Welcome to my Second Acts Series!
Today, we have Soul Mate author Iuliana Foos sharing her extraordinary journey across the ocean to North America and her debut novel, Bloodline Origins.
Here’s Iuliana!
Thank you so much for hosting me today.
Born and raised in Bucharest, Romania, I had a childhood and upbringing different from what most people outside the country are accustomed to. Since an early age, I loved to read. Growing up in a communist country, where all information was closely supervised, I soon ran out of books to read.
I had to start, of course, with the literature mandatory in school, all Romanian authors, but soon, I started to borrow books from my parents’ collection. When most people hear ‘Black Market’ they think of illegal merchandise. For us, it was also books. Coming across translated international authors, wasn’t easy, but not impossible either.
It was when I fell in love with ‘The Three Musketeers’ by Alexander Dumas, the first romance book I ever read. I was only in my early teens, so extremely impressionable. Until today I still believe everyone should have at least one sword, even if only for decorative purposes.
When I attempted to read ‘War and Peace’ by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, I failed miserably, falling asleep before finishing a whole page. I still didn’t get the courage to go back and try to read what, at that time, for me, was the most boring book, so I never made it past the first chapter. It served as a good paperweight, and many times I used it to hide underneath another book, usually something frowned upon, like ‘Gone with the Wind’ by Margaret Mitchell.
Around the same time, I managed to put my greedy hands on translated adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays, whose themes are still successfully rehashed today.
One of my best finds has to be Greek Mythology Adaptations. Those gods are still inspiring.
By the time I was sixteen, I ran out of books to devour, and started to make up my own stories. In school and at home, I was busy creating worlds and characters in my head. The visit at Dracula’s Castle uncovered infinite possibilities. Our ordinary world had become that day less important than my fantasy one. You can only imagine the new level of commotion in my mind. It was the first time I knew what I wanted to do in my life: be an author.
With my first job, life started to interfere with my dreams of writing. Living though the revolution that ended the communism in Romania, brought hope. Unfortunately, the bitter taste of disappointment with the new life, convinced me to leave behind everything I knew. Only months before my twenty-ninth birthday, I emigrated to Canada, in a search of a better life.
As an immigrant, I had an allowance of two large travel bags, each no heavier than forty kilograms (or eighty pounds), so I packed my life in those and started anew. I still have my fifteen large notebooks, handwritten in Romanian with my first stories. They took up half of one of my allowed bags, my most precious possessions.
Year after year, I drifted further and further from my dreams. With bills to pay and life in general happening every minute of the day, I had to stay focused on my sales/marketing career.
When I thought life couldn’t surprise me anymore, it did. I divorced and years later, remarried. Following my husband meant yet another big move, this time to the United States of America, my new home. He encouraged me to revisit my dream, give writing a second chance, and so I did.
New challenges rose, but I was determined not to let anything stand between me and my dream this time. Not even writing in a language that is not my native tongue couldn’t stop me. It took me seventeen years to even dare consider it. English is not even my second language, but my fourth. I was fluent in Spanish at nineteen, and in French at thirty. With time I lost the ability to speak any of the two, but I still can understand some.
If you ever look for a challenge to test your courage and drive, try it. Pick the best language you speak, other than your first, and write a novel. Let me know how that works out. No, really, let me know. If you think having an accent is bad, wait until you have to figure out grammar. Thank God, the accent doesn’t come through in writing.
Many people start new chapters at some point in their lives. For some, the change is major, for others not so much. For me, it was monumental. All three times.
So here I stand today, humbled and grateful for everything I went through. I carry the scars of my battles and the sweet memories of my victories. Every adventure and step I took brought me where I am today.
I’ve learned to never lose hope. It took me over thirty years to live the dream I had as a teenager. It is never too late to reach that dream you have. Hold on to it. Foster its growth, and above all else, never give up. Second chances happen when you least expect it.
Blurb
Determined to turn her fantasy into reality, Ana starts her journey to become a vampire. Along the way, she learns the truth about their secret society, discovers her prestigious bloodline, and falls in love.
