We recently connected with Marianna Buffolino and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Marianna, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
As a daughter of Italian immigrants, my entire life has been a lesson on confidence building and in doing so it raised my self-esteem. My first languages were Italian and broken English. My parents spoke to me in dialect from our family’s town of Durazzano located in Naples, Italy. Any English they learned was picked up from interacting with Americans who knew Italian or from TV (watching the news, soap operas, etc). Words that I didn’t know in English, I learned in school.
I really owe it to my parents. They have been a model of inspiration for me. The thought of coming to a new country without knowing the language and re-rooting yourself risking everything for a better life and better future is the definition of confidence. When faced with something out of my comfort zone, the thought of what my parents had to overcome made me feel that whatever I was scared of doing was a silly insecurity I needed to face head on.
My parents didn’t have it easy. Their sacrifices are celebrated through moments of achievement. To be held back by challenges in fear of the outcome would be a waste of those sacrifices. That will always be the driving factor to my confidence and self-esteem.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I was born and raised in Long Island, NY. My husband and I just welcomed our son into the world this October. I have a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and have been an Appellate Paralegal for over a decade. Currently, I have a notary service company that I have been expanding.
Getting lost in a good book has always been my favorite way to pass the time. This did eventually lead to writing my first book. My life motto has always been “Everything happens for a reason.” Back in 2021, I was in an accident that left me recovering in bed for some time. The accident left me with endless amount of time to read until my own stories formed into my head that I needed to get down on paper. I had no intention of writing a book, however, I began pieces the scenes together which eventually became my debut novel Fallacy Entangled.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Patience, ambition and optimism. These three have gotten me this far and integrating them together will be a recipe for success. Applying these have been key to my journey as an indie author.
Being an indie author has it challenges but is also equally rewarding. For anyone who may not know, an indie author is a writer who self-publishes their own work with the intention of retaining and controlling their own publishing rights. This entails every aspect of putting your novel together from proofreading to creating a cover to formatting the manuscript into a paperback/hardcover or eBook. Marketing is really important to get the word out on self-published material. Despite all this hands-on work, indie authors have full control of their creativity and time.
Having the ambition got me to write my novel and see it through publication. Being optimistic gave me the push to go forward with the whole process. And with patience, I’m watching things begin to pick up.
Within the first year, I have gotten amazing feedback from being recognized by the Italian Community of Westbury, to being featured on podcasts to winning The Bookfest Awards for Fall 2023 in the category of Fiction – Romance – New Adult. My novel has reached libraries as well as even a bookshop. It’s been satisfying to see all this happening.
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
I feel when I am juggling too many things at once and spreading myself too thin, my brain just shuts down causing severe writer’s block which can be even more overwhelming.
My advice is to do something different in your routine. When you do the same thing every day, your brain isn’t being challenged and it just needs something new or different in the mix. Stimulating my brain by doing something out of the norm typically helps. I like to go on long walks while listening to music or doing something artistic like a craft.
Contact Info:
- Website: authormariannabuffolino.com
- Instagram: @authormariannabuffolino
- Facebook: authormariannabuffolino
- Other: tiktok handle: authormariannabuffolino