Title : Teaching Mia

Author : M.C Roman

Summary : Fed up with her disheartening life in NYC, Mia takes a gamble and embarks on an invigorating journey abroad to business school in Spain.

When Mia Fuentes moves to Spain for graduate school, desperately trying to leave her past behind, the last thing she ever imagined was getting involved with Leo Durant, the hottest and most sought after guy on campus.

Leo is sexy, confident, and has the ultimate bad boy reputation. Something about him keeps pulling her in, when she knows she should be staying far away in the secluded world she has built for herself. Will she be able to overcome her fears and inner struggles that have brought her here? Or will Leo be able to teach her something about love and that not everything in life happens the way we expect?

Contemporary, multicultural, and deeply moving, this is the story of a young woman’s trials and tribulations of leaving everything behind and trying to create a new life for herself in a foreign country. It is a relentless journey of self-exploration, healing, and maturity, with a lot of romance, wit and humor.

Genre : Romance

Link : External Link

Her Interview

1) At what age did you begin writing and what or who inspired you into writing?

I’ve always had a knack for writing, but I pretty much started out when I was fifteen. I was inspired to write Teaching Mia after I graduated from business school in Spain. My experience during my time there was so rich and intense, it gave me plenty of source material to work with. Somehow I started imagining what it would be like for a girl to go through the same experience, but by herself and completely alone. That’s when the back-story came to me of a wounded girl who was fleeing her past and trying to make a better life for herself in a foreign country. It just seemed like the perfect scenario for someone who had a lot of obstacles in front of them and presented a lot of challenges to struggle through. And of course, a romantic hero who would eventually come to the rescue! 

2) What has the entire experience from writing 'Teaching Mia' to Winning Wattys been like?

It truly has been incredible! I think I’ve come a long way since I first uploaded the story to Wattpad. Since then I’ve gone on to publish several other stories and gained a following I never imagined I would have.   

3) What is the plot of 'Teaching Mia' about?

Teaching Mia is about a girl who is running away from her past and moves to Madrid to attend graduate school. She faces many obstacles and is presented with a lot of challenges as she is trying to create a new life for herself in a foreign country. It’s a heartfelt story about self-exploration, healing, and a lot of romance.

4) What are the struggles Mia Fuentes has to face before and after she meets Leo Durant?

Mia is fleeing from her past and trying to make a new life for herself. She is incredibly shy and antisocial, but at the same time she is very strong as she’s faced many obstacles in her life. After she meets Leo, she struggles with letting Leo into her life and confiding her past to him.

5) Do you work on an outline or plot or do you just let an idea take you where it did, while writing this book?

I had a main idea for the story and what I wanted it to be about, but never worked out an official outline for it. I pretty much wrote it out of order, I began with a part in the middle of the story and then worked my way backwards. 

6) What are your other works and what are you currently writing?

My other works are titled Stealing Emma and Chasing Sofia, and I also have Spanish versions for my works. I’m currently working on translating Chasing Sofia into Spanish and also writing my next book, Loving Olivia. 

7) Do you ever get writers block? How do you tackle it?

So far I’ve been lucky enough that I haven’t had a serious case of writers block. But whenever I get stuck on a part, I try to write through it even if I’m not really liking what I’m writing it still helps to have something down on paper which you can always go back to and edit. Sleeping on an idea also helps me a lot.  

8) Do you proofread/edit all your own books or do you get someone to do that for you?

Yes, I proofread and edit all of my books first and then I’ll have a few other people look at it once I’m done.   

9) Tell us about the cover/s and how it/they came about.

A friend of mine designed the covers for Teaching Mia and Stealing Emma. I love black and white images and wanted them to have an artistic feel to them. As a romance writer, I also like them to be girly (hence the pink), but also very sexy and predominately feature a close up shot of the heroine that leaves the viewer with a bit of mystery. 

10) Which social network worked best for you? What else do you do for promoting your books?

Wattpad is really the best platform for me. I love that I really get to connect with readers on the site and interact directly with them. I also use other networks to promote by books including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google Plus. 

11) What are your favorite books from Wattpad?

So many! But to name a few Silence, True North, The Bro Code, and The Consequence of Loving Colton. 

12) Now that you have won the Wattys, what are your future goals/plans? Do you see writing as a career or is it just a hobby?

My future goal is to make a career out of writing. It really is my passion and I would love to be able to do it full time. 

13) If you had been an original author of a book, what would it have been and why?

This is a great question. I would probably say One Hundred Years of Solitude. Gabriel Garcia Marquez is one of my favorite authors of all time and his novel is a classic. I’m a big fan of magic realism and his work is a major influence for modern Latin American literature.

14) How can readers discover more about you and your work? (Share websites, if any)

I have a main website where you can find all my different profile links: http://about.me/MCRoman

I also self-publish my books so you can find the edited and polished versions on most sites including Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo.

15) Your message to readers and followers.

Thank you so much for your support! It truly has been an amazing journey and none of this would be possible without all of the amazing readers I have.

Hope it was an enjoyable read. :)