Not all vampires are accepting of humans and war looms in the shadows. An ancient tome reveals the vampires’ alien descent and sparks war.
An army bent on eradicating her coven’s existence threatens her new world. Survival or annihilation will be in Ana’s hands.
Where to find Iuliana…
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Amazon
Joanne here!
Iuliana, I’m in awe of your achievements. Writing in a first language is challenging enough. How impressive that you are able to write so beautifully using a fourth language. Best of luck with Bloodline Origins. It sounds intriguing.
Peggy Jaeger is a contemporary romance writer who writes about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can’t live without them.
Many thanks to Joanne for hosting me today! My writing journey has been short, but I hope to continue to write for many years to come.
Sarah Haskins’ last family member died months ago, and since then she’s put in way too much overtime at her job as a 911 dispatcher. Looking forward to a much-needed vacation ad some peace of mind, she has no way of knowing that buying a piece of antique Cherokee Indian jewelry will forever change her life.
We can all recall that magical moment when we typed the last words of our manuscript and lovingly glanced at the neatly piled pages on the desk. Head over heels in love, we could easily visualize literary agents and publishers emailing us within hours of receiving the manuscript.
Thank you, Joanne for hosting me Detective Jesus De La Cruz today. We’re both happy to be stopping by to share our love of coffee with your readers and a taste of our upcoming book, Exacting Justice.
An unknown killer is waging a war on drugs. The murders are horrendous but with a silver lining—now stop signs are the only objects lingering on corners in the city’s toughest neighborhoods. Half the city calls for the police to end the killer’s reign. The other half cheers the killer on, denouncing the tactics but celebrating the progress police haven’t been able to achieve.
I wrote my first story at age ten. The story was originally accepted by my elementary school magazine. Ecstatic with joy, I told everyone I was being published. However, fate intervened and my teacher told me, sorrowfully, that they had decided not to publish my story since an older student had written something similar. I guess they figured I’d have time to write more stories and be published later on. Taking this rejection really hard I decided then and there I wasn’t going to be a writer after all.
Can you compose efficient and effective emails?
Ivy Castlefield is a famous motivational speaker who has lost the drive to go on with her career and her life. But after six months of wallowing in her own misery, she decides to get back in the game and boards a flight bound for Las Vegas to present at a conference.
When I think back over my life it is separated by one major event. I moved from one side of the world to the other. I was brought up in the UK and immigrated to Australia at aged twenty-nine. I knew my husband wanted to live there when we married and was excited at the prospect. I came from a dysfunctional family so it seemed like a new start for me. I was a trained nurse and I had a job waiting for me.
Cassi moved to LA to escape a violent past and wants anonymity for herself and her son. She is starting to get her life back on track when she meets Declan Reed. He is latest hit on the Hollywood scene, playing the lead in the TV series Dark Storm. She gets the love of a TV star, and the fame that comes with it causes her past to come back and haunt her with what could be fatal consequences.
As I prepared to guest on Joanne’s blog, I looked over the stories that have come before mine. So many of my fellow writers seem to have known since childhood that they wanted this career. Not I. It never occurred to me that I could spend my life making things up for fun and not get in trouble for it.
Antique jewelry dealer Annalee Wyatt recently moved from Houston to Goat Hill, her family’s ancestral farm in Louisiana. Okay, admittedly she knows jack about farming and makes her living selling expensive baubles, but she’s returned to her roots and wants everyone, including the citizens of nearby Berryville, to be as enthusiastic about it as she is. Her goal of acceptance gets a boost when the scion of an old family pays her big bucks for an engagement ring. When his intimidating mother invites her to attend the ceremony, she really feels like she’s made it.
Antique jewelry dealer Annalee Wyatt has settled into life on recently-inherited Goat Hill Farm, and gamely agrees to accompany her new boyfriend to his class reunion. Former football star Ryan Dawson shows up with his adoring wife and slides right back into his role as big man on campus. By evening’s end, he’s bragged to the guys, pawed the women, and generally convinced everyone he isn’t the great guy they remember.
