Tena StetlerAuthor of Paranormal Romance/Suspense & Cozy Mysteries With Magic Spark!

Jun 5th Bear With Me by Marilyn Barr An Interview

Give a warm welcome to Marilyn Barr author of Bear With Me. I see you brought along a couple guests. Please introduce them.

Happy to, this is Grant and Alison from Bear With Me. 

Welcome Grant and Alison.  How about we pull up a chair, grab a drink of your choice from the cooler, a Chocolate Chip or Peanut Butter cookie from the plate, and let’s find out a little about Grant and Alison as well as Marilyn then of course Bear With Me! 

Lets start with Grant, tell us about the real you—

Hi, Thanks for having us.  I’m Grant Luther, the senior director of regulatory affairs at Bergan Pharmaceuticals.  We specialize in genetically engineering biologics and my role is to collect the safety data into a package for FDA approval.  I turn science into medicine.  We outsource our clinical trials but the R&D, microbiological testing, genetic engineering, labeling, and API manufacturing all happen in-house.  We are quite self-sufficient. Our next product, Julibamar, is a new approach to schizophrenia treatment.  This biologic drug augments the gut flora to change the chemicals sent to the brain.  It will naturally balance neurotransmitters.

Tell us three things we’d find if we looked under your bed?

Hopefully nothing!  It is an old plantation home but I had it restored, including pest removal.  Ten weeks ago, I left our home in Ohio to live in Strawberry, Kentucky.  This gave me some time to focus on Bergan Pharma and transition into my new role.  This weekend Alison and our son will be joining me.  I have picked out a renovated plantation home and decorated a new master suite.  However, I haven’t slept there yet.  Azolicyst, another Bergan product, is close to approval so I have been working around the clock.  When I do sleep, it is either collapsed at my desk or on the ugly couch in my office.  The lack of sleep will be worth it when we bring relief to ulcerative colitis sufferers.

……What makes you laugh out loud?

Henrik is our twelve-year-old son and class clown.  When his school in Ohio would call, they had the most outrageous stories about my son.  I was too busy holding in my laughter at the description of his antics to be of much help.  It is a blessing in disguise that Strawberry is over an hour away from the nearest public school.  Henrik is a musical autistic savant and will enjoy homeschooling because of the extra time he will spend on his composing.  While he is more social at school, he will be more productive at home.  How much could he possibly be learning from the principal’s office anyway?

……What makes you angry?

Having a mechanical, electronic, or internet problem winds me up into a tailspin.  I’m trying to save people from pain and suffering.  Being blocked by an “unknown permissions error” or “conductivity reduction error”, is unacceptable.  Bergan has a two-man IT department who I swear spend more time on my couch than at their screens.  The jokesters have made me feel welcome but act more reactive than proactive.  It is like they weren’t trained to work in corporate America.  The CEO loves the pair when all they do is set our deadlines behind our potential trajectory.  There is something I’m missing.

What event in your past has left the most indelible impression on you?

My life changed when Alison fell into it.  We were college seniors and I was stuck in an ecology class.  I needed to fulfill my environmental science requirement, or I wouldn’t have been in her path.  For class, we had to volunteer in the greenhouse, and my job was watering the Mineola trees.  One day, I fell off the ladder onto Alison’s plants.  When she blazed at me for squishing them, I was drawn to her like a moth.  She is so beautiful when she gets riled up like that, I had to spend more time with her.  I had to get to know the woman so passionate about the injustice of the little seedlings.  We started dating and have been together for almost thirteen years.

  What do you most value?

I value a hard day’s work and the people who have them.  With hard work, the pharma industry can make the world a better place.  Some people go to work to make money, I want to save lives and reduce the pain in others.  I work tirelessly to provide medicine for the sick, jobs for my community, and necessities for my family.  Alison and Henrik have sacrificed as much as I have so I can reach the top of my field.

