Get Your Copy Today!

The first book of a family saga trilogy, Olive Branches Don't Grow On Trees, has sold over 1,000 copies and has been downloaded over 20,000 times.  It has reached best seller status in Amazon's humorous fiction category, and has received several rave reviews from reputable book blogs:

“A truly enjoyable read. Perfect for a cozy evening snuggling under a blanket, blocking out the world. The sequences of Silvia's recollections into the past with her strong willed, born ahead of her time grandmother, the jobs she has held, and lost as it were, are nothing short of brilliant.”

Chapters and Chats Book Reviews

“The author weaves a tale that is a moving and realistic portrayal of a dysfunctional family with enough drama and humorous family situations that will keep the reader engaged and entertained, while providing a witty sense of humor and subtle messages of life lessons to extend the olive branch and learn to live, love and forgive.”
Jersey Girl Book Reviews

“The author did a great job of showing what Silvia was experiencing as she tried to reunite the members of her hot-headed Italian family.”
Bella Online: The Voice of Women


Get your copy today from Amazon, available in Kindle for $1.99 and paperback for $8.95.  You're guaranteed to laugh out loud, fall in love with the characters, and maybe even shed a tear or two!

Shut Up and Write!

I named this post after a wonderful group that I found on http://www.meetup.com/.  Joining this group has really been crucial in helping me to write my novel.  Writing is such a solitary activity and it is often helpful and motivating to be a part of a group that encourages this pursuit.  That is exactly what I found with Shut Up and Write!  We would gather together at various cafes throughout San Francisco to write in silence.  Writers tend to be a chatty bunch of procrastinators, so I thought that the name for this group was particularly clever.

Another group I joined to help on my writing and publishing journey was Bay Area Independent Publishing Association:  http://www.baipa.net/  This particular group assists its members in developing knowledge and expertise in publishing, promoting and marketing their works.

In addition to joining these groups, I made one of the best decisions of my life over a year ago when I started my novel.  I decided to stop waiting!  To stop waiting for the inspiration to hit me, to stop waiting to feel perfect, to stop looking at other people who were living their dreams with envy and to start living my own dream.  The Night-Time Novelist gave me the idea to set up a certain minimum amount of words to write per day, and I came up with 400.  I found that my writing would usually get sloppy after 400 words.  Of course some days I would be able to exceed my 400 word quota, and some days I would barely just make my quota.

In fulfilling a daily writing quota, while working full-time, I had to make use of a quality that is often viewed in a negative light, bringing to mind a highly regimented, over-achieving type of person.  But there is a certain real beauty to this quality, and one that we should all strive to cultivate within ourselves.

Welcome!

When I was ten years old, I wrote my first story.  It was called The Gates of Utica and I was inspired to write it during a trip to upstate New York with my mom.  I knew then that I wanted to be a writer; that I wanted to tell stories and make people laugh and cry and think; that I wanted to use words to paint pictures and make music.

I just completed my first novel which is entitled Olive Branches Don't Grow On Trees.  It is the story of a twenty-three year old girl named Silvia Greco who decides to make peace in her constantly feuding family.  It takes place in New Jersey and is set in the present against the back drop of the current wars. Throughout the course of the story, Silvia learns that peace is not something that is freely existing, but that rather, it is something that needs to be created, cultivated and nurtured.  This book is filled with lovable characters, humor and insight. You can buy it as a Kindle e-book on Amazon for $1.99 (cheap) and $8.95 in paperback (still pretty darn cheap). It will also be available in print format on Amazon shortly.  You can also check out the first chapter on my website: http://olivebranchesdontgrowontrees.com/

This is the first of many posts in which I will be sharing the various insights about the writing process that I have gained from completing this book.  I also want to share recipes for many of the delectable dishes that are mentioned in my novel.  Because the book is about an Italian-American family, food is a central part of it, and so there are several references to yummy Italian dishes. I am delighted to say that the recipes for these dishes will be shared in this blog.

Hope that you enjoy reading and will return often!