Sunshine Blogger Award Nominee

It was certainly a fantastic piece of news that brightened my morning. I received the nomination for the Sunshine Blogger Award from 
Pamela Allegretto-Franz.

I am very thankful for the nomination, as it comes from a person I admire for her talent in art as in writings.
She is a brilliant painter who can grab the essence of her subjects. Every piece of her art has a life on its own and tells a story of the artist's soul.
But what is it actually this award?

As for the Sunshine Blogger Award, it’s an award given by bloggers to other bloggers they find creative, talented and entertaining.
Generally, it’s a great way of opening yourself to the community as well as to your readers, since you need to answer 11 questions from the blogger that nominated you.
Moreover, you then write your own 11 creative questions and nominate up to 11 additional bloggers that need to do the same.

Here are the rules for the Sunshine Blogger Award!

Thank blogger(s) who nominated you for a blog post and link back to their blog.
Answer the 11 questions the blogger asked you.
Nominate up to 11 new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions.
List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post and/or on your blog.

My answers to Pamela's questions:

1. When you were young, what was your dream career? If it wasn’t to be a writer, what changed your mind?
When I was a kid I wanted to become an astronaut. I have changed my mind so many times that I cannot say. Becoming a writer has been something that arrived later on. At least, the decision of becoming a published author.
2. What makes you angry? How do you tame the lion?
When I am in a hurry, and nothing seems to work. I don't tend to suppress the lion. I let it roar because, after the big storming, which lasts for about five minutes, my brain has discharged the negativity, and the Sun can return to shine.
3. Have you ever allowed a “dream-crusher” to cloud your self-worth as a writer? How did you lift that cloud?
No, I don't really care about what people say. My father was a great teacher about never listen to what the others say.
4. What literary figure, alive or deceased, would you like to interview?
I would love to interview Dante Alighieri, but, well... Does anyone have an Ouja board?
5. Do you enjoy the editing process? If so, why? If not, why not?
No, I most definitely hate it. Mostly because I don't think I am the one who should edit my work. I do a pre-edit using Grammarly and AutoCrit, which highlight the weaker parts, and then, I send the manuscript to beta readers and editor.
6. If you could be proficient in another language, which would you choose? Why?
I am already proficient in three languages, but if I would choose another language, that would be Georgian. I find it very intriguing, and also quite challenging, having a different alphabet.
7. If you believed in reincarnation, what century might you have lived in and who were you?
I was much probably living in imperial Rome, and I would be a philosopher or free-thinker.
8. If you were a schoolteacher, what class would you teach and why?
If I were a teacher, I would be fired on the first day. I don't like teaching, and I am terrible at it.
9. Do you prefer to stay in touch with close friends via texting, messenger, email, or phone call? Why?
I prefer to meet my friends in person. I call them, but only to fix a date and time to meet.
10. What was one of your best days?
That's a difficult question as to pick one from a lifetime is not easy. It was perhaps the day we spent on the Kenyan Savannah observing the wildlife. It was the day I fell in love with Africa and the people living there.
11. How would you like to be remembered?
I would like to be remembered for the person I am, rather than for what I have achieved in my life. People who know me personally, usually remember me for being extremely direct and honest. I never tell a pretty lie, I opt always for the truth. It might hurt, but there are more benefits to an ugly truth than on a pretty lie.

The SUNSHINE BLOGGERS AWARD empowers bloggers to celebrate other bloggers who are creative and bring positivity to the blogging community. So, I nominate:

Erika M. Szabo
Denise Dianaty
Joanne Van Leerdam
Jeannie JB Richards
Aliya DalRae
Bonita Maria Gutierrez
Aryl Shanti
Maude Maureen Amato Mayes
Julia Blake
Cindy J. Smith
Lorraine Carey

Those are my questions for the nominees

1. What inspired you to start writing/blogging?
2. What is the writing process you enjoy the most?
3. What kind of writer are you a plotter or a pantser?
4. Which of your novels do you love the most?
5. Which are your goals in life?
6. If money was no object, where would you travel?
7. If the story of your latest novel was turned into a movie, who would be cast as your MC?
8. What inspires you the most?
9. What genres do you enjoy reading?
10. What are you currently fascinated by?
11. What have been your biggest writing/blogging struggles?

As we get into the cold season.

