Francesca Miracola is an Italian American from Queens, NY, currently living on Long Island, but in her mind she’s a free-spirited wanderer. She wants to travel the world, but she’s afraid to fly, although a glass of wine gets her through most flights. Francesca’s mostly an introvert who greatly prefers deep, meaningful conversations to surface small talk. She keeps her circle small, and she’s still debating if that’s a good or bad thing. She’s a breast cancer survivor, but she rarely defines herself as one—probably because she feels like she’s been surviving something most of her life. She’s funny; at least, she makes herself laugh. Francesca graduated cum laude from New York University and worked in financial services for twenty-five years, even though she wanted to be a therapist. That’s probably because she needed a therapist. Francesca finally wound up on her true path as a student and teacher of A Course in Miracles, author, life coach, and founder of Protagonist Within LLC. Francesca is a wife, a best friend, and above all, a mother. She lives on Long Island, NY.

Q: In "I Got It From Here" you share deeply personal experiences. What motivated you to write this memoir, and what do you hope readers will take away from your story?
Answer: I’ve always felt a pull towards healing and a desire to connect with others in a way that inspires them to do the same. I never imagined I would do so by writing a book. It just so happens that’s how my journey unfolded.

I spent the darkest years of my life battling with my ex-husband for custody of our young sons. Oftentimes, throughout the ordeal, I sensed a little ball of light flickering in the distance of my mind. I know that sounds weird, and I didn’t know what it was, but I knew it was trying to get my attention. Of course, I ignored it and kept my focus on the drama at hand. I shared my painful story with anyone who would listen. You should write a book, some would say. The light would flicker, and from somewhere deep within a soft, still voice would whisper, yes.

I tossed the idea around in my mind for several years before I ran it by a close contact in the publishing industry who discouraged me from writing it. He tried to convince me no one would be interested in my story because I wasn’t a celebrity. Dream squashed. Story left untold. But the whispering yes lingered.

The universe must have known I needed a nudge, it delivered one from a radiologist. You have invasive breast cancer. My first thought was my children, I feared I would leave them too young. My second thought was the book, I feared I would die without having written it.

Soon after my treatment, I sat down to write. The story poured out of me; the words seemed to flow through me. So did the tears. I knew I wasn’t the only woman who needed to release the past and begin again. I knew other women would relate to my raw honesty. I decided to share my story with the world in the hope that it would help others heal.

Q: Your memoir involves family and marital elements. Could you discuss the role of heritage and tradition in shaping your narrative, and how these elements influenced your life's trajectory?
Answer: I shushed my inner voice as a little girl in the 1970s and lived according to the senseless protocol of my Italian relatives in Queens, NY. I was surrounded by identical brick townhomes occupied by cousins and friends whose families behaved just like mine yet judged each other for doing so. I learned to keep up appearances, but behind closed doors my parents’ toxic marriage served as a blueprint for dysfunction. My emotional well-being was collateral damage of their troubled minds. A lack of love from my narcissistic father left me empty and desperate. Rage that erupted from my frustrated mother forced me to conform. Believing I was alone in my anguish made me think there was something wrong with me. Desperate to fit in and be loved, and trained to believe marriage was the ultimate symbol of success, I ignored glaring red flags and married a man I did not love.

I lost precious years of my life trying to escape from my ex-husband’s abuse. I struggled like a madwoman, unable to break free. The more I tried the worse things seem to get. I was a broken girl trying to fix my problems from the same brokenness that caused them. I kept at it, proud of my ability to persevere. Surviving felt like thriving, chaos and dysfunction felt like home.
Distressing circumstances and dysfunctional relationships kept showing up in my life until I was literally on my knees begging for peace. That’s when I found A Course in Miracles. One of my favorite quotes from the Course is:

“Let me look on the world I see as the representation of my own state of mind.”

Whatever I was experiencing externally was simply showing me what was going on internally. That wasn’t easy to accept at first, but once I did, I took back ownership of my life.

