by Annie Seaton –
From a very early age, I would pick up anything that had words on it and read. Whether it was the newspaper, a flyer, an advertisement, a billboard, a book or a magazine…I would read it. A thirst for knowledge, a desire to know what was happening in the world and the opportunity to experience other places, worlds, lives, and times was available to me through the written word.
Move forward to the second decade of the twenty-first century and the internet is at my fingertips. Oh, what a delight for an author. To be able to research exotic places far away, to be able to verify facts and dates and to look at images of exotic settings.
I do much of my research, verifying facts and places using the internet. My love of reading and research melded into a highly satisfying career when I left school and studied to be a librarian. During my twenty-year career with books and the written word… I worked in a variety of library settings. This stood me in good stead as I researched my books. Ley lines in Hot Rock, Italian islands in Italian Affair, crocodiles in Dangerous Desire…there is always something to research. Even though my stories are fiction, every fact in them is checked meticulously.
However Ten Days in Tuscany was written after a very special research trip. In the summer of 2014 I was very fortunate to attend a writer’s retreat in Tuscany with Eloisa James and twelve other wonderful women (see the dedication on the front of the book )
Everything in this story was verified through painstaking and most enjoyable personal research while I achieved a dream and visited Tuscany! The gelati, the landscape, the restaurant, the old cottage, the village, the hand bag store, the fortified wall of the village… all personally researched and I loved every minute of it!
I love research and I love being an author and sharing my stories with my readers!
What is on the top of your bucket list? Tuscany was mine!
Ten Days in Tuscany
Sign: Cancer
One lie will ruin everything…
Gia Carelli waits tables in her small Tuscan village, dreaming of a life in which her overbearing family allows her to move to Florence to pursue art. Everyone expects her to marry a nice local boy and raise a horde of bambini, but when a gorgeous, wealthy stranger visits, Gia wonders if maybe her stars are about to change.
Nic Baldini has returned to his Tuscan Villa for a much-needed break from the responsibilities of his powerful family. Struck by local artist Gia Carelli’s raw talent and passion, he finds himself wanting to help her…and lies about his identity in order to gain her trust. But as theirpatron-protegée relationship is quickly eclipsed by desire, Nic realizes that one tiny lie could cost him the woman he’s falling for.
Tuscany is definitely on my bucket list! 🙂