Monday, October 26, 2015

It's All About the Author with Maria Grazia Swan @scrittrice





It’s All About the Author…

1)  Please tell us 5 interesting facts about yourself that readers might not know about you … I have dual citizenship, that means that I have 2 passports, Italian and US.

I lived in 5 different countries, that’s countries, not states. Italy, Belgium, Germany, France and United States.

I spent a very special, long evening at a private Geisha club in Tokyo. I was the only non working girl there.

I wrote my first full length mystery while going through my divorce. That was my way of killing people without going to jail. The book was eventually published and became the first book of the Mina’s adventures series. Love Thy Sister.

I have a background in fashion design. Started in Italy and had my own business in the states with branches in Arizona and California.



2)  What do you like to do in your spare time? I like to work out, love yoga and hiking. But I also volunteer at a no kill animal shelter.

3)  Is there one book that you love to read over and over again?  If so, what is it and what is it that keeps you coming back to it? The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans…love the sense of pending doom that creeps through the book…

4)  How did you get started writing and have you always wanted to be an author? Yes, I was telling stories before I could write. Won my first literary award at the age of fourteen, that’s the old fourteen…before I even owned a typewriter…I’m aging myself…

5)  If you for some reason couldn’t be an author, what would your other choice be? I like creative things, decorating, making clothes, painting walls…anything that involves imagination.

6)  Did you like school?  Were you a good student? Loved school. I grew up in a chaotic household. School was my refuge and yes, I was a good student.

7)    When you write, is there a specific way you have to write, ie:  certain room, noise or quiet, computer or paper etc…No noise, complete silence, I tend to write on my laptop, without internet connection. I have a regular computer I use for daily social life. And yes, I create best from my desk, by the window.

8)   If you could write a collaboration with another author, do you have one in mind and what would you write? Would love to collaborate with another author because my English is sometime limiting, however, I don’t do any planning, I sit and write and that’s not conductive to collaboration.

9)    How do you come up with your story ideas?  Mostly from something that actually happened and left a big impression on me, I create the rest. But all my stories have a % of truth.

10)                   Do titles stump you or do they come easy?  When do you pick a title, before the story is written or when it’s done? Ah, funny you should ask. Yes, I need a title before I write the story.

11)                   Do you keep a notebook near you for when new ideas pop into your head? No.

12)                   If you write a series, do you re-read your previous books before you begin the new one? Not always. Unless I need something very specific, I know my characters pretty well, don’t forget they are usually based on people I know..

13)                   How does your family feel about your writing? They don’t much care. I know..I only have boys and they think I write chick stuff and the rest of my family is in Italy and none of them understand English…


Thanks for sharing “you as an author” with us !  We hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

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BEST IN SHOW
Mina’s Adventures Series, Book 6
Maria Grazia Swan
Cozy Romantic Suspense, 188 pages

Mina Calvi, Italian transplant to Southern California, thinks her love life might finally come together, just as her professional life has. Her Furry Friends Foundation, a no-kill shelter for rescued cats and dogs, is a success, and Mina hopes she may find a loving forever home for herself, in the arms of Diego Moran, her elusive, frustratingly mysterious, on again-off again, lover.

When a seemingly innocent night out with friends lands Mina in a hospital bed and Diego undercover, and not the covers Mina wants him to be under, Mina has to draw on all her new-found maturity, and all her supportive friends for strength.

Meanwhile, a Best in Show cat takes up residence at the Ritzy Cats B&B, Mina’s other venture, setting Mina on the trail of a suspicious character who might not have the cat's best interests at heart. 

Add a Matchmaker to the Stars, a temperamental Italian chef and the usual menagerie of people and pets, stir it all up and you have an entertaining, hard to put down romantic tale of suspense.


Buy Links:      Amazon ebook    Amazon Print



Excerpt:
Did he love her?
In the heat of the night, love was a given. But as daylight unfolded, her insecurities found their path to her heart. Mina didn’t move, afraid the slightest shifting might wake him. His chest rose and fell against her back as he breathed peacefully. Their bodies touched, connected in a perfect fit. A match made in heaven she repeated to herself, in heaven but not on earth?
The longing she felt for him transcended sex and lust. Eyes closed, she revisited their good-bye two years ago in the cemetery in Italy, and that sense of unconditional love he’d brought into her life. It was the kind of love Mina assumed girls customarily expected from a father, a brother, a kin. But that was only a guess, a yearning, since she’d grown up without parents or siblings, so she had never experienced such love, until then, during that magical Italian summer.
Diego stirred and brushed his lips up and down the nap of her neck. “Missed you,” he whispered.
Now wide-awake, Mina quipped, “You missed me? How?”
“How?” In one fluid motion he spun her around, her body pressed against his. “How did I miss you?’ He paused, his eyes burning from a surge of passion she hadn’t seen coming. “For the last two years I carried with me the image of you in your red dress. The way you looked the last time I was near you. It’s branded in my soul. I couldn’t rid myself of it. Even now a glimpse of a red dress would arouse me. I’d be aroused not by the woman wearing it, but by the memory of you in that red dress.”



Books 1 thru 5 Available at Amazon



About the Author
Best selling author Maria Grazia Swan was born in Italy, but this rolling stone has definitely gathered no moss. She lived in Belgium, France, Germany, in beautiful Orange County, California where she raised her family, and is currently at home in Phoenix, Arizona--but stay tuned for weekly updates of Where in the World is Maria Grazia Swan?

As a young girl, her vivid imagination predestined her to be a writer. She won her first literary award at the age of fourteen while living in Belgium. As a young woman Maria returned to Italy to design for--ooh-la-la--haute couture. Once in the U.S. and after years of concentrating on family, she tackled real estate. These days her time is devoted to her deepest passions: writing and helping people and pets find the perfect home.

Maria loves travel, opera, good books, hiking, and intelligent movies (if she can find one, that is). When asked about her idea of a perfect evening, she favors stimulating conversation, Northern Italian food and perfectly chilled Prosecco--but then, who doesn't? 

Find Me Here –Maria Grazia Swan
mariagswan@gmail.com, personal   mgsweb1@gmail.com readers/website
Webpage      Blog     Twitter         Facebook      Goodreads     Amazon Author Page    Linkedin


Giveaway:
I Love My Cat locket (US only)
Paperback copy of any of Maria’s Books, winner’s choice (US only)
Ebook copy of any of Maria’s Books, winner’s choice (Intl)



a Rafflecopter giveaway

1 comment:

  1. Thank you so much for posting about my book and the author..that would be me. Mille grazie.

    ReplyDelete