Q: Memoirs often resonate with readers on a universal level, despite their unique individual stories. What universal themes or lessons do you believe readers will connect with in "I Got It From Here" regardless of their own backgrounds?
Answer: Readers will connect with the suffering that comes from ignoring gut feelings and denying oneself. They will be empowered to listen to their inner voice and follow their inner guide.
Readers will recognize patterns of generational trauma and be motivated to break dysfunctional cycles in their own families.

I hope the ending inspires readers to take an honest look within and humbly begin their healing journey.

The themes of my book very much reflect the mission of my coaching practice, Protagonist Within LLC. “In order to be the Protagonist of your story you must look Within to heal.”
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Q: Memoirs often involve a process of reflection and introspection. How did writing about your life help you understand your own journey and identity as the "I Got It From Here"?
Answer: ​When I first sat down to write my book, I thought it would be an angry, vindictive telling of what my ex did to me. But as I feverishly typed away, it turned out to be a cathartic release of the past. I came to realize my mental and emotional state, my thoughts, and my nervous system were what caused my angst. The story had always been mine; I was the protagonist. And the protagonist gets to decide how the story unfolds. It’s empowering to take back ownership of your life. It’s a beautiful moment when you learn to trust your inner voice and confidently say, “I Got It from Here”.

A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and Hastings College of The Law, John practiced law until he co-founded McNellis Partners, a Northern California shopping center development firm, in 1982.

John is a decades’ long member of the Urban Land Institute—a founding member of its Environmental Task Force—and the ICSC. He is a ULI Governor, has chaired two separate ULI Councils and served as both a Trustee and Council Councilor. He has also served on the board of directors for Lambda Alpha International (Golden Gate Chapter).
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A frequent lecturer on real estate topics, John writes a monthly column for the San Francisco Business Times and is the author of the critically acclaimed books, Making it in Real Estate: Starting out as a Developer (First an Second Editions), an industry standard and taught in universities nationwide. His lecture series on YouTube is the most widely viewed of all of the ULI’s video presentations.
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John is actively involved with Outward Bound USA, having served on its national board of directors and now on its advisory board. He is a past president of the board of directors of Rebuilding Together Peninsula and is a board member emeritus. He has also served on the board of directors for the Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center and was a seventeen-year volunteer at the Palo Alto Downtown Streets Team’s Food Closet.

Q: In "Scout's Honor," the protagonist, Eddie Kawadsky, undergoes a profound transformation from a desperate young man to a successful real estate developer haunted by his past. What inspired you to explore themes of redemption and morality in the context of Eddie's journey?
Answer: It was this question that has nagged me for decades: Is morality a luxury? Is it only the well-off who can afford to do the right thing? And what happens to a decent young man when his whole world crumbles? And if he does break his moral compass, can he live with himself afterwards? Will his crimes still shadow him on the darkest nights?

Put another way, is virtue like an investment gone bad? Can it be walked away from with merely a sigh and a couple lasting regrets? Or, given a chance, will character prevail? I should point out that friendship and its healing power also figure large in Scout’s. It seems to me that life can be as binary as a computer, a matter of ones and zeros. One good friend equals happiness. With zero friends, you’re lost.

Q: The novel traverses multiple settings and time periods, from the jungles of Vietnam to the gritty streets of 1970s New York City. How did you approach researching and recreating these diverse environments?
Answer: The old-fashioned way: lots of digging into source material and personal interviews. That said, Scout’s has just two principal settings for which I needed outside help: Vietnam and the fearsome Mexican prison. As to Eddie’s experience in Vietnam, I relied heavily on the guidance of a good friend who had served as a lieutenant in a Marine Corps rifle platoon during the Vietnam war. (thank you again, Jay Mancini). Jay not only suggested the best books on the conflict, but shared his personal experience in those far off jungles. As it turns out, I don’t have any friends who’d ever seen the inside of a Mexican prison—I guess I hang out with the wrong crowd—and thus I had to rely solely on research. The novel’s primary setting—New York City—was easy. I love New York, my mother’s family is from Queens and I’ve spent many weeks wandering about Manhattan, both as a tourist and attending real estate trade conferences. And, given my 40-year career in commercial real estate, I needed no outside expertise to craft Eddie’s meteoric rise as a developer.

