For some, Covid means suffering, for others abandonment, confinement and expectation.
For me, it meant seizing an opportunity. And I did.

I arrived in the UK in 2018. A couple of friends hosted me and after a short while, I integrated into the environment, found a job, and started on a new path.
In Italy, I had different experiences, worked as an estate agent for four years, a promoter, a technical draughtsman for an architect’s office and, lastly, I collaborated for an association fighting for a better future.

After that, at the beginning of 2017, I decided it was time to take charge of my life and dedicate myself to writing, which for me was (and still is) a constant, living music, breathing out the embers and throwing sparks into the ether.

The decision came after I had gone through hell, which were the lies of a world I had firmly believed in. I raised my head again and promised myself that I would never give my life to someone else, that for years I had stifled this irrepressible artistic energy I possessed.

I promised myself that no matter what I would become a popular writer known all over the world.

When I got to the UK, I had three main goals. The first was to find a job so I could stay. The second was to continue the spiritual quest, which I had started in Italy (with the study of Taoism, macrobiotics and the Bible) by reading and delving into the ancient Indian texts related to the Hare Krishna movement. The Uddhava Gita and the Visnu Purana are among my favourite books.

The third goal was to translate and distribute my Italian novels around the world.

Until the day before the official Lockdown imposed by the British government, so about two years after my arrival, I had achieved my first two goals and had never approached the third.

One day, however, I find myself at home alone. Everything has stopped. Work has stopped. Social life disappeared. The world lies in wait suspended in an oblivion of fear and death.

It is the beginning of the Lockdown. March 2020.

At the time, I had remained the only tenant in the flat. My best friend had returned to Italy the year before, so I had total freedom.

I immediately realised that I had to take that opportunity to do something big.
In the previous two years, I had written a science fiction novel that told the tragic story of two lovers separated by death (like Orpheus and Eurydice), forced to break the laws of universal physics to meet again in a striking journey that explores the infinite possibilities of the mind and imagination. Telepathy. Giant waves. Drops of water that show destiny. And much more.
This is The Mushroom Effect, which in Italian was entitled L’eternità segreta (The Secret Eternity), a title very similar to an international classic in honour of Donna Tartt, who is one of the writers I most admire.

The time had come. I knew I would not have a better opportunity afterwards.
I had difficulties at the beginning and along the way. Sometimes I cried, alone, in the silence of the world around me. It was hard being forced to be away from the people you love. I wanted to go back to Italy, but I couldn’t, and I kept thinking that if something bad happened to my family I would feel guilty for the rest of my life.

So, I decided that to be able to tackle the translation of a novel, I would have to create rules for myself.

I would get up at 7 a.m., sometimes as early as 6 a.m. I would have breakfast so that I would have the energy to start. At 8.30 a.m. (often as early as 8 a.m.) I would start reading and translating line by line the novel, until 11.30 a.m. I would have lunch and then go out for a walk. In general, I tried to walk for at least two hours. I would go down to the beach and walk for hours, without ever meeting anyone. Walking and thinking.

Walking helped me with depression.

If I got up sad and depressed, then I would also go out in the morning, walk for two hours, and then translate. After lunch, I would go out again and sometimes extend my trip until I felt tired. I could walk for up to three hours. When I returned from my afternoon walk, which could be half past two or three o’clock, I would continue translating until ten o’clock at night. I would only break off to have dinner.
So, I tried to keep fit by walking at least four or five hours a day, and for the remaining hours (apart from meals) I would translate and rewrite until I felt exhausted.
Some days my eyes hurt, but I had to keep going.

In those two months, I did not miss a day. After a while, I introduced an hour or two of reading, and sometimes when I could not continue after dinner, I would watch a movie. But the rule was that by ten o’clock I would go to sleep so that I could wake up at dawn or a little later.

Back then, I used my knowledge of the English language to translate. For the past year, I have also been reading novels in English and have improved in text comprehension. However, I knew that I was not good enough or prepared enough to tackle the translation of a three-hundred-page novel, as it was not like translating an e-mail or sending a message via social networks. The fabric of sentences in a novel is very different from the simplicity of an e-mail or messages between colleagues etc. Even a post is much easier to translate than a novel. So, I looked for help. At home, I had a dictionary, and on the internet I could use a good translator (not the Google one, sorry). Also, I had an App that allowed me to check the syntax of sentences, even if it did not translate, it helped because thanks to it I realised that I could not translate everything literally. So, I started rephrasing entire paragraphs or conversations to render them better in English.

It was very difficult. But it was also one of the most beautiful and important experiences of my life as an artist and writer. I fought my demons day after day, often not even understanding what I was doing or if I was doing it well. I continued because I firmly believed that even if I failed, I would still be able to achieve that feat.

When, after two months, I translated the last line on my computer screen, I felt as if I had resurfaced from the water after holding my breath for two very long minutes.
I had done it.

The world was already opening up again. For the past two weeks, I have sometimes worked at a restaurant serving takeaways. Even as I worked, I kept thinking that I was close to the end and what would happen next.

Afterwards, of course, I looked for someone who could read and correct it. I had done a good job, but the text needed a proofreader.
After a couple of disappointments, a friend decided to help me. She is one of the most brilliant minds I have met in the UK, I could not have asked for better help. Moreover, she offered to help me without any compensation. A scholar and researcher, she worked in London for important universities.
So, I waited.
Every week she sent me the correction of the pages she had read and her comments, her questions. It took another month and a half before it was finished, but we finally did it.
The manuscript was almost ready.

I self-published The Mushroom Effect after several attempts with literary agents, who rejected the novel as not easily marketable. I did not beat myself up, I knew I would encounter other difficulties after the translation. I did not expect a science-fiction novel to find a welcome among those in the trade.

To this day, almost four years since my first translation, and two years since the publication of TME, I have translated other novels (not quite ready yet, though) and continued this blog of curious stories from my life (If you don’t believe it, read on).

For all those who are working on an ambitious project and feel impotent and suffocated by difficulties, know that you are only making excuses, nothing really can stop you in front of your mission: go all the way and complete it. Once completed, there is still a long way to go but at least you are halfway there. Cry if you feel like it, but then raise your head again. Shout if you need to, but then get to work in silence, concentrated. Being an artist requires courage and confidence. The courage to dare and step out of the box, and the confidence you place in your abilities. Also, trust that life, or God, can guide you to the right people, as it did with me.
If you are alone, know that no one will come to save you. Know that if you do not act to create a future as you imagine it, no one will encourage you to do so. You must act, now, and awaken from the warmth.

You have a great idea, realise it. Nothing else matters. If you do not, time will bite at your flesh, and you will be old and tired, and full of regret. Every day, every month and every year that passes will be a time you have missed.
Emerge from your ashes, and realise your life project, find your mission. Read, get informed, expand your network of knowledge, learn a new skill, find your why and become great. Don’t look at others, don’t make comparisons, and let those who have decided to live a miserable life laugh at you, all that remains is for you to get to the top of the mountain you have chosen to climb and enjoy the well-deserved view once you have accomplished your mission.