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In October of 2019, I went to Europe with my fiance to see where he had lived for some of his teenage years as a formula racecar driver. He took me to the town he lived in, race tracks he’d raced, his favorite restaurants and his favorite sites. Among those favorites are the Tivoli Gardens in Italy. It's a beautiful estate of cobblestone walkways, impeccable gardens, lovely fountains and waterfalls. I had a special excitement for this place because, in addition to it being a special place for him, it’s a place I’ve known about since I was a child thanks to “The Lizzie McGuire Movie”.
After all those years of seeing video clips and pictures of it, to actually being physically there myself walking the grounds, I felt inspired by the history, losing myself in the daydream of stories it holds. As I admired the beauty, taking photos and getting my imagination running, I knew by the time we left that I wanted to write about it. So, a few days later on the long plane ride home, inspired by images of Tivoli and my fiance’s Italian heritage, I began crafting the world of “The Sky Was Painted Pink”. The story is of Cyan, an orphan forced to hide the dark secrets of her late family. Once an adult and able to venture forth on her own, she’s in a rush to travel far away and finally escape the grim memories of her past. She soon joins up with an explorer and his journey, and is ultimately lead right back to where she had begun.
​Escape for a while and let the strong and sassy Cyan take you on a journey back to the secrets of early 20th century Sicily.