Nina Romano interview

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

When did your love of books begin?

My love of books started when my mother stopped reading fairy tales to me and began reading Longfellow's epic poem, The Song of Hiawatha. The other book she read to me was The Thousand and One Nights—my favorite story was “Scheherazade” and I asked her to read it repeatedly.

When did you start to have the wish to become an author?

I was sixteen years old when I started to write a novel, but closed the notebook and said to myself, I’ll write it when I’m forty and have something useful to say.

How have you found the process for becoming an author?

I have definitely found the process of becoming an author. I have a BA degree in English and an MFA in Creative Writing. I’ve taken many workshops with famous authors at writing conferences throughout the USA. I have also taught seminars and writing workshops in libraries and at conferences. I’ve attended readings and panel discussions and have participated in various ones as well. I have read from my poetry collections and novels in many independent bookstores. I’ve presented at book expositions and fairs including the International Miami Book Fair various times. I’ve read most of the classics in English and many in translation from other languages—you can’t be a writer if you don’t read.

What would you say to those wanting to become an author?

Don’t. My mentor/professor/friend John Dufresne, a prolific writer, said something like this in the first graduate class I took with him—“Be anything else in the world but an author—writing is too hard.”

Tell us about your book/books:

I have traditionally published with small, independent presses five collections of poetry: Cooking Lessons, Coffeehouse Meditations, Faraway Confections, She Wouldn’t Sing at My Wedding, and Westward: Guided by Starfalls and Moonbows. Also published but no longer available are two chapbooks of poetry and one collection of short stories entitled: The Other Side of the Gates. I published one non-fiction book—a collaborative effort—Writing in a Changing World.

I have had all of my writing traditionally published. The three novels of the Wayfarer Trilogy were released by Turner Publishing. The three books are: The Secret Language of Women, set in China during the Boxer Rebellion, Lemon Blossoms, set in Sicily in the late 1800s, and In America set in New York during the Great Depression.

With a new publisher, I have begun another series: Darby’s Quest, Native-American Westerns. The first one: The Girl Who Loved Cayo Bradley is already published, and Book #2, Star on a Summer Morning, hopefully will be released in late summer. I also have an historical thriller, Dark Eyes, set in Soviet Russia, which should be released in late spring.

What do you love about the writing/reading community?

I like interacting and networking with authors, writers, editors, publishers, and readers. I try to be encouraging and I find the majority of people in the Twitter writing community are supportive of others' work. 

If you could say anything to your readers what would it be?

I would hope that my writing is inspirational, and readers find something of intrinsic value in the particular work—whether it be one of my poems, a short story or a novel. With fiction, I hope they find my characters compelling, my story absorbing, and a piece of universality that makes the writing appeal to their hearts and minds.

Where can people connect with you?

Amazon Author:  https://amzn.to/2SUamoF

The following three books are in hard cover, softcover print, and Kindle

Amazon: The Secret Language of Women  https://amzn.to/2MQZpNC  

Amazon: Lemon Blossoms  https://amzn.to/2TWqzYt

Amazon: In America  https://amzn.to/2Hl2VzT

The following book is available in softcover print and Kindle

Amazon: The Girl Who Loved Cayo Bradley  https://www.amazon.com/dp/1645405397  

Barnes & Noble:   https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-girl-who-loved-cayo-bradley-nina-romano/1130663914?ean=2940161021804 

Goodreads:            https://bit.ly/3vCJ871

Twitter:                  https://twitter.com/ninsthewriter

                               @ninsthewriter

Facebook:              https://bit.ly/2BFi38l

BookBub.com:      https://www.bookbub.com/profile/nina-romano