When Dr. Gladys Barrio retired after decades as a chemist, science supervisor, and university professor, most people expected her to slow down. Instead, she started writing.
Not just anything. The story that had been waiting her entire life.
Empowered by the Dream: A Journey of Resilience is the result, an independently published memoir that traces three generations of Barrio’s family from the horrors of the Spanish Civil War through exile in Cuba, displacement after the 1959 Communist revolution, and eventual resettlement in Puerto Rico and the United States. The book has earned two awards and strong reader reviews. A Spanish-language edition is currently in development.
Barrio appeared recently on Jolene’s Books and Writers Talk, hosted by Jolene MacFadden, and her story offers practical lessons for any writer considering the ambitious, deeply personal work of memoir.
Start with purpose, not with the whole book
Barrio’s first piece of advice is deceptively simple: do not try to write the whole book at once. She wrote one story. Then another. Then another. At some point she looked up and realized they formed something larger. This approach, she explains, makes the project manageable. It also keeps you close to the emotional truth of each moment rather than losing it inside an overwhelming outline.
For aspiring memoir writers, this is a meaningful reframe. You are not writing a book today. You are writing one story today.
The writer versus the author distinction
On the podcast, MacFadden asked Barrio whether she distinguishes between being a writer and being an author. Her answer is worth quoting closely: you become an author when you publish. You become a better writer through daily practice, reading, and growth. She holds both designations with clear eyes, proud of what Empowered by the Dream has achieved while also honest about how much she continues to develop.
For writers in critique groups, writing classes, or early drafts, this distinction matters. Publishing is a milestone. Craft is a lifelong commitment.
How a scientist learned to tell stories
Barrio’s academic background gave her discipline and precision. It did not give her the storytelling tools a memoir requires. For those, she turned to OLLI, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, which offers courses and workshops for adults 55 and older at universities across the United States. There she found creative writing courses, writers’ workshops, and eventually a critique group through the South Florida Writers Association.
The community, she says, did two things. It improved her work through honest feedback, and it pushed her to keep going. After finishing Empowered by the Dream, her critique group was already asking what came next.
Translation is not just translation
One of the most interesting moments in the interview comes when MacFadden asks about the Spanish edition in progress. Barrio is firm: a mechanical translation would lose the essence of the book. The Spanish language forms sentences differently, carries different rhythms and textures, and a direct word-for-word conversion would flatten the beauty she worked hard to build in English. Her editor is producing a working translation that Barrio will then massage chapter by chapter, reaching for the richness she admires in the great Hispanic authors she reads.
For indie authors considering translation, this is a useful caution. Translation done well is nearly a second act of authorship.
The writing ritual that protects the work
Barrio writes in the mornings, after breakfast, in a small office she calls her chapel. A candle. Mozart playing softly. Phone unanswered, door closed. She cares for an elderly mother and five grandchildren, so this time does not come easily. But she protects it, and she says the ritual has made writing something she runs toward rather than away from.
For writers struggling to carve out consistent time, her approach is instructive. You do not need hours. You need a space that feels like yours, and the discipline to show up for it.
What comes next
Barrio’s second book centers on Hurricane Helene and a family wedding in Nashville. She was traveling to the wedding when the storm hit, and the story now involves every member of that family arriving from across the country, including one who required FEMA rescue. She is interviewing each family member for their individual perspective, building the book the same way she built the first one: one story at a time.
Whether the couple finally got married? You’ll have to read the book.
Find Gladys Barrio and Her Work
Empowered by the Dream: A Journey of Resilience on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4cPZW1K
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Gladys-Barrio/author/B0CY9WG3L5
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Gladys-A-Barrio-Books-61570168762505/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/g330133/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/48967114.Gladys_A_Barrio
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/gladys-a-barrio
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gladys-barrio-24a9b156/
Listen to the full interview on Jolene’s Books and Writers Talk, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts.
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