Q: Eddie's decision to join the Marines and serve in Vietnam becomes a pivotal point in his life, shaping his identity and future actions. Can you discuss the significance of Eddie's military service and its impact on his character development throughout the novel?
Answer: Eddie was always destined to join the military. He looked up to his father, a career naval aviator, as a winged god. Had his life not fallen apart, he would likely have gone to Annapolis and followed his father’s footsteps, perhaps rising even to admiral. (If he had, there would have been no intriguing story to tell.) As it happens, Eddie must run for his life. He shaves his head, dons unneeded glasses and joins the Marines merely to escape his dogged pursuers, but once in combat, he unconsciously begins his penance for his sins, devoting himself to the care and protection of his squad as an unexamined act of contrition.
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Q: As Eddie confronts his past and struggles to reconcile his actions, the novel grapples with questions of guilt and responsibility. How did you approach crafting Eddie's internal conflict and his journey toward self-forgiveness within the larger narrative arc of the story?
Answer: I wanted to set a very good boy with a dazzling future into a petri dish of despair and see where that culture takes him. Eddie’s an eagle scout, a straight “A” student, good to his parents, liked and admired by his friends. Funny and quick-witted, Eddie’s talented, driven and ambitious—his sky is limitless. Then his sky falls. To evade capture and life imprisonment, Eddie has to bury his personality, become a man who speaks as if breaking a vow of silence with his every word. He can never ask questions for fear of being asked himself. He must live in constant fear of being recognized. My fond hope is that readers will agree that Eddie develops slowly—organically— after the terrible night in Mexico, perhaps becoming the man he was meant to be.

Before moving to the rural West at age forty-two, Lynne Spriggs O’Connor curated exhibitions of folk and self-taught art at the High Museum in Atlanta. She spent ten summers on northern Montana’s Blackfeet Indian Reservation while pursuing fieldwork for her PhD in Native American Art History at Columbia University. She also worked in the film industry as Production Coordinator for Spalding Gray and Jonathan Demme on the iconic Swimming to Cambodia. After landing in Montana, she curated Bison: American Icon, a major permanent exhibit for the C.M. Russell Museum on bison in the Northern Plains. For the past fifteen years, she and her husband have lived on a cattle ranch in an isolated mountain valley in northeastern Montana, where her life centers on writing, animals, and family. Elk Love is her first memoir.
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Q: ​How would you describe Elk Love in one (or maybe two) killer sentences?
Answer: Let’s see….. A world-weary museum curator and a bereaved rancher find love amidst the dazzling beauty of a cattle ranch in a hidden Montana mountain valley – a wide-open, wind-filled place where loneliness gives way to the wonders of bugling elk, dancing birds, and the wisdom of nature.

It’s about that dream we all have of escaping our everyday lives for a chance to experience something entirely different while falling very deeply in love.

How’s that?!

Q: What sparked the idea for this book?
Answer: Personal experiences – those involving a lot of grace, healing, and wonder – that have been transformative gifts in my own life, and that I imagined might also offer some hope and inspiration for others.

Q: It seems like Elk Love would make a great movie. Have any films influenced you?
Answer: I LOVE film and I’ve been lucky enough to work on a few! Some personal favorites that have influenced my writing include: Moonstruck, As Good As It Gets, Something’s Gotta Give, Jeremiah Johnson, My Octopus Teacher, All That Breathes, A River Runs Through It, Days of Heaven, Out of Africa, and My Life as a Turkey on PBS.

Q: Do you listen to music while you write, and if so, what kind?
Answer: If I listen to any music, it’s classical. Otherwise, I’m inspired by our valley’s howling winds, the springtime sound of our roaring creek, seeing and listening to flocks of birds feeding outside a window, the sound of my dog snoring next to me, a crackling fire in the wood stove, observing the way snow falls and light changes everything in wintertime without a sound.

Q: Do you have a target reader?
Answer: Women (and some men) 30-80 – who might yearn to escape the crush of their busy lives and, for a time, wander into a lost garden to explore a secret love of nature and animals. Anyone who is curious about the healing capacities of stepping outside one’s comfort (or discomfort!) zones and into the generous wisdom of what is wild - both precious and disturbing – in all of us.