So, what's next?
As we entered the month of October, every business in town started to theme the windows and shops with Halloween themed decoration. Also, those countries where Halloween is not celebrated and means another day on the calendar weren't missing this big chance to get some extra sale. After all, every excuse is good to sell one additional item, isn't it?
And now that we are already past the day, and we should just give more time to think about our daily life, returning to what is like without the expectation of another holiday, we seem to enter the new phase, the Christmas, interrupted by Thanksgiving day.
For Businesses, this is the most hectic time of the year because never like between October and January, they have to change their advertisement targeting.
Authors are not different, and meanwhile, we are writing our next masterpiece, we are dressing our covers and banners with themes, from the spooky to the festive, from the Christmasy to the New Year.
It's a big load of a job to get the right creatives to get something enticing and new to get a piece of the Holiday shopper's attention.

I make no difference, and as a matter of fact, I am going to do my best to finish my next novel, which seems to get longer and longer as it goes on. My longest book was my debut novel with 143k words, but I am afraid that, in this case, I will have to go over that limit.
At the same time, I am also looking around for new ideas on the creative side for promotions and banners.

Going on this way, I am afraid I am missing my favorite activity, which is observing nature and its changes during this season.
This fast-moving forward from one holiday to the other seems wanting us to speed up our time. Although, this would be rather the time we stop to think about the year that is about to end. Just like in every moment of our lives, we shouldn't be forced to switch from one season to the other in such a hurry.

It seems like the only thing important is not just to have fun during the holiday but to get prepared for the next one as soon as this one is approaching.

But do you know what?
This is my plan, I am going to spend the whole weekend almost freezing outside and risking to catch the flu, by taking pictures of the natural environment around me.
I am taking a break from writing and just spend my time outside, far from the city, far from the businesses, and far from civilization.

I am going to enjoy the calm and the natural routine of a quiet life, without stressing and hurries.
How are you going to spend your weekend?
Whatever you do, make it special!

Something I have learned.

I know that this is not the end of the year, and we are a bit in advance for the New Year's resolution, let alone consideration about this year.

The fact is that October 2019 marks the anniversary of my career as an author.

In October 2016, just three years ago, at this precise moment, I was finalizing the preparations for publishing my debut novel.

I was quite excited about it, and I considered one of the biggest leaps in my life.

Indeed, there have been many leaps I had done. From the day I decided to leave my country to study abroad, to the time when I moved away to another country, following the promise of a job. Then, to the decision that it was perhaps about the time when I published my novel too.

Little I knew at that time about the things I needed to take into account, and it was not just the question of putting something on the internet. It was a question of building my brand, growing my name, and being part of a growing community of writers, whether seasoned or newbies like myself.

I have found an incredible and supportive community ready to give all sorts of advice to bring my novel to the eyes of the readers.

I had many doubts, and some I still have. Something was clear to me since the beginning, I wasn't interested in having a contract with any publishing company, not big nor small. I understood since the beginning that this meant two main things: sharing a cake that might be not big enough and have no words on the creative process. 

In some cases, this would have meant also restricting my say in what and how I wanted to write.

I am a rebel by nature, and I have never accepted people telling me what to do or how to do things unless it was me asking for advice.

I have read many comments of people bashing indie-authors. They claimed that since they are not represented by any publishing houses, they are not worth the attention of a readership. For what I saw, the quality and content can be equally missing in both indie and traditionally published. (I have in mind a few examples, but I am not going to list any of them here).

One big lesson was to build a community, and I have found out that by sharing more than "buy my books," I could grow my list of followers. Those might or might not buy my books, but the more they are, the more I get visibility.

Hence, social media is not really a place where I sell something, but it is a place where I build something, namely connections and brand.

The biggest lesson, anyway, arrived this year after a series of lectures about different kinds of ads. I have tried AMS and BookBub ads, and although I still have a lot to learn, I got results.

I started to study, really taking time to go through all the material I have accumulated and classified 'for later review.'

Well, I guess this is the time when I finally start to review the accumulated material. That is something else I have learned, which is trying not to procrastinate excessively. Nowadays, life is hectic, and we have thousands of things to think about and to do. Nevertheless, I want to try and find the time for my growth as an indie author.

It might take time, but determination can perform miracles.

Will I be able to honor my propositions?

We will see, and I will keep updated. I will also update any progress, whether this could help someone in the same situation.

For now, I just wish you all a great weekend, and stay tuned for next week's blog!

Discovery of West Africa - Nigeria

It has been a long trip, but finally, I am back home.
That means that I am ready to tell you something about the journey, bringing you some vibes of Africa; my Africa.
I know that I have promised to keep a sort of daily photo diary posted on my social, but as we left Nigeria, we were transported back in the '80s.
We could not find roaming for our mobile phones and most important no internet.
We were sure to have Wi-Fi on our hotels, but things in Africa never go the way you plan them.
If there is one thing I have learned during my journeys is to expect everything, even the impossible.
Like the hotel promised on their booking pages, there was indeed a Wi-Fi, but it was too slow and most of the times offline, so… well, practically, there wasn't.

