This week our guest is Gloria Mattioni (California Sister, Atmosphere Press, September 2022). Gloria, originally born in Italy, wrote six previous books before penning her women’s fiction debut, a story loosely resembling a traumatic incident in her own life. The memoir form proved too painful to write and a screenplay hid the interiority needed to understand the sisters, but a dual POV novel proved to be the perfect structure for showing the emotional journey of the characters. Gloria crowd-sourced 40 hand-picked creatives for feedback and once she finished the book, was clear and specific about the time frame, the cost, and the support she needed from a publisher. And it paid off – she’s won 11 of the 12 writing competitions she’s entered.

Gloria Mattioni is the author of the multi-award-winning novel California Sister and an award-winning feature writer contributing to mainstream publication around the world. She also published the narrative non-fiction Reckless - The Outrageous Lives of Nine Kick-Ass Women, Dakota Warrior-The Story of James R. Weddell, and four previous books in Italy. She's been, among other things, an investigative reporter, human rights activist, animal rescuer and magazine editor. She was born in Milan, Italy, but moved to Los Angeles in 1992. She still lives in California with her husband and part-time live-in granddaughter, conjures six impossible things every morning before breakfast, and travels much. 

To learn more about Gloria, click here.