Featured Interview With Chiara Talluto
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Hello, my name is Chiara Talluto. I’m a wife, busy mom, author, and a woman after God’s heart. As I ponder this declaration, I find it more appropriate to claim that I am a woman after God’s heart first. He has given me a gift of writing, and I honor Him through my written works. So, pull up a chair and stay awhile.
People often ask what kind of writing I do. I tell them… I write Inspirational/Christian drama empowering women to discover their faith, use perseverance to overcome adversity, and become heroes of their own destinies. I also write middle-grade fantasy-fairy tales to encourage girls in developing strong morals and values, and to always stand up for what is right.
I am a first generation American in my Italian family and the middle-child with an older and younger sister. My parents immigrated to this country from Italy in 1965. They learned to speak the language, learned how to drive American-made cars, and became US citizens. My parents are retired now, spending more than fifty-years working in their trade. My mother was a seamstress and my father was a tailor. Growing up, I never worried about whether my jeans were too long or my tops weren’t fitted right, it was expected that having both parents who sewed, we never had holes in our socks, missing buttons on the blouses, and broken pant zippers. Unfortunately, their amazing talents didn’t transfer down to me or my sisters.
If anything I’ve learned growing up Italian in America, is to work hard in everything because language would be my mom and dad’s challenge. While learning English was the toughest thing for my parents, their strong work ethic prevailed and hard work did pay off. They spent many years working two jobs supporting the family and striving for the American Dream.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I was a latch-key kid and often took care of my younger sister. I was never the smart student, I didn’t have a lot of friends, but I loved riding my bike and playing tennis against the brick wall of the apartment building where we lived.
To escape my childhood responsibilities, I began reading. I loved the Nancy Drew series and Hardy Boys books. The library was a couple miles away and I rode my bike to and from almost every day, I couldn’t get enough of the stories. I began keeping a journal at the age of eleven. Soon, I began writing poems. My love for the written word was sparked by all that reading. It wasn’t until my late teens that I discovered Danielle Steele novels and began to pen stories of my own. I continued writing longer prose as much as I could during a prosperous career as a Human Resources Recruiter, and then as an Instructional Designer. I received many awards and accolades for my accomplishments, and my work responsibilities grew, but there was something missing. I began to devote less and less time to my joy of writing. And soon, my creativity began to suffer. It wasn’t until after much soul-searching and some tough decision-making that I finally left the corporate world to start writing full-time. That was fifteen years ago. You could say I had a “premature midlife crisis”.
Today, I am the CEO of my home, practicing wife to my husband, mommy to our two daughters, and writer of all things that need to be put on paper. My family often tells me that I am the Master Storyteller in our household because I have a passion for writing about people who struggle with decisions and conflicts that arise in their lives.
All of my writings contain an element of Christianity and faith. I never set out to be a writer, or a Christian writer for that matter, it just happened. It’s who I am and who I was meant to be. Writing is my outlet, a spilling of emotions, random thoughts, and imaginary characters that consume my mind twenty-four hours a day. I need to write, just like I need to eat, exercise, and breathe. And so folks, that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it…
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I enjoy stories about human complexities. I like real-life stories, and have been drawn to writings that have a biblical theme, are motivational, and encouraging. I admire writers like…
Eric Wilson – October Baby and Fireproof
Judy Blume
Karen Kingsbury
Richard Paul Evans
Mitch Albom
Billy Coffey
Rachel Hauck
C.S. Lewis – Chronicles of Narnia
Hans Christian Andersen
Tim Lahaye – Left Behind
Adriana Trigiani – Big Stone Gap
David Baldacci – The Christmas Train
Travis Thrasher – Marvelous and American Omen
Ernest Hemingway
Jack Keroerac
Charles Bukowski
Each of these remarkable authors are able to write believable characters, digging deep into their sub-conscience, and exploring and unraveling their tragedies and triumphs.
I often tell people I have two addictions: reading and writing. I feel restless and empty when I can’t read fiction, write my deepest thoughts in my journal, or even write down story ideas. Writing calms me, centers me, and provides a healthy outlet for my communication with imaginary friends.
I write for the euphoric desire and need to transfer spiraling thoughts into words that move people emotionally, physically, and spiritually. I love taking everyday life situations and circumstances that people encounter, struggle and conquer, and turn it into creative storylines.
I balance my writing by doing one project at a time. That is, completing that “one” particular project. I can be writing, reading, editing many things at the same time, but once I know what I’m going to do with a writing project, I set a goal to complete it to the end.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
Straight from my Press Release:
From the three-time Five Star Readers’ Favorite REVIEW RECIPIENT, Chiara Talluto, author of Love’s Perfect Surrender, Petrella, the Gillian Princess, and A Tribute To Tulipia, comes the highly anticipated release of She Made It Matter, an inspirational drama.
She Made It Matter is a compelling tale of one woman’s fight to regain sobriety, find salvation, and earn forgiveness after years of guilt from being abandoned by her mother and then losing her brother to cancer, a struggle to vanquish the demons of her past and make her life right again.
This story tackles the difficult subjects of family abandonment, alcohol abuse, and food dependencies; compulsions and addictions caused by the trauma of one’s past.
Amanda Reynolds is vulnerable. Like most humans we err and make mistakes, and harbor grudges and secrets that can create huge reservoirs of pain if not addressed. Amanda is stuck in the past, and stuck in the pain, and the only way to cope with it is alcohol.
WHILE WRITING the story, Chiara thought about her own idols and addictions and how she could break them. She thought about how a person with a perfect life is able to throw it all away over something that consumes their mind and body. She thought about a person who cannot move forward because of horrible past experiences. She pondered the ongoing domestic abuse and abandonment of children in our society. Most importantly, Ms. Talluto thought about the human condition, and the temptations that can lure one in the wrong direction.
Ms. Reynolds has to face her fears and QUASH the demons of her past so that she can live again. It is a daring attempt to confront things head on. But, we are encouraged to know that tough situations don’t last long; BUT tough people do.
… The work ABOUT addiction is heart-breakingly accurate, delivering a realistic emotional quality which both endears Amanda to us as a character and also teaches important real life lessons about the judgments we often place on people who are alcohol dependent… (K.C. Finn from Readers’ Favorite)
… Author Chiara Talluto gives the reader a realistic tale of someone searching for a purpose, for validation that they mean something, that they are worth more than just being left or abandoned… (Michelle Randall from Readers’ Favorite)
She Made It Matter is available in print and electronic editions everywhere books are sold. More information on the author and all her writings can be found at www.chiaratalluto.com.
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