Today I interviewed E.A.Smiroldo about the books she writes & I wanted to find out a little bit about her and how she got into the writing world and what her plans are.
E.A.Smiroldo ‘s Social Media Links Are:
Can you tell our readers about yourself and your book?
My debut novel is a climate change thriller called The Silent Count, recently released by Solstice Publishing. I live in the Washington, DC area (my hometown), am a musician and have a day job I love in nuclear engineering. My various “lives” all inform my novel, which is set in DC and in which the main character is a young woman who has just completed a PhD in nuclear engineering. The novel is laced with song lyrics from real songs, written and performed by me on guitars and vocals, that readers can hear on my YouTube channel
Describe how did you first get into writing?
I’ve always had a creative streak and loved to make up stories from an early age. I got into creative writing in college after my composition teacher told me I had talent. He may have created a monster!
Can you tell me some of your strengths that really helped you in writing?
I have a vivid imagination and am allergic to giving up. When I start something I have to finish, even if it takes a long time.
How would you describe your writing style?
I incorporate a lot of my own experiences and emotions into my work, although they are completely fictionalized for dramatic effect. A lot of actual science went into The Silent Count as well. I guess I write what I know!
What do you think is the best service a writer can provide to his readers?
Writers needn’t explain everything in a novel. In any case, readers have limited time so a novelist first and foremost needs to engage and entertain. The Silent Count was meant to be a page turner as well as a novel showcasing ideas about climate change, and my reviewers seem to agree.
How do you manage time to run your writing efficiently?
I don’t but am trying to improve! It took ages to write The Silent Count because life got in the way. But with better time management I could have avoided that. Will try to do better for the sequel!
How do you want to improve yourself in the next year?
I’d like to improve my health (exercise, sleeping enough, eating better) which I know will help me get on track in other aspects of my life, including time management and my writing. Health really is wealth.
What was your greatest failure and what did you learn from that?
I’ve had too many failures to count, but they were all extremely important to my growth. Regarding The Silent Count, sending out to agents, publishers, and editors early in its life led to lots of crushing rejection. But rather than give up, I spent a couple years revising it with the help of beta readers and my writing group. The reception to my rewritten book was like night and day, and I found a small publisher (Solstice) to release it. Failure can always be overcome!
Tell me about your proudest writing achievement?
I was asked to help curate a climate fiction anthology called No More Fairy Tales (part of the Green Stories project at University of Southampton) that will be released to the delegates of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, taking place in November in Egypt!
Who has impacted you most in writing and how?
I hired my writing teacher John DeDakis, a former journalist and author of several successful detective novels, to edit my first draft of The Silent Count. His edits and suggestions put me on the path to turning my not ready for prime time draft into a real novel, and I learned so much in the process.
What is your greatest achievement outside of writing?
I am a nuclear engineer with specialties in safety and security, and now am an independent consultant in nonproliferation. In my own small way, I feel that my work is keeping rouge actors from acquiring information, materials, and equipment that could help them proliferate nuclear weapons. It was a long and difficult road to finding my niche in this field, but I’m so glad I stuck it out.
What do you do in your spare time?
I spend a lot of time with my nearly 90 year old dad and love to cook Sicilian specialties for him (my family is from there). I also love to play the guitar and do puzzles of all kinds.
Where would you like to be in the writing world five years from now?
I’d love to release a sequel to The Silent Count and build my audience. Of course every novelist dreams of having their book made into a movie! If anyone is interested, let’s talk!
What was the most challenging moment in your writing journey so far?
Marketing is hard! Also, putting yourself “out there” is hard. Writers are often loners since it’s a solitary activity and I’m no exception.
Can you name some of your favourite writers and explain why they are your favourites?
I love the classics—Jane Austen especially. She brilliantly observed human behavior and created characters we’re still talking about all these years later. I also love Fyodor Dostoyevsky. He had a way of putting readers into the heads of his characters.
Anything else you would like the readers to know?
My website is http://easmiroldo.com. Check out sample pages to my novel The Silent Count at Amazon.
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