Yes, my novel, Dreams, Lies and a Touch of Smoke, is now also on Kindle at Amazon.com.  Visit Amazon website, enter my name in the Search, Mara di Sandro De Matteo, or the title of the book, and it will pop up.  An exciting new way to read a book!

  December 20, 2009                                              The writing life 

 It happens when I walk.  Most of the time.  Meaning, that’s my creative time, when I process the ideas that bombard me when I’m at work or at home doing ordinary stuff, or grocery shopping.  I walk up that hill in my new “real” sneakers and start writing on my tabula rasa that is often quite rasa  Then, when I get home, if I can, if I’m not immediately sucked in by life’s minutiae (but urgent minutiae), I’ll write a couple of notes – on paper or go pc and open Word.  Jotting down, that’s all.  At the end of the day, before my imminent collapse, I’ll gather my thoughts, arrange them in a somewhat orderly manner and produce my piece, be it a chapter of a novel, a short story or a blog entry.  That’s how it works for me anyway.  But I also collect numerous ideas on my uphill walk back home.  ‘Beginnings’ are everywhere.  The woman I meet everyday, all bundled up in winter gear, hat, shades, smoking a cigarette, walking fast down the hill…well, what’s her story?  Or take my red trench, for example.  Bought it because I love the color red.  It looks good on me, I feel glamorous and a little mysterious.  Should I add dark glasses and an exotic place, like, say, Barajas Airport in Madrid? Thus a character is born, the blonde in red, an intriguing woman wandering around the Spanish airport, stealthily followed by a man who believes to have met her before. And so it goes, an interesting short story is created  (coming up at some point in a collection of short stories I’ve been working on).  Or, what about Diana Harrison? The main character of my new novel Dreams, Lies and a Touch of Smoke.  An ordinary suburban woman, living right here in my neck of the woods, Westchester County, NY, who goes out to the mall one mild September day, unaware that her life would be changed forever.  She could be you - Diana - she could be me, or your neighbor, or your sister. Fascinating what riveting secret stories go on behind those quaint red doors on our quiet suburban streets.  The writing life. The only one for me, really.  I wouldn't want to do anything else.