Life, Values & Legacy: Our Chat with K.S. Barton of Tucson, AZ

We’re looking forward to introducing you to K.S. Barton. Check out our conversation below.

K.S. , it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
Drumming. I’ve always loved music, and ever since I was thirteen, I wanted to be a rock drummer. I’ve had an electronic drum kit for a number of years but only dabbled playing it. Last year, I finally started taking lessons (with a fantastic teacher!), and recently I got an acoustic drum set, and it’s been so much fun. It’s something I love, something creative, and yet it gets me outside of my head and into my body. When I’m playing, I’m not thinking about what’s going on in my life or the world, and I’m not thinking about my writing – I’m simply enjoying playing music. Plus, bashing on the drums is a great stress reliever!

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m K.S. Barton, and I write stories of love and adventure set in the Viking Age. I have published six books set in the Viking world, including two series—The Norse Family Series in which a young Viking woman, the daughter of a jarl (earl in English) and a Viking warrior are caught up in a deadly blood feud between two brothers. The other series is the Helgi the Marked duology (which may end up as a trilogy), a story of a young man who comes of age in the turbulent world of the Viking era. In that book, my young Viking is a trader, not a warrior, and journeys as far as Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul). I also have a short story published in an anthology titled, Odin, with Flame Tree Publishing.

In addition to writing, I’m also the co-host of the podcast, Shieldmaidens: Women of the Norse World. It’s a monthly podcast that takes a deep dive into the lives of women in the Viking Age, exploring their roles, experiences, and contributions to Norse society. My co-host and I have interviewed many interesting writers, historians, and archaeologists, as well as discussing our own writing and research.

When I started writing about Vikings ten years ago, there were not many women who were writing in that time period, nor were there many stories about anyone other than Viking warriors. I wanted to highlight women who were not warriors, families, and relationships, rather than simply writing another book about a band of Viking raiders, although there is plenty of the fighting Vikings in my books! My Norse Family Series is about a blood feud, after all.

Right now, I’m working on a new trilogy about a tyrannical king who has forbidden the worship of any gods or goddesses except for Odin. In this story, we follow a young woman who is discovering magical abilities and a Viking warrior determined to avenge the death of his family. I’ve recently finished the first book in that series, and it’s now with beta readers, while I start work on the second book.

Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What was your earliest memory of feeling powerful?
My earliest memory of feeling powerful was as an elementary school girl. I’d always loved being active and was very athletic. Back in the 1970s when I was growing up, we had a lot of play equipment on the playground that is no longer in existence because it wasn’t safe. This includes huge metal slides, metal monkey bars that were much higher than they are now, and regular, straight bars at three different heights. The high bar was quite far off the ground, probably over six feet. I loved doing what we called “death drops” from that high bar. It basically meant I sat on the bar, slid down backwards until I was hanging by my knees, and then swinging until I could launch myself off the bar, landing in the sand below. I did all of this without using my hands. It was really dangerous! I loved the thrill of it. I’d also do wild stuff off the top of the monkey bars. Whenever I sat at the top of that high bar readying myself to do a “death drop”, while my friends watched, I felt strong and powerful. It was a good way to learn how to overcome fear, and I have to admit now that I was lucky that I was never hurt!

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
I’m not someone who thinks you should push through with everything you try. Not every activity is for every person, and sometimes it takes a while to find something that really speaks to you, and if you’re stuck on the thing that *doesn’t* work, you might miss the thing that matters most. Life is too short to force yourself to do something you truly dislike.

I practiced the martial art, aikido, for twenty years. When I was preparing for my first black belt test, I got pushed to my limit, both physically and emotionally. I was a middle-aged woman who had never considered doing a martial art before, and there I was going for a black belt. Every week when I went to class, I was put on the spot and had to demonstrate the techniques I would do in my test. I had to practice what we call a “randori,” which is when three people attack you at once. My teacher liked to pit three big guys against me in this randori exercise. I’m not big, so it was a real challenge.

More than once, I wanted to quit and walk away. I questioned my ability to handle this physical martial art when the majority of people I worked with were bigger and stronger than me. However, I kept showing up for class and eventually took my test, which went well. The randori ended up being the best part of the test! I kept practicing aikido for many years after that. Aikido transformed my life for the better, and I’m glad I stuck with it.

Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? Where are smart people getting it totally wrong today?
I take issue with the hustle culture and all the focus on productivity, especially when it comes to the creative arts. To me, life is better when it’s slower, when we can enjoy the fruits of our labor. I hate that employers expect employees to be on-call all the time, bothering them with calls at night and on weekends, and guilt-tripping them when they don’t answer. Time with family and friends, time enjoying a nice meal or a good movie or book, time spent in nature—those are all more important than making sure the client gets the whatever-it-is as quickly as possible.

When hustle culture is used to turn a hobby or creative endeavor into a money-making enterprise, it can very often turn that creative pursuit into something toxic. After I started taking drum lessons and got more serious about actually learning how to play, I got the inevitable questions about whether I wanted to be in a band and all that. The answer is no. All I want is to be able to play along to my favorite songs and create fun fills and basically just enjoy playing. I don’t need to commodify and monetize it. It can be something I do simply because I enjoy it. We can suck all the joy out of the creative arts when we feel we have to monetize them. Sometimes the arts are our way to explore our creative sides, and we don’t need them to be any more than that.

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
I feel I was born to be a writer. I’ve been doing it ever since I was a young girl. When I was young, I’d write little paragraph-long stories about my family or my pets and then draw illustrations to go along with them. One time I submitted a story about Santa to a local newspaper that got published. My first published work! I must have been about ten years old. In high school, I started a novel that I now realize was fan fiction of the book The Outsiders. There have been times in my life when I haven’t written stories, like when I was in college and graduate school, but other than that, I’ve always been writing. It just took me a few decades—until I was in my late forties—before I became serious about it. There hasn’t been anything in my life that has stuck with me for as long as writing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ksbarton.com/
• Instagram: @ksbartonauthor
• Facebook: @womenofthenorseworld
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@WomenoftheNorseWorldPodcast
• Other: BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/ksbarton.bsky.social

Image Credits
K.S. Barton