Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Interview with Daniela I. Norris, author of 'Recognitions'



Daniela I. Norris is a former diplomat, turned political writer, and with age and wisdom - inspirational author and speaker. Her award-winning stories, articles and essays have been published in numerous magazines and anthologies.

Published books include -
- Crossing Qalandiya - Exchanges Across the Israeli Palestinian Divide (Reprtage Press, 2010)
- On Dragonfly Wings - a skeptic's journey to mediumship (Axis Mundi Books, 2014)
- Collecting Feathers: tales from The Other Side (Soul Rocks Books, 2014)

Recognitions, part of a trilogy, is her first novel.

Daniela lives with her family near Geneva, Switzerland, and is co-director of the Geneva Writers' Conference and part of the International Grief Council panel (www.internationalgriefcouncil.org).

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Title: Recognitions
Author: Daniela I. Norris
Publisher: Roundfire Books
Pages: 200
Genre: Inspirational/Women’s Fiction

Amelia Rothman, a foreign-rights editor from New York, has a turbulent personal life. She juggles a divorce and two teenage kids, and decides to seek hypnotherapy to help her deal with insomnia and anxieties. But when during the session an unexpected event emerges, she tries to understand how it is relevant to her current life and why it suddenly triggers a series of synchronicities that take her on an unexpected personal journey to the depth of her subconscious. 

At once a spiritual and psychological novel, Recognitions explores the concepts of past lives, recognition of people and their roles in our present lives and life lessons. 

Praise for Recognitions:

Think Cloud Atlas, a classic story of rebirth, many lives, and reincarnation on a level that involves protagonists in other lives – but take it a step further in Recognitions, the first novel in a trilogy, which presents a woman under hypnosis who sometimes encounters a French girl on the cusp of marriage and sometimes an African shaman facing a village’s struggles with illness and slavery.
  
Then take these diverse lives and weave them together in the story of a modern-day woman, Amelia (who must deal with these other lives and her own daily challenges, and who faces her own struggle to understand the connections and messages that lie in her dreams and hypnotic state), and you have an emotionally charged saga filled with three threads that lead back to one tapestry of wonder.
  
Under a different hand, this saga of birth, death, and afterlife could have easily proved confusing: it’s no simple matter to create three disparate, very different lives, and weave them together with purpose and discovery; no easy venture to bring all these pieces to life and then meld them into one… a story that is quietly compelling: a moving saga highly recommended for any reader interested in predetermination, past lives, and how three disparate worlds weave together.

-- Midwest Book Reviews

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Thank you for this interview!  I’d like to know more about you as a person first.  What do you do when you’re not writing?

There are so many things I like doing – but most of all, I love reading, yoga, travelling and walking in the mountains. Now that writing is my main occupation (other than raising three boys of course) I find that I often have to make difficult choices such as: do I go to a yoga class or do I write another page? I am hoping that when my boys are a little older, I’ll have time for both!


When did you start writing?

When I was five, and I never stopped. It always seemed to be an excellent way to escape into imaginary worlds, which I feel very comfortable in.

As a published author, what would you say was the most pivotal point of your writing life?

When I decided to leave my day-job and write full time. At the time I was working during the day, spending the afternoons and evenings with my family and the nights writing. After six months of this, something had to give. And it wasn’t the family, or the writing.

If you could go anywhere in the world to start writing your next book, where would that be and why?

Tibet and Nepal. I’ve never been but I’ve always felt drawn there. And I will get there, sooner or later!

If you had 4 hours of extra time today, what would you do?

Laundry.


Where would you like to set a story that you haven’t done yet?

Hmm… tough one. It would definitely be somewhere real – an existing place, as I love to combine fictional story with real locations. I’ve already set stories in many places, so perhaps the next one could be in Africa – again!

Back to your present book, Recognitions, how did you publish it?

My publisher is John Hunt, a small UK publisher that has a very forward-thinking publishing strategy. They publish both established authors and first-time writers, but will offer different contracts depending on how they think they can market your book. And the entire publishing company is run by authors!


In writing your book, did you travel anywhere for research?

I wrote about places I already know, but I did travel in a way – I’ve had some past-life-regressions. Recognitions is based on some of those regressions, in fictionalized form.

Why was writing Recognitions so important to you?

Before Recognitions I’ve published a non-fiction spiritual journey book titled On Dragonfly Wings. However, because it is non-fiction, I felt that some people had difficulties connecting to a spiritual journey if it was presented as a ‘true story’ – which it was. I then decided to write about the same themes – past lives and the possibly pre-determined role of people in our lives – in fiction from. This way, as a novel, I am hoping that more people will feel comfortable reading about these themes.

Where do you get your best ideas and why do you think that is?

I get my best ideas from real people – I love watching people and I do agree with whoever said that life is stranger than fiction. People inspire me, amaze me, and also frustrate me sometimes. But it’s ok – it all turns into writing material!

Any final words?

I am hoping that Recognitions will appeal to the general readers, people who like reading novels with a bit of mystery, a bit of history, a bit of emotion – and are not afraid to explore spiritual themes too. Please feel free to connect with my via my website www.danielanorris.com facebook https://www.facebook.com/Daniela-I-Norris-179238064930/?ref=hl or twitter @DanielaINorris and let me know what you think about Recognitions.

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