Tuesday, April 17, 2012

The Fire that Ignited the Fuel of My 18-Year Quest: Guest Post by M.C.V. Egan


A recent reviewer for The Bridge of Deaths wrote, “Would you spend 18 years researching anything?”  I smiled and my first thought was, these are the words of someone young. They were indeed the words of a woman in her early 20s. Time is a matter of perspective and at 52, 18 years does not seem like a very long time to work on fulfilling a dream or reaching for something as important as the image and love of a grandparent.

In many of my earliest memories as a little girl are thoughts and desires to sit on a grandfather’s lap and to get to know a person that inexplicably I loved and missed. He died 20 years before I was born, and not all the stories about him painted the image of a perfect wonderful man, but I felt an amazing affinity to my mom’s dad. Do you know the scene in the movie The Parent Trap when the twin who has never met her grandfather gives him a big bear hug and tells him she is creating a memory with the smell of pipe tobacco and peppermint? Well it was that kind of fire that ignited the fuel of my 18 year quest, a fire of longing and loving for a grandfather.

That type of fire I refer to is motivated by two very strong forces all of us possess; love and curiosity.  These two strong elements combined with determination are bound to get anyone to the finish line. There were understandably some big hurdles and roadblocks and I am not shy to admit that amongst them one of the biggest was my absolutely limited knowledge in HISTORY and especially history of the era I had to work with.
This particular hurdle had a solution that can be useful to many with problems for variety of career goals. The solution was simply this, a willingness to learn, work hard and well yes, one could call it study. In my case it was the self-imposed story of historical data. Some of you may have goals where there might be a class you can take or a workshop, it can be training physically or making lifestyle changes.  I can tell you this from my personal experience, if something is important enough to you give yourself the gift of setting the goal and reaching it.

May all the Bridges you cross lead to happiness and great success!


The Author - M.C.V Egan
M.C.V. Egan is the pen name chosen by Maria Catalina Egan the author of The Bridge of Deaths. Catalina was born in Mexico City, Mexico in 1959, one of eight children. From a very young age she became obsessed with the story of her maternal Grandfather, Cesar Agustin Castillo, mostly the story of how he died. She only spent her childhood in Mexico. Her father became an employee of The World Bank in Washington D.C.

From the early 1970s at the age of 12 she moved with her entire family to the United States. She was already fluent in Southern English as she had spent one school year in the town of Pineville, Louisiana with her grandparents. There she won the English award; ironically being the only one who had English as a second language in her class. In the D.C. suburbs she attended various private Catholic schools and graduated from Winston Churchill HS in Potomac, Maryland in 1977. She attended Montgomery Community College, where she changed majors every semester. She also studied in Lyons, France at the Catholic University for two years. In 1981, due to an impulsive young marriage to a Viking ( The Swedish kind, not the football player kind)  Catalina moved to Sweden where she resided for five years and taught at a language school for Swedish, Danish, and Finnish businesspeople. She returned to the USA where she has been living ever since. She is fluent in Spanish, English, French and Swedish.

Mrs. Egan has worked for various companies and holds an Insurance license for the State of Florida. Not her favorite field but involves very nice folks and makes money!

Maria Catalina Egan is married and has one son, who together with their five pound Chihuahua makes her feel like a fulltime mother.   Although she would not call herself an Astrologer she has taken many classes and taught a few beginner classes in Astrology. This is one of her many past times when she is not writing or researching.

She celebrated her 52nd birthday on July 2nd 2011 and gave herself self-publishing The Bridge of Deaths as a gift; she never submitted it to anyone prior to this decision and has enjoyed the very positive feedback.

Website:


2 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for joining us today - it's always interesting to know how a writer comes up with their ideas. Your dedication showed through in your book.

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  2. Thank you MK for the invite. I love your Blog!
    M.C.V. Egan

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