We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Emilia Rosa a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Emilia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?

I always read voraciously and also wrote poetry. Several years ago decided to write a novel; not sure if I would have a readership, I quit. A few years ago I started a new novel; now I am working on the third installment.

Emilia, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I was raised in Brazil and lived many years in Rio de Janeiro–the city featured in my first two novels. I have always been fascinated with words and studied French, Spanish, English and Italian. I worked in international trade shows in a multilingual capacity, and as a fashion model in Brazil, Italy, and the US. Before turning to fiction, I won a library poetry contest, and my poems were published in several poetry anthologies. Fond memories of my childhood in Rio de Janeiro decided the location of my novels. And as I always loved the past–Ancient Egypt being my passion–so the 1920’s were chosen for “Finding Cristina” and also the sequel. I am doing research and writing the third sequel of “Cristina.” This third installment will take readers to the southernmost state in Brazil, where my parents were from. I am also planning two novels–one in Ancient Egypt, another in a fictitious island in the Caribbean. My books are available as paperback and kindle, and are sold on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BAM, etc. Readers can contact me via Facebook/Instagram/Goodreads (Emilia Rosa Author) and Twitter (EmiliaURosa1).

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

My biggest challenge is language. My mother tongue is Portuguese, but I write in English, a foreign language. So it is only natural that I struggle at times. Furthermore, words and their origin fascinate me, and when I write I try to not only find the most appropriate word to create a scene, but to convey “beauty.” I used to paint watercolor, so I like to compare the process of writing to that of painting a picture: I sketched what I saw then, with brushstrokes, used colors to recreate it. Only in writing the sketch is in my mind and I slowly transubstantiated it into words. And these must be just right. As I love studying the subtleties of words and their effect on a sentence (like with a chiaroscuro) that is when Thesaurus and the dictionary enter the picture (pun intended!) and trouble ensues! This lengthens the process, but, oh, it is so much fun! I also use an editor before publishing my books.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

At the end of last year I invited a couple of authors, friends of mine, to join me in a book signing. We enjoyed it so much, I thought we should start organizing group book signings. And so Northern Ohio Authors Guild came to exist. We are an informal group, with no dues. From three authors we are now twenty-four, all from the Northern part of Ohio, from Port Clinton to Willowick. We are indie authors and our books encompass romance, mystery, children/teen, paranormal, and inspirational among others. Up to date we have had thirty group book signings, with some already scheduled for 2024.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://books2read.com/u/49L7eW
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emiliarosaauthor/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EmiliaRosaAuthor
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/EmiliaURosa1
• Other: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21452293.Emilia_Rosa