Jo Parfitt talks to Simone Costa Eriksson, author of The Mission of Detective Mike – Moving Abroad

Simone T. Costa Eriksson is a psychologist (member of the British Psychological Society) an Intercultural coach based in Brazil, she also holds a MBA from Lund University, Sweden. Simone is the managing partner of Interculturalplus where she holds seminars and workshops for HR professionals, for expatriate families & children, and for international schools. Simone´s interest in the long-term impact of expatriation on the executive performance and on family relations started with her own experience of 13 years abroad (USA, Sweden, Poland, and Italy), most of the time, as an expatriate mother of two.

Tell me about your book. What is it about? Can you describe it in just a few sentences? To show that a book has focus it is vital that it can be described briefly and succinctly.
Our main objective with the book The Mission of Detective Mike-  Moving Abroad was to remind parents/teacher that children have their own and unique perception of the moving experience which should be understood and respected. By reading this book, we hope adults understand how children's perception is different from ours and how to support them in the international transition period.

Why did you write it?
We wrote because most children cannot explain themselves what they are going through, how they feel, and how they need to be helped; we, adults, must learn how to support them. Most people still take for granted that, unless children´s grades are affected, they are fine; ignoring their emotional stress.
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Why do you think your book needed to be written? What will your book do for other people?
Detective Mike, our character, experiences different phases and challenges in his international moving experience and, with the help of his friends and family, he finds support and learns strategies to deal with his challenges. By reading this story children can identify themselves with the character and be ensured they are not alone.

Who do you think will read your book? What made you think that there was a market for it? If your book has been out for a while, what proof do you have that you were right?
We thought expat families would read it. I work with expats and I counted on their interest to support their children. If I get some messages from parents/teachers this would show they read it!

​It does not matter how good a book is, or how good your writing is if no one knows about it. What steps have you taken or do you plan to take to promote your book? Are you a speaker or trainer? Do you have a blog? A website? A newsletter? Do you use Facebook, Twitter or other social media tools? What about press releases and sending out review copies and free articles? Have you had any other ideas? Which methods do you think work best and can you give me any examples?
I have a site, a blog and I have sent out some press releases, but I am sure I have not done enough.

Self-belief can be a big problem for writers. How did you manage to stay confident in your ability and remember that you were good enough to write your book? How did you cope with the days when you thought you could not do it and that it was rubbish?
I was lucky to have a friend who wrote with me.

It’s easy to procrastinate, to blame writers’ block and to put off finishing your project. How did you keep yourself motivated? And how long did it take you to write it? What was your routine?
The co-writer was about to move to Italy, so we just had to finish.

What was your biggest challenge regarding the writing of your book? How have you overcome that?
I really needed to hear that our concerns about children moving were relevant and that children would be able to identify with the story. I was afraid the story was too obvious.

If you were to give advice to someone else who is thinking about writing a book, what would be your number one tip?
You must believe in your story and in the ´reasons behind´ writing it. For me, it was ´my duty´ to help children and parents in the moving situation since I wish I had more help when my family was going through that experience.