Barbara K. Richardson
I chose landscape design as a profession because it balances the slow, sedentary nature of novel writing. Designs quickly become real, clients are happy, and I’ve hiked several miles per day placing plants and looking up at beautiful trees. I’ve worked as a landscape designer for thirteen years. It is very important to build success into your life while attempting to write and publish novels.
Prior to that, I taught for ten years. Great, exhausting work. I read aloud to students every day, entering the magic zone where each of us is at our best and the quest for meaning is rewarded.
After college, I had my own sailboat refinishing business in the Bay Area for seven years. I helped sail a 44’ boat from Kauai to San Francisco, a far more boring process than ever imagined. The horizon closes down and it’s you, your boat mates, your ship, eighteen days/nights, and once in a long while a glass float or really tired bird.
I managed an independent bookstore while in college, Waking Owl Book Company—a beloved Salt Lake City institution that closed its doors after 22 years. It housed the first Tibetan buddhist meditation center in SLC in the late ‘70s, the Dharma Bums.
From 1990-1992, I earned an MFA in creative writing, studying with John Keeble, Ursula Hegi and Nance Van Winckel. I published two essays on Philip Larkin, both based on primary research done in the Reading Room of the British Museum (sacred ground) and at the University of Hull, using Larkin’s first manuscript notebook and corresponding letters. I loved seeing his birth as a poet.
Renovating houses has been a pastime and a necessity. Once the dust settles, the house is home. I have loved tango, tai chi, identifying wildflowers, cooking for friends, gardening and canning the harvest. I believe most people would do better with less.
Give me an old three-speed bike and an afternoon off. I call that happy.
Prior to that, I taught for ten years. Great, exhausting work. I read aloud to students every day, entering the magic zone where each of us is at our best and the quest for meaning is rewarded.
After college, I had my own sailboat refinishing business in the Bay Area for seven years. I helped sail a 44’ boat from Kauai to San Francisco, a far more boring process than ever imagined. The horizon closes down and it’s you, your boat mates, your ship, eighteen days/nights, and once in a long while a glass float or really tired bird.
I managed an independent bookstore while in college, Waking Owl Book Company—a beloved Salt Lake City institution that closed its doors after 22 years. It housed the first Tibetan buddhist meditation center in SLC in the late ‘70s, the Dharma Bums.
From 1990-1992, I earned an MFA in creative writing, studying with John Keeble, Ursula Hegi and Nance Van Winckel. I published two essays on Philip Larkin, both based on primary research done in the Reading Room of the British Museum (sacred ground) and at the University of Hull, using Larkin’s first manuscript notebook and corresponding letters. I loved seeing his birth as a poet.
Renovating houses has been a pastime and a necessity. Once the dust settles, the house is home. I have loved tango, tai chi, identifying wildflowers, cooking for friends, gardening and canning the harvest. I believe most people would do better with less.
Give me an old three-speed bike and an afternoon off. I call that happy.
Let Love Change You
Paperback available at online booksellers, or ask for Guest House at your favorite independent bookstore.
Order copies now!
Contact: guesthouse@barbarakrichardson.com
