Interview with Emilia Rutigliano, author of 'Napoleon'

Emilia I. Rutigliano scored fiftieth percentile on her SATs... and on her LSATs... and on her BAR...Sigh...

But she nevertheless survived, and seems to be doing OK. She practices Law read lore) in Brooklyn, New York (read Nu Yawk). She was born in the former Soviet Union, and emigrated in 1979. She is happily married to the same crazy Italian she's been with since college, who suffers from a severe addition to travel (still in acute form). Together they are doing a somewhat passable job with their three precious darlings (who are now teenagers, thus elaboration is not necessary).

Which is why Emilia writes about Veronica. Veronica, though... is interesting. And Emilia knows interesting.

So she weaved the tale about the interesting characters, places and events from her own life. It is remarkable how if you choose to view a subject objectively, it becomes downright artistically gorgeous. So Emilia views and shows Brooklyn Russians as gorgeous, and the Barese intricacies as gorgeous, and she even tolerates Paris, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia for the reader's interests.
Thank you, dear reader, for tolerating these scenes....

LAYERS OF VERONICA IS ON FACEBOOK...LIKE US.




Her first book in the Layers of Veronica series is Napoleon.

Visit Emilia Rutigliano’s website at www.layersofveronica.com.

Q: Welcome to The Writer's Life!  Now that your book has been published, we’d love to find out more about the process.  Can we begin by having you take us at the beginning?  Where did you come up with the idea to write your book?

Emilia:  It was a dark and stormy night…

No, really, it was!  It was a cold February evening when we were sitting in my kitchen drinking tea.  There were eight kids in my NYC apartment who kept coming in to nag us about something and interrupt our very poignant conversation about Fifty Shades of Grey.  We’d both just read it, and she was thrilled with it.  I didn’t have anything negative to say, per se, I just couldn’t figure out what all the fuss was about!  Her challenge… “you have such a strong interest in all this, and think you could do it?  THEN YOU SHOULD WRITE A BOOK!.”

So I did.  I wrote five of them.  Every question, comment, gossip and debate that has ever been had between my friends and me over martinis or cups of tea is a storyline in the Layers of Veronica.

Q: How hard was it to write a book like this and do you have any tips that you could pass on which would make the journey easier for other writers?

Emilia:  It was a matter of time – finding it, allocating it and using it wisely.  The only advice… the best advice that can be given to any writer is:  believe in what you are doing.  There is no known path.  You cannot do the same thing as the writer next door, or the great one that lived a century earlier.  Use them as inspiration, but not as path leaders on your journey.  You will have a different path.

Q: Who is your publisher and how did you find them or did you self-publish?

Emilia: Self-published.  It was the only path for me.  I wrote the books on a dare, for friends to read.  It got passed around as Word documents some chapters at a time until I got smacked in the head and introduced to Kindle Publishing.  Amazon is a divine gift.  Traditional publishers would not be thrilled with my heroine… she is a divorced, educated 35-year-old attorney who sleeps with married men, shuns traditional marriage for herself, raises her children and makes her way up to society – without a lottery win or a princely rescue.

Q: Is there anything that surprised you about getting your first book published?

Emilia: I’m shocked (read pleasantly thrilled) at the demographics that are finding and enjoying the book.  I thought that it would appeal mostly to the 30-year-old woman in New York.  I was wrong.  Every email I get from men and women all over the world in their forties, fifties, sixties and seventies who love Veronica and are inspired by the story lines makes me grin and thank the universe.  I’m a very lucky girl.

Q: Can you describe the feeling when you saw your published book for the first time? 

Emilia: It was nice, but not as nice as a letter from someone who has read the book and feels inspired by it.  THAT is the most incredible feeling.  It makes you want to smile and cry at the same time.  The flattery is lovely to hear, and the lines that say “thank you for writing this” make my hands shake.

Q: What other books (if any) are you working on and when will they be published?

Emilia: Layers of Veronica has five books in the series.  The first three:  Napoleon, Fairytales, and Petals are out.  The last two are at the editor’s getting some TLC.  They should be published by Spring.  The series I’m working on now is called Alexandra’s Order.  It’s still a work in progress.

Q: Fun question: How does your book contribute to making this world a better place?

Emilia: The series proves that everyone is capable of achieving whatever goals they desire.  It is uncontroverted proof that you can find your family, your team and your life globally.  Just because you were born in one social sphere does not bind you to it for life.  You can soar.

Q: Finally, what message (if any) are you trying to get across with your book?

Emilia: The traditional home and hearth with a loving family and a devoted spouse is truly beautiful.  But if your life did not go that way, regardless of whose fault it is, there is a beautiful, fulfilling life with many brilliant people who can help make your journey a paradise.  Try a different perspective.  In the end, we aren’t that different from one another.

  

Q: Thank you again for this interview!  Do you have any final words?

Emilia: Thank you so much for this opportunity. 

About Napoleon:

They say that when a student is ready, a teacher appears.

What they don’t say is where to register, and how to matriculate in that teacher’s class.

That is a divine gift.

Veronica had it all:  the looks; the brains; the personality; and the wardrobe.  Not to mention a perfect husband, a fabulous career and two adorable children, until the perfect husband leaves her for another woman.

Thus begin the daily routines of a typical New York City immigrant with ambition whose teachers keep appearing, and for whom divine interventions keep affording new opportunities. 

Though it starts like ordinary connections going through the tried and true, each relationship continues to delve into parts of her own universe that Veronica didn’t know existed.  A universe that is suddenly open to her.

This is a different kind of heroine…

Welcome to the New American Dream, Dare to Dream…