Italy | Mary J. McCoy-Dressel

Tag: Italy

#AmWriting #MFRWauthor Week 50: It’s All About the Vacation

Posted at 6:42 am by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel, on December 21, 2018

Wow, we have one more week to go in the 2018 Marketing for Romance Writers 52-Week Blog Challenge Blog Hop with our hashtag #MFRWauthor. I have no idea what the future holds for this challenge blog hop. If it has met its end, I’ll come up with something else in this time slot. If not, I fear I will become an absent blogger.

Week 51: My Fantasy Vacation

This is a big world. How can anyone limit it to one fantasy vacation? Income, on the other hand, can possibly limit a family to a once in a lifetime trip.

For my fantasy trip, I wouldn’t need a travel partner, but I’d prefer one. I’m not Julia Roberts in Eat, Pray, Love nor am I Diane Lane in Under the Tuscan Sun.

I don’t mind traveling alone across my country on a plane or train, but if I ventured on a fantasy vacation, I’d like to have a fantasy partner to travel with me. He can be my age with salt & pepper hair, or he can be younger with any hair. I’d also consider traveling with a best friend or with my boys and daughter-in-law where I wouldn’t have to impress anyone but myself.

I live in a beautiful country, and there’s so much to see in all fifty states, but I’ll limit my fantasy vacation to one for this post.

Like many Americans, I’d be interested in vacationing in other countries like Europe, Australia, and Canada. For the record, I have vacationed in Canada.

For this post, I’d love to plan a fantasy vacation around Tuscany, Italy. I can think of many reasons to visit this part of Italy—beginning with the food and Chianti—a fantasy in itself. I’d tour the country, visit wineries, and take cooking classes in a chef’s kitchen or an Italian grandmother’s home like in the movie Letters to Juliet.

If I ever made it as far as Italy, I wouldn’t limit it to Tuscany. I’d love to see Milan, too. Oh, the shopping I’d do there on my fantasy vacation, beginning with purchasing red Valentino boots. Hey, it’s my fantasy! The woman who proofed the Italian in my Bull Rider Series lived in Milan on and off in her life and talked about it so lovingly.

I’d make my way to Venice, which has been my fantasy vacation since way before I knew anything about a fantasy vacation. Greece would be my next stop on the way home.

As I grow older, which is happening on an hourly basis, I might have other ideas, or even limit it to my country and be happy with my choices.

As the year counts down, let’s go see what the Marketing for Romance Writers Blog Hoppers are planning for their fantasy vacation. We might get some new ideas for our next fantasy vacation.

Safe Travels!

All of the images came from Pixabay.

Posted in #AmWriting, #MFRWauthor, 52-week blog challenge | 9 Comments | Tagged #AmWriting, #MFRWauthor, #WritersLife, blog hop, bull rider series, Europe, Fantasy trip, Ireland, Italy, Marketing for Romance Writers 52-Week Blog Challenge, Mary J McCoy-Dressel, Milan, Scotland, Tuscany, Vacations, Week 50: It's All About the Vacation, western romance
#AmWriting 52 Week Blog Challenge~ Coloring Outside of the Lines (What Else is New?)

Posted at 10:18 am by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel, on June 16, 2017

Ciao! This is week 24 in the #MFRWauthor 52 Week Blog Challenge Blog Hop. Welcome to another week.

This week’s topic is: If I Could Eat One Last Meal

Wow, this is a scary topic. I’m not sure I like it, either. For one thing, I don’t have what I’d call a “favorite meal,” so I’ll color outside of the lines a little this week.

If I have a choice of eating my last meal, it might mean I’m on death row or on my death bed. How depressing. Am I looking at this all wrong? On the flip side, maybe it means nothing more than I’d wake up one day and decide to eat my favorite meal because I could, but I’d pretend it was my last meal, so I’d choose something I’d like to eat. Hmm.

If I’m going to eat one last meal, I’m doing it up right. For this last meal, I picture myself in Italy. I love Italian food, so my last meal would begin with the real thing.

First Stop:
First stop would be a winery in Tuscany to sample a glass of Chianti Classico. At this winery, we’d share the food you see in this video. Of course, they’d gift me a bottle to accompany me on my journey. “Mmm, delizioso, I say,” licking my lips. “Grazie.” How kind, right?

Next stop:
I want an authentic Italian meal with an Italian family (who speaks a little English). I’m reminded of the movie Eat Pray Love or Under the Tuscan Sun. I don’t care if it’s risotto, spaghetti and meatballs, or a creamy pasta dish, and of course, bread. Or whatever the family comes up with for a full meal. As long as I have good company to help me enjoy the meal and the view with a glass of Prosecco before dinner and red or white wine with dinner, I’ll leave fat and sassy. But not before dessert. 🙂

Better yet, since I’m in my own dream here, I’d love to have dinner with, Velia Armano, my heroine in the Bull Rider Series, and her family. In three books, I’ve written enough family meals with the Armano/ McCutchen family, that I feel like I know them, and we’d all be comfortable with one another. We’d have fun together. Her Mamma Lidia can cook for me any time, but for fun we’ll invite my hero, Caulder, and his family, too. If I’m eating my last meal, I want some eye candy sitting across from me. Dolly McCutchen will of course bring her own delicious fare to the meal. Nothing is too good for her son, the professional bull rider. I know, I know. Mix a bull rider with a classy Italian? Yep! La vita è bella!

