The other day I met best-selling (and let me add - best-writing) author Sarah Dunant - she was so inspirational. Sarah Dunant is the author of the international bestsellers The Birth of Venus, In the Company of the Courtesan and Sacred Hearts - all of which I have read, adored and continue to cherish. Her last book rounds out a Renaissance trilogy bringing voice to the lives of three different women in three different historical contexts. Her thorough research vividly reconstructs womens’ secret histories in the characters of a Florentine Noblewoman, a Venetian Courtesan and with Sacred Hearts the spellbinding and fascinating lives of the Sisters of Santa Caterina.

When I heard Sarah was going to be in my home town of Wellington I didn't hestiate to rearrange my diary.

I felt so inspired as I listened to her talk about her passion for history, Renaissance Italy and telling the un-told stories of women living in historical times. Sarah oozed passion and I think that it's her passion, as well as her immense talent, that makes her writing come alive for me.

Inspirational quotes and inspirational people always set my soul on fire and reignite dormant passions and dreams of my own. Combining the two - the quotes and the people- makes it doubly more potent.

Some of the most memorable things Sarah said while in Wellington were:

"I was completely intoxicated by that period"
(for me that shows the importance of feeling passionate about what you are doing, or planning to do)

"I wondered what was it like to be an ordinary person during that time"
(forming a question in this way has helped my writing hugely - imagining and then bringing to life a fictional character)

"Writing a historical book is like painting - the dots are the facts, you step back and your have the story."
(as an artist I love the idea of thinking of my story as a painting - laying all the ingredients at separate stages to create the total work of art

All these things, and many more she shared re the craft of writing and her journey as a writer inspired me. But what really set my soul on my fire was when, as she signed my book, she said," I brought a house in Florence and the Birth of Venus" paid for it.

We laughed and I said, "Who said you couldn't make a living as a writer?!"

AS I drove away my passion soared. I pulled over to capture my feelings on paper. I knew what I was experiencing was huge and I didn't want to lose it. Here's what I wrote:

"I just met Sarah Dunant - one of my favourite authors - if not the favourite. I feel so inspired, and excited. My stomach is flipping and swirling, dipping - like it does when there is turbulence in an aircraft. It's exciting. A feeling of real thrill - the kind you hope will never end. It makes me feel giddy, delirious. It fills me with a deep yearning, ffills my eyes with tears. I cannot breath, cannot get the words down fast enough. I want to savour this moment - the moment I know with a passion what I felt called, compelled, excited to do - to write about ordinary women like me, living in historical times, a multi-sensory book filled with art, architecture, set in Italy, or France - beautiful and intoxicating. To write stories that make others feel as I do - hungry for more and so delighted to have met the author."

To learn more about Sarah and her wonderful books click here http://www.sarahdunant.com. You can listen to and watch fascinating podcasts here http://www.sarahdunant.com/Sarah-Dunant-Podcasts/podcasts-author-sarah-dunant.htm