Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Author Spotlight: Roberta Capizzi!



1. Tell us about your book/books?
I write contemporary romance, but it’s a rather clean kind of romance, there are no alpha male heroes, no badass, tattooed rock stars or anything of the sort. You could say mine are more the Disney type of Prince Charming. I’m very romantic and a real daydreamer, and my stories reflect my personality. I don’t like violence and rudeness, so I tend to leave that out of my stories, unless of course it’s vital for the story or it’s an important trait of a character. I’m a sucker for HEA so when you start reading one of my books you know you’ll always get a happy ending, no matter what. Life’s tough, so I decided to write my own happy endings. *LOL*

2. How did you get started as a writer?
I’ve been in love with books ever since I can remember. Being an only child and a rather shy girl, I enjoyed losing myself in fictional worlds whenever I could; the library was my favorite place to be and I always dreamed of being a librarian one day. Writing essays was my favorite part of school, and it always came easy. I started writing a little more seriously as a teenager; I enjoyed writing fanfics about my favorite boybands and a character named Roberta who’d always end up meeting them and marrying her favorite member of the band. *LOL* It wasn’t until I discovered Nicholas Sparks and Rosamunde Pilcher that I started thinking about writing something a little more serious, a story that wouldn’t revolve about boybands or real people. At the time I wrote only short stories that I never had any intention of publishing, but they helped me understand how to put my ideas down on paper. Like I said, I’ve always been a shy girl so I never shared my stories with anyone; it took me at least fifteen years to gather up the courage to say “I write books” to a couple of friends, and at least another year to decide to self-publish my book (after a few rejections from agents had made my ego totally deflate), and that was because I just couldn’t seem to be able to put what I call “the writing bug” to sleep. I need to write; it’s just who I am and what I like to do. I can’t think of not writing, even if I’ll only sell ten copies in my whole writing career. I simply have to write down the stories that play in my head, or I’ll end up going crazy. Or maybe I already am. *LOL*

3. What’s a typical day like for you?
My real typical day is rather boring. I get up, go to work (for the record, I hate my day job), come home, check my social networks and FB page, write a little (if I’m working on a new novel), read, read, read. I also try to go to the gym a couple of hours a week if I can, but eventually I always end up sprawled on the couch with a book or my Kindle in my hands. My ideal day? I wake up, drink a cup of tea on a rocking chair on my back porch, staring out at the woods and fields while I’m plotting the next scene in my novel, then I go for a walk in the woods with my dog, come back, write a few thousand words, read a few letters from fans and reply to them, go back to the porch and slump down on the swing while I read the draft of a script for a movie adaptation from my latest novel, and wait for my handsome husband to come home and have dinner. And I swear I wrote all this without a single drop of alcohol in my system. *LOL*

4. Describe your workspace.
A messy desk with a computer, my Kindle, lots of notes I scribbled down whenever an idea flashed into my mind and I couldn’t sit down and develop it properly.

5. Favorite books?
Tough question! There are so many books I’ve loved, for so many different reasons. I’ll have to say all of Nicholas Sparks’ and Rosamunde Pilcher’s books for sure. I loved Priscilla Glenn’s books (especially Emancipating Andie because I totally connected with the heroine), I recently read Kate McCarthy’s Fighting Redemption and totally adored it. I also enjoyed the Shopaholic Series by Sophie Kinsella, and Ali MacNamara’s books.

6. Tell us 3 interesting things about you.
I don’t know if I’d consider them interesting so let’s rename the question “three facts about me”.
I’m pretty good at languages; it’s a gift (or a talent?) I’m really happy about and grateful for because I really enjoy learning new languages and  I learn really fast, as opposed to maths - I’m terrible at maths and I really don’t get it! I’ve watched Dirty Dancing at least 50 times, and every time I cry at the exact same moment: when Johnny walks in and says: “Nobody puts Baby in a corner”. I actually know almost every line by heart but I still love watching it. I dream of working for Disney. I’ve loved Disney movies ever since I was a child and used to watch them over and over again, until I knew them all by heart, but it wasn’t until a few years ago when I watched “Enchanted” that I realized what an awesome job it would be to actually create something so beautiful and get paid for it as a bonus!

7. Favorite quote:
It’s from a song by Stephen Gately, former boyzone member (an Irish boyband that was pretty popular when I was a teenager). “If you can’t choose what to be, you can choose what to dream.” I also like a quote by Robert Frost’s The road not taken: “Two roads diverged in a wood and I - I took the less traveled by and that has made all the difference.”
They both remind me of myself.

8. Best and worst part of being a writer?
Best part is definitely being able to create a world I can lose myself in for a few hours, and where I get to decide what happens next. And the most amazing part I’ve only recently discovered, after self-publishing, is when people you’ve never met before tell you how much your book touched their hearts. It’s an amazing feeling. Worst part? It’s the stiff neck and sore eyes after writing for hours, because you just can’t stop in the middle of a scene now that words are flowing from your brain to the page.

9. Advice to writers?
I don’t consider myself an expert writer, and I’m not even successful so I can’t really say ‘do this, you’ll be famous’ or stuff like that. All I can say, and is what I keep telling myself every time I sit down to write, is: write for yourself. Don’t write to impress other people, don’t write what’s trendy or what sells. Write what you love to read. If other people happen to love it, too, then you’ll get rewarded. Always stay true to yourself and what you believe in.


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