DSP: For starters, tell us a bit about you, we like to get to know our authors as a person!
Nadia: About me, well I'm 33 years old, a mother of three small children whom I love very much. I am happily married, recently celebrated my ten year wedding anniversary this summer. I am a Disney fanatic. I love Disney so much we have decided to go there every year. I love to play softball on the side. It's my favorite sport. In my spare time I work on my spiritual work with the Kabbalah Center which has been helping me to be a better person. And spend time with my family.
DSP: Nice to meet you! So tell us, where did you find the inspiration for your most recent book?
Nadia: Well it’s funny, the muse to write Reflection came after meeting a woman who happens to be just like me. I mean literally. We are only a day apart in age and it’s almost like we live parallel lives. The most recent thing that happened, which still has us blown away and anyone we tell, is that we both had two kids and planned our third. Well my daughter ended up being born on her husband’s birthday and her son ended up being born on my husband’s birthday. This was just one of many “coincidences”. I started playing softball and not too long after tore a tendon in my right ankle. After surgery I was laid up with a boot for a few weeks. Well shortly after, she had started playing flag football and sure enough, she injures her left ankle and is forced to wear a boot. This happened within months of my surgery. It’s a long story, but we share so many similarities. We went on a cruise together and I found myself faced with someone who was just like me and it was scary. It was like looking in the mirror and I saw the flaws about myself I needed to change. It was an eye opening experience to say the least.
DSP: So, do you have any kind of ritual for writing? Such as, you have to write with music on, or you can only write when you’re completely alone, etc?
Nadia: I am definitely one who has a playlist for each book I write. And it's never the same for each story. Different music puts me more in the mind set for certain scenes. So I have to change it up. I love that my typing keeps pace with the tempo. It's kind of like when I run. Same thing. The faster the music the faster I type.
DSP: Who is your favorite character in your book, and why? How about the character you had the most trouble with?
Nadia: I think its Mark. He is just so darn cute and goes out of his way for a woman he barely knows. For a rich guy he is very down to earth and I like that. He also loves to have fun. He's just my kind of guy. Oh and I just love his eyes.
DSP: Now, when you sit down to write a book, a paragraph, or whatever you‘re working on at the moment, do you just sit down in front of the computer, or do you need an outline? Is there any other prep you need in order to organize your thoughts either before you write or in the process of writing?
Nadia: It really depends, I kind of need some idea of what I am writing about. What scene, perhaps the motives it really depends. There are many times I just wing it and then there are times I need to mull over an idea, maybe write some ideas on paper, brainstorm, maybe even talk to my husband and bounce some ideas off of him.
DSP: Do you foresee any more books to continue this story? If so, do you think we can get a taste of what’s to come?
Nadia: Possibly. I have been exploring the idea of telling the story from the point of view of another character. But I write what I feel and right now I am halfway done with my first vampire novel, which I am super excited about. Perhaps next year I will revisit it.
DSP: Other than this most recent story, do you have any ideas for different books that might be published in the future? Care to give us a teaser?
Nadia: Yes I have a book that will be out electronically in January 2013 called Love Curse. Its a series about three generations of Witches and told from each of their point of views. In book 1 we meet Joan and her granddaughter Sidney. Joan is immersed in the world of magic, but Sidney has no idea where she comes from or even that she has powers. It's told from their perspective during their teenage years, so there is a lot of angst in the story.
DSP: Who is your greatest inspiration to write? What person makes you believe in yourself, and how?
Nadia: Well I think that Anne Rice was my initial inspiration to write novels. When I was twelve I read Interview with a Vampire and from that point on I was hooked on vampire novels. I hoped one day I would write my own. For years I wrote stories after that and one day a good friend gave me some books that helped me see it was possible and so I sat down and I did it. I wrote my first novel in 30 days. It was not one to be published but it was a stepping stone for stories to come.
DSP: Do you have any aspirations to be similar or comparable to another author? Why?
Nadia: I am not sure. I think like any writer our goal is that our stories are read and enjoyed as much as we have enjoyed writing them.
DSP: Okay, one last question, and this one is different for every author, not to mention completely off the wall! What are 3 things you'd like to accomplish before you expire?
Nadia: Wow, that's really deep. I think my number one would be to have shared and spread enough light in the world to change it for the better. I would also like to have many many books published, and third, to have had the best life of spending time with family, friends and traveling.
I love that Nadia got hooked on vampire novels courtesy of Anne Rice, just like so many of us vampire enthusiasts out there! I simply can't wait to see what else comes from this gifted author!!
Some more good news for you all...Nadia is graciously offering up an ecopy of her amazing novel Reflection to a lucky reader of this blog. To score your copy, just comment on any post about Nadia this week. No hoops, no crazy stunts, just comment and be entered. Hey, free is awesome, so a big thanks to Nadia for her generosity! Don't forget to come back daily for new updates, details, info, and the like on this author, and for a chance to win a copy of her awesome book!
Anne Rice has written some very entertaining tales. I can defintely see where someone would become encouraged and inspired to write after reading some of that kind of writing! LOL Great interview!
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