But let's go back to our journey.

Our route started in Helsinki, from where we reached Lagos, Nigeria.
From Lagos, we traveled by car following the main road to Ghana through Benin and Togo. From Ghana, we returned to Lagos by plane, and on our way back, we could have a stop in Doha, Qatar.

The first thing you notice when you come to any airport in Africa is what I call Africa scent. The scent made of the earthy iron-rich sand, mixed with the smell of the trees and bushes, food, and other scents I could not identify.

This is the scent I enjoy deeply inhaling it whenever I reach Africa.
Nigeria is located in the Gulf of Guinea. It originated from British colonial rule in the 19th century,  and in 1914 it incorporated the South Nigeria Protectorate and Northern Nigeria Protectorate. Nigeria became a formally independent federation in 1960. It went through a civil war between 1967 and 1970, and after that, the country experienced alternatively democratically elected governments and military dictatorship. At present, after the presidential elections of 2011, it reached a stable political situation.

Talking about the safety of a traveler, besides the local crime connected to drug dealing in the city of Lagos, a particular concern has been raised by the Boko Haram–related violence.

Nevertheless, after a peak in 2014 and 2015, the number of casualties attributed to the group fell dramatically. The Nigerian military, with assistance from Benin, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger, has pushed Boko Haram out of several provinces in northeastern Nigeria. The group retains control over some villages and pockets of territory and continues to launch deadly suicide attacks and abduct civilians, mostly women, and children. In February 2018, more than one hundred students were kidnapped by a faction of Boko Haram known as Islamic State West Africa. They were released a little more than a month later.

The conflict has been primarily contained in the Muslim north, particularly in Borno state, but has displaced millions of people in the region.

The city looks at first glance divided between the "good areas" and the poor ones. Infrastructure is something the Nigerian government seems not really to bother. That is not related to the lack of funds, as Nigeria is one of the wealthiest countries in Africa, but to a wildly spread corruption that avoids the movement and allocation of those funds for the public works.

The good 

...And the bad

Waste management seemed to be the biggest issue, particularly in Lagos, where the municipality appears to be unable to manage the rise in industrial and domestic waste. Together with waste management, the roads inside the city were relatively well kept (Africa-wisely). Nevertheless, the main road to the border was a nightmare. There, without an off-road vehicle, you are in deep troubles.
We spent in Lagos only one night. This decision was made mainly for safety reason. Secondly, because we knew we would have had the time to check the city and the Natural Conservation Center on our way back home.

The most exciting part on this first leg was indeed the road trip to the border, which in normal conditions it would have taken not more than a couple of hours. However, with the actual road conditions, it took about four hours.

Waste management has been a big challenge in the largest cities and the piles of waste stretch for kilometers.

The road is a constant market place and people come to sell and buy everything from livestock to fruits and vegetables or even furniture. A sort of one time stop for all your needs.

The guy you see leaning outside the vehicle is the one who is gathering customers and advice the driver when it is time to stop. He also collects the ticket money from the passengers.

This also included the times we were asked to stop by the border police.

The officers were looking for some money to be cashed at the expenses of the drivers passing by (and in a couple of circumstances our driver just drove by without stopping!). We have also been stopped by some local small criminals looking for some cash, which we quickly gave to avoid troubles.

All in all, people are friendly, and we have not been bothered during our strolls in the city. The stay went on as smooth as we hoped for, and we can call ourselves satisfied with this new challenge.
This has been a longer blog, but I was also supposed to compensate for the lack of blogging last week.
I hope you enjoyed this first part and you will follow me on this road trip for the following weeks.
Stay tuned!

Authors and Marketing... do or die (or?)

I have to be honest, I haven't had the time to make any sort of marketing during this... ok since a few months.
The problem starts with a vicious circle, follow me:

Question: what is a writer?
A writer is a person who can bring to life stories that are only in her mind. The creative power is his/her best ally, and sometimes he/she is blessed with an overflow of ideas that need to be bled literally on the paper (or on the screen, if you prefer).

Therefore the writer writes, and if he/she wants to survive, she also needs to produce something new with a certain frequency (I can't do more than three novels a year).

Now the problem I find myself stuck in is the time factor. In my everyday life my day starts at six am with a merciless alarm clock, within 30 minutes (on summer when I use my bicycle), or 50 minutes (on winter when I walk) I am at work in my office.

