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Like reading, writing has always been a huge part of my life. And not far behind has been the dream of one day being published. Recently, this dream, which has laid dormant for so long, bubbled to the surface. With its resurfacing, came a renewed focus to see it through. Why did it take so long you? Because only now am I ready to meet the challenges that lie ahead.

For the past year, everyone around me has been urging me to start writing a book. But time and again I told them I will once an idea comes along. After saying this for what felt like the hundredth time I began to wonder why I didn’t have any ideas. I was doing everything right: I was devouring book after book and I was attuned to the world around. However, I wasn’t attuned to myself.

There was a crowd of voices in my head and mine was lost in the echoes. It’s only when I actually stopped to sift through the chaos that I found my own. Listening to it I learned that I’m not a writer. Not really. I’m a poet. I always have been and I always will be. Once I acknowledged this truth about myself did the floodgates open and release the ideas I started to fear would never come. Now when I’m writing I listen to my voice and let the words take me where they will.

On Monday, June 11, 2012, @HarperCollinsCa launched a new campaign aimed at the reading public called Summer Passport. It’s being described as ”your destination for the greatest globe-trotting book vacation.” Each week all summer long, HarperCollins Canada will “visit a different part of the world through summer reads, delicious recipes, fun contests and book giveaways [and] exclusive content from authors.”

The first stop on this reading adventure is a country I’ve always wanted visit: Italy. HarperCollins has concocted the following trio of books for your reading pleasure:

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

The story begins in 1962. On a rocky patch of the sun-drenched Italian coastline, a young innkeeper, chest-deep in daydreams, looks out over the incandescent waters of the Ligurian Sea and spies an apparition: a tall, thin woman, a vision in white, approaching him on a boat. She is an actress, he soon learns, an American starlet, and she is dying.

 Juliet by Anne Fortier

When Julie Jacobs inherits a key to a safety deposit box in Siena, Italy, she is told it will lead her to an old family treasure. As Julie crosses paths with the descendants of the families involved in Shakespeare’s unforgettable blood feud, she begins to realize that the notorious curse — “A plague on both your houses!” — is still at work, and that she is the next target.

Made in Italy by David Rocco

Lush, gorgeous and completely engaging, Made in Italy takes up where Dolce Vitaleft off, giving us a full-on appreciation of all things Italian. Food and style go hand in hand in David Rocco’s world, be it in his television series or his cookbooks, andMade in Italy is no exception. Gorgeous location photography puts the reader right into the scene, offering atmosphere to die for.