Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am an American living for many years in Italy, and often setting my stories in my beautiful, adoptive country. I write women’s fiction, historical fiction and short stories. I have published one contemporary women’s fiction novel, Three Coins, and have a time slip women’s fiction/romance novel, Dark Blue Waves, coming out in May 2022.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I seem to have a talent for stealing titles. My novel Three Coins takes its title from a 1954 Hollywood film entitled Three Coins in The Fountain. My novel is a retelling of that 1950s story of three American expatriate women looking to carve out lives for themselves in the Eternal City. My next, Dark Blue Waves, is a time slip novel in comtemporary and 1813 Bath, UK. The title is a line in a poem by Lord Byron – contemporary poetry in 1813. Byron’s tales of adventures as he journeys by boat to distant lands speaks to my protagonist, who is adrift and confused in her new world and uncertain how to return home.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Although I prefer a quiet space to write, I developed (of necessity, when my kids were small) the ability to write almost anywhere. You could set me up in the middle of a Three Ring Circus and I’d still hammer those words out.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Too many to list. But favorites I keep returning to are Jane Austen and Edith Wharton.
What are you working on now?
I’m finalizing my third novel now, which is currently with my editor. It’s a dual timeline set in modern days and World War I, in the mountainous Italian region of Abruzzo. I love hiking in that beautiful region and I was struck by how every town had its war memorial, and how long the list of fallen soldiers was for the First World War. Unlike trench warfare in Belgium, France and Germany, the Italian front was along the Austrian border, fought in the mountains – where so many young boys from Italy’s mountain communities went off to fight and never returned. The losses of a whole generation of young men devastated an already poor region, and I wanted to tell that story.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m still learning, but I promote via social media and love to be invited on author blogs.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Critique groups and writers’ groups are such important resources. I’ve worked with different writers’ groups and love the feedback and critiquing others’ work. For me, the Womens Fiction Writers Association is a fabulous group – with writers meet-ups, resources, webinars and craft classes – a wealth of information. Find an association aligned with your genre to make connnections with fellow authors and to learn from their experiences.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Market your first novel with your second. Market your second novel with your third…
What are you reading now?
Colleen Hoover’s “It Ends with Us”. My first Hoover novel. I am thoroughly enjoying it. I also read a lot of ARCs over at NetGalley.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Releasing my two planned novels in 2022. Then I would like to prepare a collection of short stories – a tougher call for sales, but I absolutely love short stories.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Bible. The Rise and Fall of Ancient Rome (since I’ve never gotten through it when NOT on a desert island). Complete collection of Jane Austen.
Author Websites and Profiles
Kimberly Sullivan Website
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