My day has not a steady routine, and things can go from the normal 7,5 hours a day to the part take-the-first-plane-and-reach-the-working-site. In that case, it means that all hell broke loose and I will have to stay away from home between one day or a week.

Let's say that my day is blessed and I get out at 15:00, maximum 16:00 I am home.
Take care of the evil bunny and the regular chores, write some more of the next novel and research for it, and we are at 18:30 when together with my husband I enjoy my dinner and evening until 21:00.

At that point, I write some more, plan the next cover and blurb, check what's going on on the social, prepare some new banner ideas posts for the following day, and it is already 22:30... time to go to sleep, if I want to wake up the morning after and be effective at work.

The only time I have to learn something about marketing is during the weekends when also my brain needs some recharging, and I am, threrefore, less effective.

My question is that you don’t learn to be a marketer in a couple of days or neither in a couple of years unless you are going to learn it full time. Full time is a luxury I don’t have, and if I have to start really to learn marketing, using the few minutes a day, it will take me other 20 years.

Do I have 20 years in my life to dedicate and learn marketing? Yes.
Is it worth it? Probably not because marketing is something that evolves with the time.

20 years of learning the basics and I will find myself with outdated knowledge I have no use for.
Moreover, I would like to sell something before 20 years.

So should find a marketer who has experience with new authors who are starting their journey, so they do not have an established readership. I need someone to take me from where I am to a steady and constant organic sale.

I believe that few of us, indie authors, are able to manage to learn marketing strategies and succeed to gain readers and sell a discreet amount of books. We are not all the same, and particularly I am the worst marketer in this world. It is just not my cup of tea, I can write, and that’s what I do, but at a certain point, I would also love to reach a wider audience.

The dilemma of an indie writer goes on….

A Writer's block (writers and bloggers)

Have you ever been in front of your blank page planning to do some serious writing to share with the world but then…
crickets….

Nothing comes to your mind. That page you are staring at remains white, time is passing by, and nothing is happening. Actually the more you stare at the page, the more the blankness seems to spread from the page to your mind.
This is how it started this morning when, diligently I sat down at my desk, with the full intention of writing my weekly blog.
I thought that this is the problem that many writers or bloggers find themselves in a few times in their lives. You feel like you had many ideas, but they all disappear as soon as you sit down in front of the screen.
But is it just the fault of the screen? Would it work better if we would sit down in front of a screen that already has something written on? Would you then, get some extra inspiration about what to write to entertain your audience?
Is the daunting Writer’s Block something that has to do with the fear of dealing with the emptiness of the page or is it just a way your brain conforms with the blank page?
I do not have all the answers to this questions, but at least in my case, as soon as I started to write about having my ideas failing me, as I sat in front of my computer things started to change.
It was like the words found their way from my head to my fingers and to the keyboard, finally. Once I got the flow, I just kept the pace.

The writer’s block is something that each of us experiences in a different way, just like everything else in life, and there isn’t a solution that works for everyone. Some of us need just some rest and think about something else, in order to have their ideas flowing like a river. Other needs to read to get their rhythm back, and so on, I could cite all sort of remedies I have heard about how to fight the writer’s block.
For me, there are two ways, one is just to take a walk in the forest, the other is just starting to type even nonsense on the keyboard. Once I get the writing flow, the right inspiration will arrive, and the writing will be once again restored.

I admit one thing, sometimes it takes writing a lot of nonsense before starting to get things on the right path, but at least I have a good laugh when I am at the purging stage.
Have you ever experienced writer’s block?
How did you overcome it? I guess it would be interesting to list all the ways people have tried and see what it worked and what didn’t work.
I am sure we will find quite an impressive list of solutions and, perhaps we can find new creative ways to fight it next time we will find ourselves stuck in front of the blank screen.
So for this time is all, and as usual, I wish you all a great weekend!

The strange connection between procrastination and writing

I have no idea how it all has started.
As a child, I do remember my mother's recommendations about always try to take care of my duties before relax and take care of more pleasant activities.
Sure at the kindergarten, the motto was, duty first and pleasure after. At the elementary school too, they taught us that once you have done all your duties, dedicating yourself to your hobbies feels even better, because you don't have anything else to bother yourself with.
For my childhood, complying to these golden rules wasn't really easy, mostly because I couldn't care less about the duties, so I couldn't be bothered about the fact that I had left something unfinished.
This attitude, last for many years, and particularly during high school, with life waiting for me outside my house, deciding whether to study or having fun with friends wasn't a difficult choice.
Nor I was bothered when the teachers called my parents about my performance.
At their inquiries, I always replied, "Life is out NOW! I can study, and I do, but this doesn't mean that because of a number, I will sacrifice something that is not coming back."