Life should be easier now.  I can afford to give Alison all the riches she deserves for being alone all those years.  I am so lucky she understood that having me working overnight on life-saving medicines was more important than having me home to help change diapers.  I plan to reward her sacrifices with everything she asks for whether she wants jewels, clothes, or a new car.  So far, she has only asked me to start listening to her, whatever that means.

…..What do you sleep at night?

More often than not, I sleep in a crumpled version of the suit I wore during the day.  Bergan Pharma has a full gym with locker room so I can shower and change at work.  If I wake up at my desk or on my office couch, it is no big deal.  I keep extra clothes in my office for a quick change.  With Alison moving to Strawberry, I hope to have more reasons to sleep at home.

You see, we haven’t shared a bedroom in close to five years.  In an awkward phone conversation, I convinced her to move into the master suite I have decorated for her.  After a day of moving furniture, she will retreat to a luxury suite with soaking tub, high-thread-count sheets, and so many soothing potted plants, it feels like sleeping in a forest.  I hope she likes it.  I hope she lets me use it.

    What is the type of woman you want to spend the rest of your life with?

Alison.  Not her type, just her.  We were meant to be together and I will do anything to keep her.  I’m not stupid.  I know she has one foot out the door.  This move is my one last chance to make what we have gone through the last few years worth it to her.  We have made it financially, so everything else should fall into place.  The only instruction she has given to me to fix us is to listen to her.  Sigh, she doesn’t talk.  We fight and she retreats to her garden for sensory relief.  I don’t follow her because I want to be understanding about her disorder.  I want to fulfill her need for grounding but maybe it is time I start chasing her again.

What do you consider most important in life?

The most important thing you can do with your life is to make a difference.  Whether it is at Bergan, raising my son, or interacting with the community, I will leave the world a better place.  With the correct genetically engineered probiotics, Bergan will save thousands from pain and suffering.  I am honored to be a part of their efforts.  With each new drug, another faction of our world can contribute to their communities instead of nursing their diseases.  A domino effect of innovation, improvement, and creation comes from each life we save.

       What is your biggest fear?

I fear I will lose my family.  If I fail to keep Alison, Henrik will suffer the most.  She will take him back to Ohio where her family can help her raise him.  This is my one last chance to prove to Alison that I love her more than life itself.  I can feel that we were meant to be together and I am committed to doing what it takes to save our marriage.  If only I knew what it was, I needed to do.

I plan to build Alison a paradise.  Our new home has a few acres for her to garden for hours.  We are isolated from the town center, both stoplights, so she can go days without human interaction if she desires.  The house itself has floor-to-ceiling windows in most of the room so she doesn’t have to use electric lights whose buzzing irritates her.  She can eat in privacy without worry about judgment over her sensory demands.  I have found the way she senses the world fascinating, but she has told me of the bullying she experienced for her eating rituals.  I tried to read her mind and give her everything she desires.  I only hope that I chose correctly.

Sorry to chat and run, but work calls.

 Okay, Ailson, your turn in the hot seat.  LOL  Only kidding.  

Tell us who are you really?

Hi, thank you for having us.  I’m sorry Grant had to rush back to work.  The drive back to Strawberry is longer this time of year with all the deer crossing the highway.  I am Alison Luther, Teacher…well, former teacher…not a school teacher, I taught at a garden center.  My new job is as a homeschool mom.  Henrik is so excited and I will adjust.

Tell us three things we’d find if we looked under your bed?

My gardening apron ends up on the floor more nights than not.  I stay outside as late as I dare.  I love to watch the flowers close at night.  Their petals furl and their scents fade, changing them from broadcasters of beauty to quiet serenity.  I stay out until the earth cools beneath my bare feet so dusty footprints are also under my bed.  The third item would be the vacuum cord.  Grant hates my dirty footprints and follows me with a vacuum on days when he is home.  Sometimes I wonder if he is entertained by my messes or annoyed.

……What makes you laugh out loud?

