Rome Writing Workshops

I'm delighted to announce that the audio version of my historical novel, Anything But Yes, the true story of a girl abducted from the ghetto of Rome in 1749, is available at a discounted price through September 23. It's read by a terrific actress, and produced by Tantor, a major publisher of audio books.
https://www.audiobooks.com/promotions/promotedBook/735874/anything-but-yes-a-novel-of-anna-del-monte-jewish-citizen-of-rome-1749?refId=150754 -

Coming to Italy? Spend a day at my Umbrian farmhouse improving your writing skills. 40 minutes by train from Rome. We’ll have coffee and work through the morning, break for lunch, work a bit more then end the day with a glass of wine and back to the train station. Contact me for details. [email protected]

"I’m an Olympic-standard eavesdropper. I also seem to have kind of a trusting face because people come to me all the time on trains and planes and boats and start unloading the craziest most glorious stuff that you could never make up. What I do a lot as well is I look at the way people are speaking. Watching them as they speak is very interesting because often, in fiction, dialogue on the page looks like two people taking turns, but it’s never like that in life: in life, there’s always a talker and a listener."
Kevin Barry, whose novel, "Night Boat to Tangier," was longlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize.

Alexander Chee on writer's block:
The idea of the fraudulent idea, the idea that you are tricking yourself into humiliating yourself, and that stopping yourself from writing is the only way to protect yourself, this is a potent source of writers’ block. You begin with the fear of humiliating yourself, which takes you to the fear of losing the love of someone you care about who might read it and who you fear will think less of you, or even punish you, even end the relationship. From there we move to the fear of failing to achieve, which is a shadow to the fear of success, which brings us back around to the fear of your own ideas.

The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.
Mark Twain

Have a fabulous Sunday!