I tended to write about it in a comical way but it wasn’t that funny when it actually occurred. There was a scene when I described what I saw with my own eyes as my husband (at the time), allowed his friend to rub the back of his neck as if they were lovers. I witnessed this from riding in the back seat along with my daughter and I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me until she confirmed she saw it as well. 

Crystal: Where did you come up with the idea for the book title?

Tonya: The title of the book was not my choice, it was the editor’s. After reading my book, she thought of the title.  She explained to me that I was an adult looking for the fantasy that a little girl would be looking for. She said I was, “like a little girl inside of me” while I was an adult.  Her interpretation of the book was that I married to find true love and happiness through a fantasy vision without taking into consideration, plain reality. As a result, I kept going in circles until I came to the conclusion after much self-reflection that I was the common denominator and that it was I that needed to change and own up to my responsibilities of the mess that was happening repeatedly.  This is how the title came about, “The Little Girl Inside Owning My Role in My Own Pain.” 

 Crystal: What are you currently working on?  

Tonya: I’m currently working on a co-author collaboration of  short stories, testimonies about overcoming a challenge, and a prayer chapter in which all the authors included a few prayers that they wrote.  My story is titled, “Prayer Works.” In addition, I’m writing the “whole story” which is like a sequel to my first book.

Crystal: Do you have any special routine that you follow when you are writing?

  

Tonya: My specific routine is to first pray that God is directing my steps so that I can remain focused.  Secondly, I have learned to set a time to sit some place quietly in my home so that I can concentrate.  Then, I began to review my prepared outline (which is what I work from), and began to write.  Occasionally, nothing appears on paper.  When this occurs, I usually step back, read something else and later, I can get back on track.  That is routinely how I write.

Crystal: Did you have to do a lot of research on this book or any other?

Tonya: Being that my last book will feature a subject on bigamy, I’m in the process of doing research. I did do research on my first book in regards to what type of people have no remorse of hurting others and I learned through research, these types of people are called sociopaths.  They have no regard for whom they hurt.  Sociopaths also prefer to gravitate and exploit intelligent people as themselves.  It’s a game to them.  Researching brought much needed clarity to me.

Crystal: Who are some of your favorite authors that you like to read? 

Tonya: In past years, my favorite books were:  Waiting to Exhale, A Day Late and a Dollar Short, by Terry McMillan.  She’s my favorite author.   I’ve read all her books but the two left a lasting impact.  Back in the past few years, I liked Dean Koonz’s books.  My favorite books that he wrote are Intensity and the Fun House. I still get scared just thinking about them.  And most recently, I enjoy reading books by Sophie Kinsella.  My favorites so far are The Undomestic Goddess and Finding Audrey. She makes me laugh while reading her works. 

Crystal: Is there a genre you haven't written that you would like to try? 

Tonya: I would like to try fiction and drama.  Primarily I would like to write a few novels and comedies. I think that would be fun!

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About the Book: 

The Little Girl Inside is a prolific story of triumph and discovery of inner peace. With each page, the reader will be captivated while the author uses the writing pen as a sowing tool-seaming a garment of praise, banner of victory and fabric of joy. With imaginative color, the book is a perfectly designed combination of patterns expressing the maturation of a woman.

A uniquely designed transparent jewel every woman should own in her jewelry box. The Little Girl Inside is a ministry resource tool for women in search for transparency in the human heart. The author shows us how to overcome the inner battle of doing the right thing the wrong way, going from finding love in the wrong places to allowing love to be revealed in the right time and in the right place.

ASIN: B00VJFVN5Q

ISBN-10: 0692564802

ISBN-13: 978-0692564806

Genre: Non-Fiction

Buy Links: 
Amazon | B&N

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Excerpt: 

I made room for Sir Intellectual to bring what I thought were the remainder of hi things. I also made room on my health insurance policy just in case he didn't have any. Too bad it didn't occur to me to ask him. My ability to confront was non-existent. I decided not to wait until I returned to work to handle it. I contacted my carrier and updated my policy to include my new husband. 

The whole time I felt sad that he wasn't contacting his carrier to include me. I had a husband, though what caliber of husband, I wasn't sure. Sometimes I wanted to slap myself for being so needy that I overlooked important things and ignored flags, bells, and whistles.

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About the Author: 

TONYA BARBEE is a novelist and aspiring playwright. Her most recent published work is titled, The Little Girl Inside Owning My Role in My Own Pain. She is currently working on another project that complements this book. Tonya grew up in Durham, NC, a family of four daughters and one son. Her father, Woodrow served his country for twenty years as an Army officer, retired then taught ROTC for another twenty years and her mother, Doris, a college administrator. She is a proud 1980 graduate of Frank W. Ballou High School in Washington, DC. She worked in operations and management for Department of Agriculture for twenty years. For the past ten years, she’s worked as a project manager for Department of Defense in Washington, DC. She studied at National-Louis University where she earned her Masters in Business Administration in 2009.

Although she’s worked her way up the ladder in the federal government, she had no idea she would end up writing professionally however she has always enjoyed sharing her personal life through story telling with those she thought she could help. Then something clicked. As she writes, she is in hopes that her work reaches her readers that have been through something and have contemplated giving up. Her goal is to enable her readers to become empowered to keep moving forward to accomplish their dreams no matter what challenges they have been faced with.

Tonya resides in Bowie, MD with two of her youngest children, Christian and Zachary. Her eldest two, Andrew and Jessica left the nest years ago and have blessed her with seven beautiful grandkids.

Author Links: 

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