I love the antics of my students at the garden center.  The small children hunting for worms in commercial potting soil always makes me chuckle.  One elderly gentleman planted a gummy worm in a plant before one of my classes.  I laughed until tears formed in my eyes at the squeals of delight from the preschoolers who found it.  I was grateful when he coached them into releasing it into the wild instead of eating it.  I smile to myself when I imagine what will happen when their mothers try to give them gummy worms for the first time at home.  I will miss teaching at the garden center.  Hopefully, in a community full of homeschoolers, Henrik can make some friends for me to teach.  Bonus points if he can find friends who enjoy science more than my little musician does.

……What makes you angry?

Broken promises light my fuse.  When Grant promises Henrik to do come to a school function, do an activity with him, or help with schoolwork, I expect him to follow through.  It may not be saving humanity, but it is a promise Grant chose to make.  Sometimes I wish he would just stop making promises.  The man has a silver tongue and with a flash of his dimples, I will agree to anything.  I mean…I’m following him to a state I have only seen on TV shows.  Perhaps the next time he shows me an ad for something he wants to buy for me, I should ask that he keep his former promises instead.

……What do you sleep in at night?

I sleep in a camisole with either shorts or yoga pants.  When I am in the garden at night, I do yoga.  Grant says our new home is far from the town center lights with a balcony, so I can imagine I’m amongst the stars.  I stretch my tired muscles while clearing my mind of the turmoil of the day.  Fights with Grant and Henrik’s principal drain from my body into the earth.  I return inside so relaxed, I collapse in my bed still dressed for yoga.

   Who were the biggest role models in your life?

Even though she is younger than me, I would love to be more like my sister, Betty.  She’s a nursing student who balances the nurturing part of her nature with a no-nonsense attitude.  No one tries to stomp on Betty.  From playground bullies to high school mean girls, Betty has taken on anyone who picked on me for my sensory processing disorder.  She is confident, unashamedly opinionated, and has a true sense of self-worth.  She is always there to be a pillar strength for anyone who needs it.

What kind of man do you want to spend the rest of your life with?  

As much as I would like to give a vague description, I might as well give the short answer: Grant.  Does that make me stupid?  Despite all we have been through, I only want to be with him.  He provides structure and security when my senses are constantly rioting.  When the world becomes too much for me, I can leave myself in his care…when he isn’t too busy saving the world.  Am I being selfish when I want a piece of his time too if he is the key to saving the lives of so many?

What kind of man would you never choose?

I’m not sure which is worse a cruel man or an indifferent man to the problems of the world.  I am passionate about the well-being of plants, animals, and children.  As much as I complain about Grant working all the time, I wouldn’t love him without his drive to save humanity from disease.

What is most important to you in life?

My son Henrik is my legacy.  I wish to teach him to value our planet and all its creatures.  We need to open our heart to sharing our world with all plants, animals, and people.  It is up to us to include everyone in our community and make the necessary accommodations to help them feel comfortable.  Henrik is so bright.  He often rescues me with his earbuds when we go shopping in a store with loud fluorescent lights or coolers.  I can never predict whether a store will be habitable until I am in it.  With Henrik’s earbuds, I can navigate the store and complete my purchases.  I hope he learns to extend this kindness to everyone he meets.

What is your biggest secret?

Oh, I shouldn’t say…my parents raised me not to talk about it.  Has Grant left?  Oh yes, he left for work right after his segment.  You see, he is so accepting of my quirks from sensory processing disorder that I didn’t want to press my luck and tell him I am a Green Witch.  I was born with the ability to grow plants by touching them.  Only my parents, siblings, my witchy aunt Sarah and now, you know my secret.  At the garden center, I just always wore gardening gloves.  When Grant is around, which isn’t that often, I make sure I do not touch plants.  If he starts to spend more time at home, I will have to spend less time with my plants or come clean.  How can I tell him after hiding it after all these years?  It is not like he will believe me anyway.  He doesn’t believe in magic.

Thank you Alison!

Marilyn, tell us a little about writing Bear With Me.  Was it fun or difficult?  Do your characters always act as you expect? Are you a plotter, or fly (write) by the seat of your pants?

