Meet Our Greyhaus Authors - Elizabetta Bricca - Live From Italy!

Greyhaus Literary Agency is much more than simply Scott Eagan. The heart and soul of the agency really is the group of writers who work hard at what they do. Some are published and some are working hard to move on. In an effort to see that, I have asked the authors to come here and blog every now and then. In the future, some will be talking about their upcoming books and some will simply be letting us know what is going on in their lives and their careers.

I met Elizabetta at the Women's Fiction Festival in Matera, Italy. She currently writes for Harlequin Mondadoi and we are working on new projects to be ready for the North American Market!

Make sure to stop by and say hi!

ROME WAS MY CRADLE

Rome was my cradle. I grew up on bread, history, and art, inhaling the very air the Roman Emperors had breathed before me, warmed by the same light by which Caravaggio and Michelangelo had created their timeless masterpieces.

Rome’s grandeur was imprinted on my heart and quickened the blood in my veins so that it flowed tumultuously like the Tiber River.

As a child, I used to play near the ruins of Emperor Nero’s Golden House. As a young woman, I walked by the Coliseum every day on my way to work. Inevitably these glorious sights –the rich, ancient culture I was born into – shaped my soul.

Writing has always been my way of expressing the beauty I felt inside, surrounded and supported by the spirit of my ancestors. I am my roots, molded by history, both as a human being and as an artist. I am my past and cannot deny it.

I began my writing career as a copywriter, working in the lively heart of Rome. I remember sitting in Café Canova in Piazza del Popolo, a pencil in one hand and a notepad in the other, gazing at the white marble fountain while trying to come up with catchy slogans. I loved my job, but there was more in me, bubbling beneath the surface, aching to erupt: enchanting stories of the past. So one day I decided to give life to one of these stories. I wrote my first historical romance, REBEL’S BLOOD (SANGUE RIBELLE), a novel set in 17th century Ireland, in less than a year. It was published by Harlequin Mondadori in 2009. But it was with the second book that I paid tribute to my country. D’AMORE E DI VENTURA (ON LOVE AND FORTUNE) tells the story of Cesare Mocenigo, a soldier of fortune making his way in Renaissance Italy, torn between passion and revenge and ultimately healed by love and redemption. Inspired by the lives of Gilles de Retz and Braccio da Montone, and by my own husband, I created a lead male character equal to the condottieri of the past, men of light and shadow, and though penning a romance, I left out the saccharine. Writing this kind of book was a risk – but it was worth it.

I believe the great potential and true mission of an author is to dare, to strive to conquer new summits, and to find one’s own voice. Always. This is my credo – and my suggestion to aspirant writers: Write what you love. Do not pay too much attention to hot market trends. Markets go up and down. Spare yourselves the agony of forcing yourselves to write stories that do not suit you. Try to dig deeper, past the stereotypes, and find your own voice. Writing is a career, not an hobby. Yet, first and foremost, it is the lovechild of your heart and soul.