Hi, I'm Rosie from Ireland but moved to Italy 6 years ago where I am having a fabulous midlife crisis. I bought a derelict 22-room villa by accident and renovated it. The process was comical and stressful so I wrote a book about it during lockdown. It is now a 5 book ongoing humorous memoir series and has fulfilled my dream of becoming a…
Hi, I'm Rosie from Ireland but moved to Italy 6 years ago where I am having a fabulous midlife crisis. I bought a derelict 22-room villa by accident and renovated it. The process was comical and stressful so I wrote a book about it during lockdown. It is now a 5 book ongoing humorous memoir series and has fulfilled my dream of becoming a full-time author (10 books published).
My Substack is 'A Fabulous Midlife Crisis' and I write mostly humour about living in Italy, how to have a fabulous midlife crisis and writing.
My morning routine is waking by 7am, grabbing a cup of tea and writing in bed until noon. I aim for 1000 words per day if I am not editing.
Keen to build a community of fabulous women! Nice to meet you!
Really nice to meet you. Wish I'd been writing when I restored my farmhouse, thirty + years ago!
I write about food and life in Italy – with a lot of humour and in my dressing gown, but not in bed as I don't find it comfortable to write there. And I share your pain about thankless gardening..
I wish you had been writing about it too! I love hearing other people’s stories about renovating in Italy. I’m following you now ofcourse, so we can compare notes of life here! x
I have no idea why your comment popped up today on my feed, considering you wrote this 17 days ago, but I am enamored already! I can't wait to deep dive the archives and learn more about your world.
Wow Rosie a 22 room villa and you renovated, AMAZING!! And impressive. Italy is my dream trip I hope to take one day. I am Mahogany. Just getting started with Substack. Reading mostly and trying to muster up the courage to share and start building my Substack. Love your posts.
What a great reminder, Rosie. I realised I began writing things people would like to read rather than what purely excites me, as I get to see how well I performed each post. You reminded me not to adapt my content to the responses🫶
Hi Rosie, Nice to meet you too! Wow - that’s impressive. I imagine a lot of humour was required, and still is. Being Scottish has served me well in the humour department, having moved too many times. You can either laugh or cry. 😂
How have you found publishing? I write children’s books and am on the hunt for an agent for my latest one.
Hey Jenny! Ah yes us Celts have to laugh - it's to do with the wind and rain, it makes us light-headed! Regards publishing: I had tried the trad route in my 20s and got so demoralised by it I stopped doing creative writing for 25 years. In 2020 I joined an online meetup group of Indie authors on an app called Clubhouse and my eyes were opened to a whole new way of publishing. There were women on there making 6 figures a year from self publishing. So I started self publishing in 2020 exclusively on Amazon exclusively and it's gone really well for me. I'm not at six-figure years but I'm earning better than I ever have in my life from my series of five books. So I would recommend the self pub route if you can't get an agent - in other words, don't give up like I did!
I agree, it’s the weather! Thank you for the tips and encouragement. I appreciate it! Self-publishing is an avenue I am looking at more seriously. As well as my current submission, I have a finished middle-grade adventure novel that I might consider publishing. Is it Amazon KDP that you use?
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, I didn't see your comment until now. Yes KDP is what I use. And don't be afraid of trying Kindle Unlimited - it was 50% of my income for the first three years.
This is really helpful advice. Thank you, Rosie. It's the encouragement I need to push forward with self-publishing my middle-grade children's adventure novel. It's worth a shot. I have Kindle Unlimited, and have discovered lots of interesting books, including yours. I've started reading 'A Rosie Life in Italy' - it's hilarious from the get-go.
Hi, I'm Rosie from Ireland but moved to Italy 6 years ago where I am having a fabulous midlife crisis. I bought a derelict 22-room villa by accident and renovated it. The process was comical and stressful so I wrote a book about it during lockdown. It is now a 5 book ongoing humorous memoir series and has fulfilled my dream of becoming a full-time author (10 books published).
