Latoya asked Kate Quinn:

Hello Ms. Quinn I just wanted to say that Mistress of Rome is one of my favorite books. As a student of history I love reading authors take on the past and must say your books do it justice. What made you want to write about Rome in the first place? And will you ever go further back in history to a different place? Also what advice would you give people who wish to publish their works? Thanks for the stories.

Kate Quinn Thanks so much; delighted you enjoyed MoR! I got interested in ancient Rome very young because my mother had an ancient history degree--I was getting bedtime stories about Julius Caesar instead of Cinderella, and watching "I, Claudius" instead of the Disney channel. So it seemed natural once I began writing novels to gravitate toward ancient Rome. There are other periods even earlier which I'm fascinated by--ancient Greece, Egypt--and who knows, maybe I'll write a book there someday!

As for people who wish to publish their work--if you're looking to publish traditionally, then my advice is PERSIST. It will take a lot of slogging and a lot of rejection slips--it does for everyone, me included--but keep at it. And if you're looking to self-publish, then my advice is, don't be in too much of a hurry. When you finish a book, you're starry-eyed in love with it and want to share it with the whole world, right away. But take a few months away from it, and then go over it again with your editing pen before publishing. Your work will always, always benefit from the time away from it and the advantage of coming back with a more distant eye.

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