The Truth: I'm Ten, I'm Smart and I Know Everything

When I did some research on author Dr. Barbara Holstein for the blog, I came across an excerpt from her latest book I just had to share it with you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. After the excerpt is a short interview with Barbara. I want to encourage you to check out her blog and get to know here work.


From The Truth: I'm Ten, I'm Smart and I Know Everything

Dear Diary,
I have a secret. I was going through my mom and dad’s night tables while they were out, and I found these great tubes in my father’s night table. They said Trojan on the label. You have to unravel them really carefully and then you can fill them with liquid, just like test tubes. I went into the kitchen and put sugar and water in one of them, salt and cinnamon in another, oil and pepper in a third and cleaning powder and water in the last. I had fun shaking them. I pretended I was a scientist. I hope my parents didn’t mind that I opened all four of them. Why would my dad have test tubes? He’s not a chemist.-

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Dear Diary,

I hate Gloria. Her teeth are too straight. She won’t need braces. That isn’t fair! Also, her thighs are slimmer than mine and don’t have little puckers on them. I hate my puckers. At the beach my mom told me to just hold my stomach in and no one will notice my legs. But that is NOT the truth!The truth is Gloria has nicer legs than I do, and she knows it. In dance class she does turns really easily. Who wouldn’t with those legs? I guess she will grow up to be a great dancer and I won’t. I think I’ll trip her accidentally when she walks by my desk.

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Dear Diary,

Today, when I came out of the shower, I lifted my arm in front of the mirror as I was drying myself, and I had three dark hairs growing from my right armpit! I can’t believe it. It is beginning.

Good news: nothing in the other armpit yet.

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WOW: Welcome to the WOW! blog. Let's start with a little bit about yourself.

I am a Positive Psychologist in private practice in New Jersey. I wrote my first book ten years ago, THE ENCHANTED SELF, A Positive Therapy, which is a pathfinder book in the field of positive psychology, particularly for women. My discovery of what I call THE ENCHANTED SELF(R) has been a driving force in my life every since. The Enchanted Self is a person's capacity to regenerate again and again happiness, purpose and meaning in life, by learning how to utilize her own strengths, talents, coping skills and potential in ways that are uniquely right for her. It involves learning how to sift through our memories and our past to discover what we have enjoyed and also what is right about ourselves, rather than what is wrong. You can find out all about The Enchanted Self at my website, www.enchantedself.com and also download a free paper for women on THE SEVEN GATEWAYS TO HAPPINESS.

WOW: You wrote your first book ten years ago but how long have you been a writer?

I guess I have been a writer since I was nine. That was when I received my first Girl Scout Diary that I kept faithfully, although 3 days late always, for three years.

WOW: How cool. I never could keep a diary. What do your family/friends think about your writing?

My friends are very supportive. My mother is very supportive and so was my father who was thrilled when my first book came out. I think I inspired my mother, Bernice Becker, to finally get her stories together and with my help she published her first book three years ago, FEEL GOOD STORIES which you can find on my website . These stories go from the day she was born until living in a retirement community and being in a talent pageant at 80.

WOW: Seeing your mom publish must have been very rewarding. But what about your own writing, what is most frustrating, most rewarding?

The most frustrating thing is how to get my work out there so people actually read it. For example, with my first book, I would like it to be used more often as a supplemental text for training therapists and counselors. Like most authors I thrive on a sense that my work is helpful and generates thought, new ideas, etc.

The most rewarding part is when someone does read the book and writes or calls me. For example, when I heard from a psychiatrist in Sweden that my book put into words the correction in mental health care that she had been dreaming of, I felt wonderful. And she found my book in England! What a wonderful adventure in travel-even for my book.

WOW: I know you have a very busy schedule. Do you read much? What kinds of books inspire you to write – if any? Favorite authors?

I read some novels-not a lot. I love a complicated mystery, love story. The DaVinci Codes was certainly a pleasure for me. I didn't want it to end. I won't finish a book if I am not feeling satisfied.

WOW: As a writer do you have days when the words won't flow? If so, what do you do?


I don't write much on those days. I have plenty else to do.

WOW: Do you have a "golden rule" of writing that almost always works for you?

I'll reread what I have written so far to kind of fall in love with it again. Then I can usually get started with the next part or fix up what I have. Either way it is a good use of my creative time.

WOW: What one piece of advice can you share with our readers?

I would say that if you like to write, write. Don't think about anyone else in your decision to write. If you get a sense of fulfillment than someone else will too.

WOW: As we come to a close, what would you like to add? Any upcoming publications or links for our readers? Current projects we should watch for?

Well, of course, my newest book, THE TRUTH, I'm Ten, I'm Smart and I Know Everything, which is my first work of fiction.

THE TRUTH ... how do we carry the truth from girlhood to adulthood? That priceless ‘truth’ that we all recognize as kids? How do we walk over that bridge into growing up, carrying the Truth? How do we recognize THE TRUTH in our children and help them carry their most precious selves into adulthood? What if we could pass the gift of our early wisdom and brilliance along to our children, giving them permission to hold on to their most precious jewels?

THE TRUTH, I'm Ten, I'm Smart and I Know Everything, is a delightful, humorous secret diary, written by a girl who is 10-11 years of age. She is wise and yet so innocent. She makes us cry and laugh and remember ourselves. Behind this very easy read is the psychological message to the women reading THE TRUTH that they can and must recapture the fire and passion of their girlhoods not only for themselves to flourish and be happy, but for the next generation to also have the gifts of good emotional and spiritual health.

Women love the book and so do girls. Women find it a pure delight-a hot fudge sundae with a secret message inside and no weight gain, while girls recognize themselves and finally feel totally understood!

I'm planning a special release of this book for girls between 10-14 for November of 2007. Information will be available on my blog, The Enchanted Self and of course on my website.

This book is the beginning of a fiction series. In the next book, which I have almost finished, the girl grows from 12 to 14 and is beset by a whole new set of adventures, emotions and growing pains.

Meanwhile, I keep busy with my radio shows. I have two. One is THE ENCHANTED SELF magazine on Ladybuglive and the other is Happiness for Women Only.


Thanks Barbara and good luck with all you do.