My Substack is 'A Fabulous Midlife Crisis' and I write mostly humour about living in Italy, how to have a fabulous midlife crisis and writing.
My morning routine is waking by 7am, grabbing a cup of tea and writing in bed until noon. I aim for 1000 words per day if I am not editing.
Keen to build a community of fabulous women! Nice to meet you!
Hi Rosie,
Really nice to meet you. Wish I'd been writing when I restored my farmhouse, thirty + years ago!
I write about food and life in Italy – with a lot of humour and in my dressing gown, but not in bed as I don't find it comfortable to write there. And I share your pain about thankless gardening..
I wish you had been writing about it too! I love hearing other people’s stories about renovating in Italy. I’m following you now ofcourse, so we can compare notes of life here! x
That’s great – I will look forward to it! And I am thinking that there may be aspects of it that I could still write about!
I have no idea why your comment popped up today on my feed, considering you wrote this 17 days ago, but I am enamored already! I can't wait to deep dive the archives and learn more about your world.
Just subscribed. Midlife is sooo interesting isn’t it?
Yes! I'm enjoying the journey (now that I have the hormones back in line!)
The real question is how close does your journey resemble the movie "Under the tuscan sun" 😊
I love your writing habit, that's amazing!
Ha ! Frances May lives closeby, I might get to compare notes with her someday!
Wow Rosie a 22 room villa and you renovated, AMAZING!! And impressive. Italy is my dream trip I hope to take one day. I am Mahogany. Just getting started with Substack. Reading mostly and trying to muster up the courage to share and start building my Substack. Love your posts.
Just start by writing for yourself as if no one else will read it. Enjoy the words and don't think about anyone else's opinion of them. :)
What a great reminder, Rosie. I realised I began writing things people would like to read rather than what purely excites me, as I get to see how well I performed each post. You reminded me not to adapt my content to the responses🫶
Yes do it! When you love what you write you'll find your tribe that love it too.
What a lovely midlife crisis project! I can't wait for mine ;)
Yeaaa! That's the spirit!
Hi Rosie! I just subscribed. Love your writing and your sense of humor!
Thanks Joyce! Looking forward to getting to know people on here!
Hi Rosie, Nice to meet you too! Wow - that’s impressive. I imagine a lot of humour was required, and still is. Being Scottish has served me well in the humour department, having moved too many times. You can either laugh or cry. 😂
How have you found publishing? I write children’s books and am on the hunt for an agent for my latest one.
Hey Jenny! Ah yes us Celts have to laugh - it's to do with the wind and rain, it makes us light-headed! Regards publishing: I had tried the trad route in my 20s and got so demoralised by it I stopped doing creative writing for 25 years. In 2020 I joined an online meetup group of Indie authors on an app called Clubhouse and my eyes were opened to a whole new way of publishing. There were women on there making 6 figures a year from self publishing. So I started self publishing in 2020 exclusively on Amazon exclusively and it's gone really well for me. I'm not at six-figure years but I'm earning better than I ever have in my life from my series of five books. So I would recommend the self pub route if you can't get an agent - in other words, don't give up like I did!
That's great to hear! I do have an agent, but she hasn't found a publisher yet so I may have to rethink!
I agree, it’s the weather! Thank you for the tips and encouragement. I appreciate it! Self-publishing is an avenue I am looking at more seriously. As well as my current submission, I have a finished middle-grade adventure novel that I might consider publishing. Is it Amazon KDP that you use?
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, I didn't see your comment until now. Yes KDP is what I use. And don't be afraid of trying Kindle Unlimited - it was 50% of my income for the first three years.
This is really helpful advice. Thank you, Rosie. It's the encouragement I need to push forward with self-publishing my middle-grade children's adventure novel. It's worth a shot. I have Kindle Unlimited, and have discovered lots of interesting books, including yours. I've started reading 'A Rosie Life in Italy' - it's hilarious from the get-go.