In this episode, I sit down with Barbara Caver, a film and television production executive, passionate traveler, and first-time memoirist. Her debut memoir, A Little Piece of Cuba, weaves together Cuban heritage, family memory, and a life-changing trip in a way that resonates far beyond cultural boundaries.
In our conversation, Barbara and I talk openly about the creative process, emotional roadblocks, and how lived experience slowly becomes a finished book. What emerged is a powerful reminder for aspiring authors: memoir isn’t about recording everything that happened — it’s about listening to what memory insists on telling.
Travel as a Portal to Heritage
For Barbara, the call to write her memoir began with a trip to Cuba — a journey she describes as both grounding and transformative. Although she was born and raised in the United States, her Cuban heritage always lived at a distance, more sensed than understood. Standing on Cuban soil changed that.
As she walked the streets, visited ancestral spaces, and stayed in an Airbnb that mirrored her grandmother’s home, memories surfaced with unexpected clarity. Smells, textures, and small details unlocked stories she hadn’t planned to write but suddenly couldn’t ignore.
What struck me most was how travel didn’t add content to Barbara’s story — it revealed what was already there. Her experience is a powerful example of how place can activate memory, and how physical environments can become portals to emotional truth.
Writing Memory, Not Just Chronology
One of the most helpful insights Barbara shared is that a memoir doesn’t have to follow a straight timeline. While her trip to Cuba forms the chronological backbone of A Little Piece of Cuba, childhood memories and family stories surface organically as they’re triggered by present-moment experiences.
A bathroom tile in Havana becomes a doorway back to her grandmother’s house. A familiar layout sparks a memory long tucked away. Rather than forcing order onto the story, Barbara let memory lead.
With the guidance of a developmental editor, she worked in manageable writing increments, setting word count goals over three-month periods. Writing during the pandemic required flexibility, patience, and momentum — not perfection. Breaking the project into smaller “chunks” made the book feel possible, even during life’s disruptions.
Vulnerability, Doubt, and the Moment of Release
Interestingly, Barbara shared that impostor syndrome didn’t arrive during the writing — it arrived on publication day. The moment her story entered the world, fear followed close behind.
Would family members recognize themselves?
Would readers understand her intentions?
Would the story resonate beyond the Cuban American experience?
Those fears are familiar to anyone writing personal work. What helped Barbara move through them was hearing from readers who saw themselves in her story — even when their backgrounds were different. The book’s themes of belonging, identity, and family traveled farther than she expected.
Memoir, when written honestly, often reaches the people it’s meant for — even when the author can’t predict who those people will be.
What Memoir Writers Can Learn from Barbara’s Journey
Barbara compares memoir writing to running a marathon: the most important thing is finishing. Along the way, she learned to stop chasing perfection in early drafts, to resist the urge to self-censor for imagined readers, and to trust vulnerability as a bridge rather than a liability.
She also offered practical wisdom:
- Work with a developmental editor if possible
- Set realistic word count goals
- Don’t discard deleted scenes — they often become essays, blogs, or newsletters later
Even marketing, she noted, is simply another form of storytelling — one that asks you to stay connected to the heart of why you wrote the book in the first place.
Continuing the Conversation
Barbara’s journey reminds me that memoir isn’t just about documenting a life — it’s about making meaning from memory, place, and perseverance. A Little Piece of Cuba stands as proof that when writers listen closely to what memory offers, the work finds its own shape.
🎧 Listen to the full episode with Barbara Caver on the Authors Who Lead podcast.
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