🌙 9 Days until launch: Meet the Author: 9 Questions I’ve Never Been Asked (But Wish I Had)

Writing Moons and Shadows has been more than just writing a book. It’s been a process of remembering, returning, rebuilding… and in many ways, reimagining the world around me. So today, 9 days out from launch, I’m answering 9 questions no one’s asked me (yet) but I wish they had.

These questions pulled things out of me I wasn’t expecting to say. But if this story is about truth, then so is this post.

1. What was the first moment you knew this story was the one ?

Goosebumps. Chills. It’s like someone placed their hand on my skin, and the warmth anchored me there. That’s how I know something’s true. That’s how I knew this was the tale I had to follow, even when I didn’t have the map.

2. What’s something you do while writing that no one would expect?

I shop on Etsy. No joke. I search out small mom-and-pop shops to find objects I can physically hold while writing - Papa D’s pipe, Runa’s backpack, even a flit (which… if you know, you know). These pieces keep me grounded inside the story.

3. If one quote from Moons and Shadows could sum up your life right now, which one would it be?

The spoon. The knife.

If you know, you know.

(And if not - you will.)

4. What do you hope readers feel when they turn the last page?

I hope they feel seen. I hope they see a part of themselves reflected back. And I hope they’re curious enough to go back to page one - and find even more.

5. What was the hardest scene to write - and what did it teach you?

Chapter two came out of me during a moment of personal crisis. My husband was in the hospital with a heart attack. I took time off work and sat in silence and that entire chapter poured out of me in a day. So no, it wasn’t hard to write… but it came from a hard place.

6. If your characters could talk back to you, what would they say?

Oh, they already do.

They’re currently yelling at me to get started on the special edition. I keep telling them my brain hurts. They don’t care. They’re strong-willed souls with zero chill - and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

7. What’s one deeply personal truth woven into this book that no one would guess came from real life?

Honestly… that one’s hard to share. So I’ll just say this: sometimes, truth doesn’t announce itself. It leaks in through the cracks, disguised as fiction.

8. What do you do when the fear hits?

I go quiet. I move my body. I write it all down - raw, unfiltered, without judgment. I turn on music and let the words fall out. One of my old professors once said: “Maria, stop thinking. Just write.”

That still echoes in my bones.

9. What’s one dream that writing this book unlocked in you?

It reminded me how to imagine again. To dream like a kid again. Writing this book woke up the parts of me that still believe in possibility.

These are the questions no one asked, but maybe someone needed to hear.

Thanks for sitting in this with me.