Bull Rider Series 3

Reality:
Oh, that was so much fun. Now, to jump back into reality. If I could, or had to eat my last meal, I’d probably eat a roast beef dinner with carrots and potatoes all roasted together. Then we’d have apple pie with vanilla ice cream for dessert. With it would come memories of my growing up years with my grandma, parents, aunts and uncles, and brothers. I’d also have memories of Sunday dinners with my ex-husband and boys—my own family. In the end, the food would be a meal that left me with lasting memories with people I love.

I hope I didn’t blow this topic all to hell. This is a Blog Hop. Let’s see what the other participants chose for their “last meal.”

Thanks for reading.

Photo credits: Pixabay

Cover: Jimmy Thomas & Iona. Designed by DusktilDawn Designs. Background: Dreamstime.

Posted in #AmWriting, #MFRWauthor, 52-week blog challenge | 22 Comments | Tagged #AmWriting, #MFRWauthor, blog challenge, blog hop, bull rider series, Chianti, Chianti Classico wine, Coloring Outside of the Lines, dinner, family meal, Italian food, Italy, Mary J McCoy-Dressel, Tuscany

How I Named my Character or Wow, a Lot of Fun Research!

Posted at 3:27 pm by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel, on March 19, 2013

(Reblog of an earlier post.) In an earlier post I mentioned I’d be posting a blog about how I chose the heroine’s name in Howdy, Ma’am and Hey, Cowboy. Her first name is Velia and her last name is Armano.

Her last name started out as Armani, but wait, maybe that wasn’t a great idea. After all, I didn’t want Mr. Armani himself coming down on me. Hah, like Mr. Armani would know about the Bull Rider Series.

I must admit to giving up a great line in the book when I changed her surname. I’ll give a brief explanation about choosing Armano. First, I made it up. Si, I made up Armano. Then I wanted to see if that name existed. It did. Luckily for me, there were only a few families with that name in the region I needed. So, that’s how she got her last name. I love my job.

Most times, I have a name already chosen by the time I start a story. Well, really, most times they come to me with a name. Her name didn’t come to me right away—maybe because she’s Italian. I didn’t have a list of Italian names in my list-of-favorite-names-for-future-books. How did I know I’d be creating an Italian heroine some day? I do know I wanted something different, memorable. According to the Baby name Wizard, Velia hasn’t ranked in the top 1,000 in any time period. I typed “Velia” into Facebook, and no one came up with the name, but there is a Spa Velia and a bridal shop in Umbria, Italy. (Beautiful gowns by the way.)

See, isn’t this name searching thing fun?

When I first saw her name in the list of female Italian names, I knew right away this name was perfect. My next move was to type “Velia” into Google and see what this name means.

I’m weird like that. This is how I found out about the ancient ruins of Elea—which in Latin means Velia.

“Velia is the Italian (and Latin) name of the ancient town of Elea (Ancient Greek: Ἐλέα) located on the territory of the comune of Ascea, Salerno, Campania, Italy in a geographical sub-area named Cilento.”

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.

I loved this idea because in my head, I had to know where her family came from. Once I created my heroine, I began researching, and came across Elea, Italy in the region of Campania and the province of Salerno. Well, this was perfect because Salerno is where her family was from even before I knew about Elea Velia.

I think it was meant to be. From that point on, everything had to work out down to the physical characteristics of a person from southern Italy.

Are you having fun yet?

Why an Italian heroine you might ask? I don’t know. She first came to me as Italian. My hero came to me as a cowboy. Now, what do I do with an Italian heroine and a cowboy? This is funny because it’s exactly what Velia wanted to know when she met Caulder, and she says, “I’m a city girl. What will I do with a cowboy?” She learns fast.

So, yes, Elea (Velia) is an ancient ruin off the coast of southern Italy. I can’t find a whole lot of information about this ancient city, but I would love to visit and see for myself. There is a site in Italian, but I can’t read it, so there may be secrets I don’t know about.

I won’t tell you why Velia’s mamma gave her this name, but it’s in the book. I’m weird like that, too. Sorry… Let’s just say my imagination went to work, and I had to pretend to be madre Italiana.

My information is taken from Wikipedia. I’m careful about doing research via Wikipedia, but for what it’s worth, here’s a small snippet.

Ruins

This is a retouched picture, which means that it has been digitally altered from its original version. Modifications: lightness, contrast, cropping. The original can be viewed here: Velia2.jpg. Modifications made by Kbh3rd.

“Remains of the city walls, with traces of one gate and several towers, of a total length of over three miles, still exist, and belong to three different periods, in all of which the crystalline limestone of the locality is used…”

To read more about Elea Velia go HERE. The Encyclopedia Britannia has a brief paragraph. More if you have an online subscription. Elea Velia has an interesting history, including being “the Eleatic school of Greek philosophers— Parmenides and Zeno.”

You’re not only learning how my character got her name, you’re also getting a history lesson. You can thank me later.

Of course, you know how to find out why Mrs. Lidia Armano named her daughter Velia… Imagine me with a big smile.

I have Italian followers, so if you have been here, please let me know.

Please don’t forget to follow by email so you can stay informed of news, and updates like how I name my characters, etc. If you’re new here and want to know about the “cowboy” part of the book, have no fear. I interviewed him. A link to Velia’s interview can be found at the end of Caulder’s interview.

I also have a Mailing List where you can sign up to be notified of new releases or important book updates.

Thanks for reading.

Tower Picture:

Public Domain:

I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide.
In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so:
I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments | Tagged ancient ruins, Elea Italy, history, Italy, mary j mccoy dressel, naming a character, novel heroine, Velia, western romance

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