Strange enough, during the University years, I was able to find a balance where before it wasn't even possible, I was studying, working and also having fun with my friends.
Procrastination was something that didn't have a place in my life anymore.
With that, it seemed like my life found a direction also following those guidelines I received as a child.
I was indeed scheduling my time in order to take care of my responsibilities and also finding the time to live the life that was happening NOW.
This state of grace lasted for about twenty years.
Then, something happened...
I published my first book...
I became an author too...
I cannot pinpoint in time the exact turning point, the switch that brought me back to the procrastination path.
What I can say is that I am afraid that with all the things that need to be done, I do not really procrastinate, I just start forgetting them, to remember about them a few minutes before the scheduled deadline or just at the last minute.
Though, there is a pattern in this, I have noticed that my job comes first, together with the writing progress.
The rest, which means marketing, connecting, and blogging (sometimes) tends to be selectively ignored by my brain.

Is this a sign of me getting old?
I prefer to think that this is a question my brain tells me what it dislikes to be bothered with.
It might also be that this is a way for my brain to remind me that I am not a machine, and I cannot take care of every little thing in this world.
What is your experience?
Are you a procrastinator, or diligently follow your schedule planning a to-do-list and going through it at any cost?
What kind of things you seem to forget? Is there any sort of connection between things you procrastinate and things you really don't like or they stress you?
Is there such a concept like a serial procrastinator? LOL
Here I do not have any solution, but I believe that by finding the reason for not taking care of certain duties, we might come to a reason why and perhaps even with a personalized solution... who knows?
Some thoughts for the weekend...

A yearly attraction: the Rhododendron Park in Helsinki

There are attractions that are mainly for tourists and others that give enjoyment to everybody. One of these is the National Rhododendron Park in Helsinki. Every year at the beginning of June, the park offers, to the eyes of the beholder an explosion of colors and scents.
And every year, people are gathering in the Park to enjoy the full flowering of the rhododendron.
In the beginning, the first rhododendron was planted there in 1975, where the city of Helsinki, together with the University of Helsinki started a project for the Helsinki’s plant breeding program. At the same time, were planned and constructed paths along the area.
There, 3000 rhododendrons were planted for research purposes, in order to create a variety that could stand the Finnish climate and produce flowers in different colors.
Rhododendron Park is the only park in Helsinki where special uplifted view platforms were built. Those platforms give the possibility to admire from a better vantage point the beauty of the blooming.
In 1996, the park was extended adding a section where Azaleas were planted, which were the result of another breeding program started in 1986. The park offers a view of many crossbreeding species.
When I arrived in Finland, in 2004, the section was quite small, if we compare it with the extension, it has reached in the late years.

Nevertheless, I considered it large enough to keep me there for most of the summer days. I was lucky enough to live just close by so that my daily strolls would have brought me right there most of the times.
As the years passed by, I have seen the park growing slowly but steadily, until the extent it has reached nowadays. I have no idea whether there are any plans to enlarge it, but since the crossbreeding project gave spectacular results, at least from the beholder’s point of view, I hope more species and colors will be added to the Park.

Personally, I hope there will be added new parts to the park as I believe you never have too much beauty, particularly when we talk about colors and flowers. Then let’s not forget the contribution those flowers give to the pollinator’s colonies.
It is an oasis of peace, where to get connected with nature and, having at hand your mosquito repellent, that is the ideal place to stop by with a book and enjoy your time.
So here is to you another reason to visit Finland, and preferably in early Summer. One suggestion, for those who intend visiting this fantastic country, is to get at least two or three weeks time in June between 1-23.6 because there are a lot of things to be seen.
This is the period with the longest day of the year, and if you push yourself to the north, you will experience the 24h sunlight.
Here in Helsinki, the length of the day during this period is of about 18-20 hours, but the nights are mostly looking like dusk, and not particularly dark.
For the longest day of the year hosting the midsummer fest (Juhannus) you definitely want to participate in the celebrations around the country. Then, of course, the Rhododendron Park, where to chill out and relax, before heading to all the music happenings around the country.

And that will be all for the moment, I wish you a great time and an awesome weekend!

Some flight experiences

Last time I have written about a new way I am approaching my photography hobby; that is by the use of a drone.

