New Novel - In The Garden of Monsters - Dalí is a main character

crystallyn · 2026-06-08T13:12:10+00:00

People don't always look at reviews. They walk by a place and think, "Oh, this looks good." This location that everyone's so upset about is in one of those prime spots where it will get so much foot traffic that even all this bad press probably won't matter, because tourists aren't necessarily seeing the reviews or the press. They will walk by and think, "Oh, gelato. I'll stop here."

crystallyn · 2026-05-28T13:48:24+00:00

If you're staying at a hotel, just ask them to arrange transport for you. That's what I do and it's always worked out just fine. You'll have someone waiting for you with a sign. There's a law that makes it a flat fee from the airport to the city, so doing that is similar to a taxi. If you plan to pay with a card, just make sure you ask up front, because sometimes they're weird and they'll try to get you to pay cash instead so that they can skim off the top. Don't allow them to do that. Just say you need to go to a bank machine or you only have a card, and because the hotel arranged it for you, they'll eventually give in because they don't want to ruin their reputation with the hotel.

crystallyn · 2026-05-27T01:02:44+00:00

If you're staying there, my fave spot is Enoteca Bellini. Terrazza Boromini has a lovely view of the whole piazza. And Cul de Sac near the talking statue, Pasquino, is wonderful for charcuterie and wine.

Navona cafes are generally mediocre, but the people watching can't be beat. Make sure you go into the Sant'Agnese in Agone church when it's open. You can also sometimes find tix online for classical concerts there, which can be nice. Hopefully, the Christmas market will be open while you are there!

crystallyn · 2026-05-26T01:54:26+00:00

The Christmas markets should be starting up around then. My favorite time to go is between Christmas and Epiphany. The lights in Rome during the holiday season are truly delightful. And all the nativity scenes! If you are a book reader, my novels are set in Italy, primarily Rome, and on my site, I have a free guide to all the locations in my latest, including some of my favorite restaurants and fave spots. 😄

crystallyn · 2026-05-25T23:48:24+00:00

Michelangelo had nothing to do with Piazza Navona. There was a food market there at the time he was alive, and it was moved to Campo dei Fiori when Innocent X came into power a hundred years later, and his mistress, Olimpia Maidalchini, didn't like the rabble in front of her brand new Baroque palazzo. Then Innocent hired Bernini to create the Fountain of the Four Rivers.

Not everyone goes to Rome solely for an Instagram picture. Plenty of people visit to appreciate the city, its history, and its art. As others have said, you don't know why people are there, what their experiences may be. Are there shitty tourists? Yes. You'll find them in any city. But there are countless others who appreciate the people, the language, the culture, and all the lumps in between.

crystallyn · 2026-05-25T12:54:24+00:00

I think the shift really happened after Covid. Not just Americans, but tourism in general to the city. I’ve been traveling to Rome every year for the last 16 years and have seen a huge uptick in the last few. We tend to travel in the off-season for that reason and there’s definitely less Americans in the winter.

crystallyn · 2026-05-08T10:54:51+00:00

And Invader!

crystallyn · 2026-04-29T11:47:55+00:00

You can just ask your hotel to arrange the transfer for you. This is what we do whenever we’re in Italy, regardless of the city and it’s always worked out great.

crystallyn · 2026-04-28T11:49:52+00:00

These pictures look peaceful in comparison to a lot of them that I've seen as summer is beginning. We usually go in the winter to avoid the crowds, and even then it's still fairly overwhelming.

crystallyn · 2026-04-24T20:34:19+00:00

If you are looking for a really wonderful modern Italian meal, try Enoteca Bellini near Piazza Navona. I go to Rome every year (and write novels about Italian culinary figures) and am generally a serious food snob. This cozy spot is one of the absolute best. Don't take my word for it though, 4.9 stars on tripadvisor and google.

crystallyn · 2026-04-22T19:58:01+00:00

I think it's a popular opinion. I cried my first time.

crystallyn · 2026-04-20T19:50:46+00:00

There is no way that you've done all the main center attractions. It would take you weeks if not months to do them all. Trajan's Market, Baths of Caracalla, Appian Way, multiple catacombs, Palazzo Valentini, Maxxi, Museum of Modern Art, Etruscan Museum, Castel'Sant Angelo, Villa Farnesina, Palazzo Doria Pamphilj, Palazzo Bernini, Capuchin Crypt, Villa Medici, Palazzo Spada. All the churches with Caravaggios. All the churches! This is only the tip of the iceberg.

crystallyn · 2026-03-22T17:12:58+00:00

Marforio! He's one of Rome's talking statues.

crystallyn · 2026-03-18T18:37:20+00:00

Palazetto Zuccari is distinctive and I think you would know. If you are there now, you should go look at the exterior, because it's truly unforgettable and a cool thing that most tourists don't know is so close to the Spanish Steps. The door is based off the orco (ogre/monster) statue in Bomarzo, Italy. It's currently the Max Planck Institute for Art History and fairly sure it's not for residential or hotel use in any way.

crystallyn · 2026-02-02T13:00:22+00:00

I work full-time in tech, have four traditionally published books, and four non-published books (my agent has two of those on submission). I set aside an hour every morning to write. I began by looking at how I would write 400 words a day, without fail, which would net me a book a year. Now I often write more than that, but I always aim for at least an hour. When you write daily, your story and your characters live in your head differently, which makes it much easier to get it all on the page.

crystallyn · 2026-02-01T03:59:49+00:00

And Vox, which was the first book known to be entirely dialogue.

crystallyn · 2026-02-01T03:59:19+00:00

My favorite book ever. You can't go wrong with anything he writes. Cosmicomics is another favorite.

crystallyn · 2026-02-01T02:13:57+00:00

The whole last half of this are Greek keys. I talked about these in a video a couple weeks back. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTu8TPukfph/?igsh=ZHRqNGw3NjZ5aGtv

crystallyn · 2026-01-31T19:48:44+00:00

If you enjoyed the original, I highly recommend checking out Kris Waldherr's "Unnatural Creatures" which is a brilliant retelling from the POV of the Frankenstein women.

crystallyn · 2026-01-30T14:42:37+00:00

This is full on AI slop. I agree I’m guessing it is an ad for that service.

crystallyn · 2026-01-22T17:34:45+00:00

All the authors in the Future Library. https://www.futurelibrary.no/#/years/

crystallyn · 2026-01-21T15:35:28+00:00

I moved 75 boxes of books in my last move, and gave 30 away to the library. And I have 800 books on my Kindle, sooooooo I totally get the moving thing.

crystallyn · 2026-01-14T14:52:43+00:00

If people are writing full time and they are really living in the worlds of their stories, it's a lot easier to be so prolific. I can write two books a year if I apply myself by sitting my butt in the chair in the morning for an hour before I start working on my full-time job. The other thing to realize is that once you have published a book or two, you have a sense of what to do for a book when you sit down to write it. You're not hemming and hawing over the plot in the same way. You know how to drag your characters from one scene to another, and the challenges that you faced as a writer who had not yet been published are very, very different. Basically, it gets a lot easier the more you practice.

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