Author Spotlight with M.C.V. Egan

 

M.C.V. Egan is the pen name chosen by Maria Catalina Egan the author of The Bridge of Deaths. Catalina was born in Mexico City, Mexico in 1959, one of eight children. From a very young age she became obsessed with the story of her maternal Grandfather, Cesar Agustin Castillo, mostly the story of how he died. She only spent her childhood in Mexico. Her father became an employee of The World Bank in Washington D.C.

From the early 1970s at the age of 12 she moved with her entire family to the United States. She was already fluent in Southern English as she had spent one school year in the town of Pineville, Louisiana with her grandparents. There she won the English award; ironically being the only one who had English as a second language in her class. In the D.C. suburbs she attended various private Catholic schools and graduated from Winston Churchill HS in Potomac, Maryland in 1977. She attended Montgomery Community College, where she changed majors every semester. She also studied in Lyons, France at the Catholic University for two years. In 1981, due to an impulsive young marriage to a Viking ( The Swedish kind, not the football player kind)  Catalina moved to Sweden where she resided for five years and taught at a language school for Swedish, Danish, and Finnish businesspeople. She returned to the USA where she has been living ever since. She is fluent in Spanish, English, French and Swedish.

Mrs. Egan has worked for various companies and holds an Insurance license for the State of Florida. Not her favorite field but involves very nice folks and makes money!

Maria Catalina Egan is married and has one son, who together with their five pound Chihuahua makes her feel like a fulltime mother.   Although she would not call herself an Astrologer she has taken many classes and taught a few beginner classes in Astrology. This is one of her many past times when she is not writing or researching.

She celebrated her 52^nd birthday on July 2^nd 2011 and gave herself self-publishing The Bridge of Deaths as a gift; she never submitted it to anyone prior to this decision and has enjoyed the very positive feedback.

 Historical/Paranormal/Romance/Mystery

1.                   What inspires you as a writer?

I am inspired by absolutely everything around me. I find a story behind every face, every action and every encounter. I’ll take my dog for a walk and before I know it I am seeing the walk from the dog’s perspective and my mind’s eye is spinning a yarn and creating a story.  I order a coffee and wonder about the story coffee in general, the person serving the coffee, the design of the cup. I guess you could say my mind is a very busy place.

2.                   When did you have that ah ha moment when you knew you were a writer?

I did not have an ah ah moment with the roar of thunder and the spark of lightning. With me it was more of an always knowing thing. I just assumed I would do many things in life and amongst them one was writing. I do remember saying I was or would be a writer at a young age and getting one of those all-knowing somewhat condescending looks from adults around me with a comment to the effect that we all have an ‘inevitable’ book inside us, or think we do.

3.                   What is your writing process?

I like to be prepared and informed on whatever the subject is, and   The Complete Idiot’s Guide to (anything) or Anything for Dummies as well as more sophisticated resources are fine tools. I like bulletin boards with images, which I may very well create myself, and I like playing with my characters the way a child does with an invisible friend.

I use lists and outlines, and sometimes I just have to write by hand and edit as I type it.

4.                   Tell us about your favorite character and why you chose to write about them?

MAGGIE, she is my favorite character because I am very worried about the lack of world peace. I find war such a tragic and painful thing that none of us are detached from, even if it isn’t our country at war. Maggie has the courage to protest and voice opinions I wish I had. Maggie has the courage and conviction I see in many of her young generation to believe we are all connected and are fundamentally peaceful beings, given the chance, that is.

5.                   What are you currently working on?

I am currently working with a co-author on a short novel entitled 4covert2overt , my co-author Jolie DeMarco is a clairvoyant channel and this book is far more paranormal than historical, but has elements of both. The conflicts and dramas of the characters is a much larger part of the story and it is a much easier read than The Bridge of Deaths.

6.                   Any upcoming events?

I am currently on tour at this wonderful Virtual café tour and so you should look up the events through that.

7.                   If you could be anyone you like, who would you be?

Now is that dead or alive? Alive it would have to be any number of international reporters who get to see what’s important to us all in the world and tell you and me about it. Dead, well a writer and a spy… there are several to choose from; Ian Flemming, Roal Dahl, Julia Childs and my favorite W. Sommerset Maugham.

8.                   Do you have any advice for new writers and something that a seasoned vet can learn?

Never think that it has all been written before, because each one of us is unique and as such your voice, your perspective will be unique.

9.                   Where can your followers find you?

At my website http://www/thebridgeofdeaths.com   but please do Google me as I can be found visiting many blogs and putting in my two cents here and there.

10.               Any last words?

The only way you can succeed is by going forward and taking a chance, even if you get a very different result than you visualized it might just surprise you and be better…and oh yes thanks for inviting me!

M.C.V. Egan will be giving away a signed copy so be sure to leave a comment!

Thank you for stopping by.