Now we all understand that this is something that also kids can use and that there is no need to stress about, and my first thought was: “if a kid can do it, so can I.”
That is nevertheless a slight understatement as nowadays kids are more used to technology than people of my generation are, so there was a little, if not a lot of confusion.
The main problem was that the manual didn’t include much on how to operate a drone and there were just explained the main command briefly, but to understand what did they really mean and how to use them, it was up to the old ‘trial and error.’
So first flight, I decided to operate it indoors, as I have plenty of space, I needed to have some confidence about how the drone reacts to the different commands and how to master it before bringing it outside.
So, the first it was a series of crashes against everything possible, Carolina included who added to the list of what she hates, also that infernal flying machine.

After those crashes, I finally figured out how should I use the throttle to increase the height more gently and have it at a steady height.
The second achievement was to be able to move it around, and also that needed, of course, some calibrating crashes against walls, furniture, and flowers.
Everything endured perfectly the destructive fury, particularly the drone itself, which seems to have nine(hundred) lives, and all the will to make me become a pro.
The good part is that it is a big load of fun, I can understand the reason why kids like them, they are really cool devices.
After having been able to control the movements of the drone indoor without making any sort of damage, making it fly flawlessly from room to room, I decided it was the time for bringing it where actually it belongs; outdoors.
So having chosen a perfectly sunny and windless day, a perfect clearance on the woods, we left for the adventure.
In the beginning, everything went fine, and the drone amazingly reacted to the commands. I was having a lot of fun when suddenly it started to head towards the trees. It was totally impossible to stop it as it decided to go exploring the world without me.
Result?
It got stuck on the branches of a tree. Now I know you think that perhaps this was the end of the flying experience, and you could never be more wrong about it. My husband and I didn’t want to give up, so after a few trials, we decided to retire and plan a solution.
At 7:50 in the evening, we came to the perfect plan. We would have attached a stone to a light rope throw it to fly over the branch, and once the stone has reached the other side, we would have both started to shake the branch to allow the drone to fall down.
Something we need to remember about Finland is the fact that the swamp areas in the woods are kept for their biological and environmental importance. Nevertheless, this means that wherever you are, as the sun starts to set, the mosquitoes are on the hunt.
Try now to imagine a couple of adults shaking a tree branch to allow a drone to fall down and, at the same time, try not to be eaten alive by mosquitoes.
It was a nightmare, BUT… We made it, and the drone is now safe and sound at home, and guess what? It is working still like a charm regardless of the crashes.
Now soon enough I will also start to make some pictures and post them… I am still so excited!

Have a great weekend!

After the break of the Blog-Hop

Good Morning everybody.

The Blog-hop gave me the chance to take a short break, from this blog, and the reason why I didn't post anything during this two weeks, was to make sure that whoever participated to the competition could find the blog right away without going to search through the directory.
Now that the blog-hop has concluded I would like once again to thank all those who participated and joined the fun.
I really hope you also found some great read between those offered.

So what’s new here? Well, as a wandering writer, I can feel now the time for the big trip to Africa arrive. This journey that will bring me to the core of the voodoo practices will not just be inspiring for the topic I can show you on this blog, but also for a novel idea I had in my mind.
The genre will be a paranormal thriller and will bring you in the heart of black Africa searching for its mysteries and cults.
As a traveler, this is going to be an incredible chance to return to places I love and to meet new people, discovering new places and cultures to enrich myself, so the countdown is now set for about a couple of months.
One thing I have started to get excited about is aerial photography, and for this purpose, I have got myself a drone.

Now, I have never ever had a drone in my hand, and I had no idea about what to expect or whether it would have been easy to learn using it or not. For this reason, I decided to start with something that would have been cost-effective, suitable for a beginner but enough developed to get started with aerial photography.
The first thing I had to do was orienting myself in the jungle of the offers and see what actually would have been the best budget drone. Millions were the offers ranging from a few bucks to thousands of bucks. Now, as a first experience, I kept my budget low, but I wanted to have something that could fly for longer than just five minutes. I also wanted it to have a decent camera.
With these requests, it started to be obvious that I had to invest a minimum something like 300 $, which was already out of my “beginner’s budget.”
Like I always say, never stow at the first offers, search and get as many information as possible, particularly when you are approaching something new. The best is always giving yourself the time to study and gather as many information as possible, so to be able to get better oriented on your choices and the offers.
That said, after a few months of search, I have finally found something that could suit my needs. The drone costs 52 $ has a 21 minutes flight time, voice control, HD camera. Practically something I could definitely start with and eventually also fall in love.
Here is the little fellow:

Let’s say that the first approach with it was a bit dramatic but the drone is revealing itself is resistant even to the clumsy user like me, and despite the initial crashes, it still works like a charm.
I would like to spend some more time about the adventures of a clumsy beginner drone operator, but it might require a longer blog. Therefore, to avoid getting you bored reading an endless blog, I will break this topic into, at least a couple of blogs, describing my first experience from zero to excitement.
Stay tuned!

