Golden Box Book Publishing Portfolio of author Erika M Szabo | Page 4

I get inspirations mostly from my life experiences, people I meet, childhood memories. I was a young teenager when grandma sold her house and asked me to help to clean the attic. I’ve found a rolled-up leather scroll-like document with fancy writing and grandpa’s name in it in an old wicker basket. Grandma said it was the deed to the 300 acres land grandpa owned before the communists took it away and turned it into a government property. The deed was called “dog skin” and grandma explained that back then paper was scarce. When the family dogs died, the owners preserved the animal’s skin to use as paper for important documents. One day I recalled this memory and it triggered an avalanche of unrelated thoughts. That’s when the idea for my book “Cursed Bloodline” was born. Or when I watched a video about a talking parrot and it made me think. What if the parrot only speaks Spanish and nobody understands him? I wrote the story and when I showed it to the translator who was working on my fantasy series, she thought it would make a great book if I'd add the English and Spanish pages side by side. This is how the story of Pico, the Pesky Parrot was born. My children's book, Look I Can Talk With My Fingers, is special to me. I meet a lot of wonderful people with some form of disability in my line of work as a nurse. It always saddens me when I see the difficulties their illness or condition cause and the ridicule and isolation they have to endure.