Meet Elizabeth Rossi

We recently connected with Elizabeth Rossi and have shared our conversation below.

Elizabeth, so happy to have you with us today. You are such a creative person, but have you ever had any sort of creativity block along the way? If so, can you talk to us about how you overcame or beat it?

Thank you for the interview! Yes definitely, 100% – Having blocks is an affliction that I think every creative soul faces. When I was writing my second novel, “New Years in Paris”, I ran into a devastating block that lasted for months. The frustration to sit in front of the computer, typing and retyping the same sentence and not having any flow was such a disappointment. The longer it went on, the deeper that level of disappointment got. I started questioning my skills and my abilities as a writer; self-doubt crept into everything I did.

The root cause I think were the pressures and expectations I put on myself during that time, in trying to write a sequel that was just as good as the first book – the #1 romantic comedy of 2022, “A Night at the Monte Carlo”. It was a lot of pressure. For 5 long months, I primarily focused on trying to meet these ‘assumed’ expectations from the audience, editor, and publisher. I was very externally focused instead of tapping into that internal source where I get my creative flow.

Finally, a close friend said, “Liz this is YOUR book. Write what you want to write and how you want to write it.” And that clicked. I let go of the external expectations and focused internally. When I did that, I started having fun with writing again and not caring about what anyone else thought. Then when the fun came back into it, so did my creativity. It’s very hard to write these light-hearted funny romance novels without feeling light-hearted!  And truly one of my greatest joys from the end result is seeing all of the reviews saying they’re laughing out loud reading these books. I feel so happy to be able to transport someone into a story in the south of France and make them laugh – it’s my human superpower.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

Sure – There’s a lot of exciting news going on right now! On my writing side, I’ve just sold the film rights to my first two books, “A Night at the Monte Carlo” and “New Years in Paris” – which I’m extremely honored and excited to see them come to life through Big Screen Entertainment. And I’ve just started working on book 3 in my series, “A Kiss in Los Angeles”, where leading lady Emma Davis will face a lot of internal struggles, learning to love herself with all of her perceived flaws FIRST before true love can really blossom. The big cliffhanger is who will she kiss!

Musically, I composed the songs for “A Very Die Hard Christmas” stage musical which premiered in Beverly Hills the Christmas 2023 season. It was a wonderful cast and crew, and the audiences loved it. The show was sold out every night with standing ovations! It’s expected to play in Los Angeles and in London’s West end for the upcoming 2024 season – the final details are still being worked out.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I’ve said it before (constantly) and I’ll say it again… there are 3 core qualities I recommend to everyone no matter what your path is in life:

  1. Find your passion and work hard at it. It doesn’t matter if that passion is math, science, or the arts… we all have different talents and desires. Find what that is for you and practice that every day. When you love what you’re doing, it doesn’t feel like work.
  2. Be kind and authentic: There’s plenty of stories of celebrities being fired for bad attitudes and behaviors on set, even Marilyn Monroe was fired. Eventually, when you get a foot in the door somewhere… remember to always be kind, it can be one of the hardest things to do sometimes but no one wants to work with a _______! (fill in with your expletive of choice) Kindness is not a weakness, it’s a strength.
  3. Persistence is key: There are a lot of people that come to LA with one song or one script but one-hit-wonders are very rare. Someone once told me it takes 10 years of living in LA to start to have any success, and I’ve found that to be true. So I tell everyone to prepare for the long game. If you really love what you’re doing (your passion), you’re not really able to stop anyways.

I strongly believe that these 3 core qualities combined with prayer and a belief in yourself, can get you whereever you want to go.

Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
I’ve been lucky enough to have multiple teachers that helped me develop these 3 core qualities… each of these teachers has been from different background, different ethnicities, different ages, genders, etc. but they all have pointed to the same fundamental truths – connecting to ‘source energy’ aka God through meditation, harnessing a sense of gratitude for what you already have, and visualizing how you would like life to be (daydreaming).

Most mornings, I sit in silence for 5-10 minutes focusing on my breath to garner that source connection. Then I journal these 3 things: Top 3 priorities that need to get done that day, Top 3 things I feel grateful for in that moment, and at least one positive affirmation for the day. This little morning ritual over my cozy cup of coffee has been so beneficial… it changes your outlook for the whole day.

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