My books start with a dream.  The dream is either the ending or the final scare through the eyes of a new character.  Bear with Me started with a dream after writing a journal entry about my husband driving to our new home from work.  We had just moved to Kentucky from Ohio just like the Luther family.  I wrote about my husband cruising to our new home while balancing a pizza box on the front seat of his BMW.  The journal entry is now Chapter 2 in the novel.  The following night I dreamed I was addressing a crowd of animals in the pizzeria of my childhood.  There were wolves, birds, elephants, all the predatory cats, and even a hippo.  The dream setting became Paulino’s pizzeria and the animals became the Strawberry Shifters’ pack.

I am often found writing post-its in the middle of the night which will be turned into character aesthetics in the morning to brainstorm their rules.  It is important to me that the character be consistent throughout the book in their go-to gestures, level of swearing, and favorite phrases.

In Bear with Me, Grant has loud, larger than life persona without trying.  His thundering footsteps, imposing voice, and boisterous laughter fills the book. His character aesthetic was the first completed task when I decided to turn a journal entry into the novel. I didn’t make Alison’s aesthetic until I had written a few chapters for the book was originally an ode to my spouse, completely from his point of view.  When I added Alison’s chapters, her aesthetic detailed her long-winded sentences, plant analogies, and how she twists her fingers when she gets anxious.

After I have my rules for the characters, the next step is a living outline.  A grid is laid out on plain paper and each chapter gets a box.  During the first draft, the boxes are cut apart to be rearranged with new chapters placed between them as I get tuned into the characters.  Bear with Me was entirely from Grant’s point-of-view in its first outline.  However, that outline was cut, pasted back together, and decorated with marker five times before the first draft was completed.

Bear with Me is deeply personal with Grant and Alison serving as exaggerated parodies of my spouse and myself.  Giving up my homestead in Ohio to move to a state I had never visited was the adventure of a lifetime.  It was the life change that brought our marriage back from the edge, but will it work out for Grant and Alison?

Tell us a little more about Bear With Me.

Blue eyes, dimples, and silky brown hair; Grant Luther has all of Alison’s weaknesses.

When he asks for one last chance to save their marriage, she agrees to relocate their family to isolated Strawberry, Kentucky in pursuit of his career dreams. Grant views Alison’s sensory issues as limitations and protects her from outside threats. When he finds his new job includes changing him into a shifter in a war against the soul-sucking Sluagh he vows to keep the changes a secret. What he doesn’t know is Alison has been hiding a magical secret of her own. One that makes her a target of the Sluagh.

Will Alison emerge from Grant’s shadow to protect her family? And can Grant learn that being different can be a strength not a weakness?

Sneak peek between the pages of Bear With Me:

“You look perfect. I mean perfectly healthy. I mean mostly uninjured,” she stammers. She places her tiny hand over her eyes.

Feeling braver than ever, I walk right up to her. I gently remove the hand from her face and hold it to my own. “See, I’m fine,” I whisper as I gently rub my thumb over her tiny knuckles.

Her eyes lift to mine and lock our gazes. I have always found the golden color of her eyes fascinating but never studied them up close. They are light brown with a golden star in the middle. I am literally star gazing as she takes in the injuries to my face. We stand there for about a minute, lost in time.

I wonder if she is thinking about when we first started dating, the hard times that followed, the present, or the future. I search her face for clues but don’t want to break the spell by opening my mouth. I decide to put said mouth to better use by lowering my head toward hers.

Bear With Me Buy Links:

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About the Author of Bear With Me:

Marilyn Barr currently resides in the wilds of Kentucky with her husband, son, and rescue cats. When engaging with the real world, she is collecting characters, empty coffee cups, and unused homeschool curricula.

She has a diverse background containing experiences as a child prodigy turned medical school reject, biodefense microbiologist, high school science teacher, homeschool mother of a savant, and advocate for the autistic community.

She would love to hear from readers via her website: www.marilynbarr.com.

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It was wonderful having you all with us today.  Please feel free to stop by anytime. Good Luck with Bear With Me.

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