Under the Tuscany's sky - part 2

As promised you last week, here I am back talking about the beauties of the smiling town of Fiesole in the Florence province. Last time I lingered talking about the beauties of the archaeological site. Today we will conclude the tour of the city with a couple of other sights, which anyway do not make the whole of the attraction in the town at all.
What is interesting is that in most of the places I have ever visited, there is always a certain degree of little details which are going eventually to escape the attention of the traveler. This is not necessarily due to the lack of time one has at his availability to discover new places, but also to the richness of every single town, city or village.
Moreover, we also need to consider that nothing ever remains the same and the changes result in new sightseeings.
That said, let’s start with another oasis of peace, the monastery of St. Francis. The church was historically an old hermitage which was built in 1399, which was enlarged at the end if 1400 and restored in 1905.

The complex includes a church and a convent.
The church is rather small but absolutely beautiful reflecting a simple Gothic style of the period.
Inside, like all the monasteries have a small garden with a well for the water, which harmony will invite the visitor to linger and contemplate about the beauties of life and nature. Particularly enjoyable in the complete silence that surrounds the site.

On the upper floor is it still possible to visit the places where once upon a time the monks had their cells, which nowadays are transferred on a backside of the monastery and that is not possible to visit (unless you decide to join the monastic life).

The cells were once upon a time occupied by important names like that of St Bernardino of Siena.
He was an Italian priest and Franciscan missionary. Nowadays we would not consider his preaching as an example of tolerance because it was frequently directed, among the others, against sodomy (homosexuality) and Jews. Nevertheless, we also need to consider the times when he was living.
Despite that, Bernardino was later canonized by the Catholic Church as a saint, where he is also referred to as “the Apostle of Italy” for his efforts to revive the country's Catholic faith during the 15th century.
The cells of the monks reflect the frugality of their life dedicated mostly to the prayers and contemplation rather than to the materiality of the existence.

The scenery that can be enjoyed from the yard of the church is absolutely amazing giving a full panoramic view of the city of Florence and the surrounding mountains, which completes the beauty and peace of the monastic life. There you really find yourself far from the noises of the busy city life, to make you believe to be transported to another dimension from where is possible to look at our modern life from a different perspective.

Indeed Fiesole is a lovely spot, a must visit, when traveling to Florence, together with all the surrounding beauties, so wherever you go on holiday, don’t limit your wanderings to the main city, take the time to visit the surroundings to find real gems to fall in love with.

An old railway to time travel

The old saying that you will never get to know your hometown could never be more pertinent. I discovered something that, much probably I had heard about when I was a kid, but never really paid attention to it.
I am talking about the abandoned railway that, once upon a time, connected the town of Spoleto with Norcia in the region of Umbria in Italy.
According to the history, the railway was built in 1926 following an initial project of 1906, which was slowed down by the war. At those times it was considered a jewel of the railway engineering, crossing the Apennines and the complex of the Sibillini mountains.
Unfortunately, the second world war caused irreversible damages to the structure of the railway, and despite all the attempt to keep it running, it was definitely closed in 1968.
Nevertheless, the railway, which is long about 50km, can be still walked through or traveled by bike, and it was a pleasure for me in this wonderful and warm spring weather to have a walk on the first part of it.
Starting from the town of Spoleto, the railway has a constant slope of about 5% and reaches a maximum altitude of 625 m.
The quiet and the peace of the place, now surrounded by the National Park is almost amazing, and the walk through the old tunnels through the reliefs brings me the memories of the old times. Although this wouldn’t be considered safe to run with a train, the structure itself is perfectly preserved and allows a great view of the panorama.
Here are some pictures I have taken during my trekking (keep in mind where I was walking, for the whole distance there were the tracks of the train, so imagine how spectacular was to cross this beautiful landscape by train!):

I have only walked it for the first 8 km because I knew that whatever distance I was going to walk, I had to double it to return to the actual railway station from where I have started my quest.
I promised myself that I will come once again walking along this old railway but starting from the other end, hoping to reach the main bridge.
And here some other pictures of this stunning place:

Hoping you liked the post and enjoyed this virtual tour on the abandoned railway so close to my hometown.
Have all a great weekend and a Happy Easter.

The Wandering Writer's corner... news

It's a grey day here in Finland, and I am approaching to finalize my luggage for the next wandering back to Italy. At the same time, I just got the confirmation that very soon my next novel "Deadly Deception - The Devil's Deal" will be released from the editor, and soon enough I will be able to publish the final book of the trilogy.

Writing a series can be fun, but there are some points, which are common to the process of writing that reach the extreme in the case of a series.
-The characters: The biggest challenge for me was to be consistent with the characters, some appeared in the first book and returned on the third, or met, sadly, their demise but they gave still their contribution to the story. I had so many times to go back to the first book and check the names of the people involved in the story and connect them with those who appeared only in the third book. Personally, it was messy enough to make me forget about the idea of making a series longer than just trilogies.
-The storyline: If it is somewhat challenging following a plot during one whole novel, when it comes to a series, it might get frustrating. Being a pantser myself, rather than a plotter, I had, for this trilogy, to write down the storylines of all the previous books and plan carefully the storyline of the final one, to make sure that each event could connect with the previous in a flawless manner (I will continue to have nightmares about the fear of not having connected facts).
-The characters talking in your ears: That is one of the best and worst, they all want to have their spotlight, and they have their own idea on how to get to it. Sharing is not a word in their vocabulary and many times I moderate their arguments. Whether this is just a joke, there is still a foundation of truth. Characters are the multiple and unabridged reflections of our inner selves; fears, hopes, dreams, desires, likes and dislikes. The duty of a writer is to give them space ordering them into characters with different personalities. It is a little like the story of Pinocchio. Geppetto was unaware of the troubles of creating Pinocchio, but in the end, he managed to turn that little piece of irreverent wood into a well-behaved boy. Something like this happens with writing a novel, and it gets stronger when dealing with a series.
Regardless of this, I have enjoyed so far writing this first series, and I believe I will take the chance to write more of them in the future. Although, I might take a break from them with at least a couple of other novels.
So, you might wonder whether there is already a date for the next release, and unfortunately, I have to say that there isn’t. I aim to publish it between the end of this month and the end of May, but if you keep following me, I will keep you all updated!
Stay tuned and have a great weekend!

Three years of blogging. Past, Present and Future.

Image by Kevin King(Chandana Perera) from Pixabay

Far from being a lesson in grammar, this post is going to be a sort of going through the history of the blog "Paper Pen and Inkwell."
The first thing that comes to my mind is why did I start blogging?
Well, at that time I was just starting my brand new career in being a published author, and I was just going through all the possibilities I had to be noticed by the big crowd of authors, and content online.
At the question what next? in the marketing process, the possibilities of blogging were indeed something highly recommended, so I decided to give it a try, the problem then was the name of the blog, which would have become my brand.
The name Paper Pen and Inkwell came from a very old way of saying at school when you were prompted to write something. "Prepare paper pen and inkwell" so to be ready to write.
I consider myself a very nostalgic person, and although I like the advantage of technology, I also look back at those times where we needed to do everything on our own without any automation.

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

Then came out what to write, I didn't have many writing experiences to write, and definitely, I could not give advice to anyone since I was the one in dire need of them.
One thing, though I had done extensively in my life, and that was traveling, and considering that my travels have been quite extreme, I decided to share them with the rest of the world.
That's how also the "Wandering Writer" was born.
That's how I depict myself, this is not only because of the travels I am doing around the world but also because of the extensive travels I go with my imagination when I am writing my stories. Those can be invented places or really existing ones.
Now after having described all the experiences, I have acquired during my travels I had to change a bit the topics unless I wanted to blog only the months when I am traveling or when I have a new novel coming out.
This doesn’t mean that the Wandering Writer is no more here but she is traveling differently exploring new topics, and that is also a sort of journey.
I also started to share my passion for photography, which has been a never-ending journey in learning new techniques, practicing combinations, acquiring new objectives for the cameras, and dreaming on those subject that is for the moment not at my reach (but they will be one day).
Now after three years of blogging, I think I have learned that you do not need necessarily to stick on one single topic in your blog. Whatever is in your heart, every story that needs to be told is worth the time of a blog. The experiences shared might help someone else too.
Paper Pen and Inkwell is a name that can include everything that is written, and I am glad to have chosen such a versatile name. I have to admit that initially, I was wondering whether this was the right one or should I have used as a more specific name either connected to traveling or to writing, but then, thinking twice, this was just perfect and describes the Wandering Writer in its essence.
What about the future then? Well, the future holds at least I hope, more travels, more novels more pictures taken, more experiences. As once I said we are planning our escape from the rat race, and at the moment we are at the count -4.45 years (LOL).
Indeed, the future holds a lot of uncertainties too, and I cannot really tell for sure what will actually happen. One thing I want to let you know is that whatever it will be, I will write it here on my blog.
I wish you all a great Weekend!!