A Writer’s Dream from Venice, Italy

December 19th, 2014

I’m just waking up on Giudecca Island -Venice, Italy – to a volley of sights and sounds – a deliverance from the cathartic, but brooding ancient history of Rome, from where we just came. Here, I imagine, I’m in a living painting, and an artist, with his paintbrush and palette in hand – captures me and my robe-covered torso, thrust outside my unscreened window – just now at the Hilton Molino Stucky, from his own studio window across the Grand Canal.

Outside, I hear the reverberating serenade of tolling church bells, which I can pinpoint with my own eyes, to various steeples, speckled with pigeons and seagulls. Each tower stands guard of her parcel of Venezia, soaring high above, looming and majestic, and traipsing along the Canal.

Splashing waves steadily rise and fall onto the foamy, green and blue algae and barnacle-covered docks and seawalls, swept up by power boats which dot the landscape like steed on an aqua-colored, rolling field. Each ship is captained by proud, generational seamen, who glide their ships in various directions, transporting trusting townspeople and holiday tourists about their elusive city. And, it’s through this foggy haze, I know I am graced with an inspiring, omnipotent view – and it occurs to me, I must be here, in Charles Dickens’ Modern Venice, the one he imagined long ago in his “Italian Dream.”

Author: Tonia Allen Gould

About Tonia Allen Gould Tonia Allen Gould is a writer, public speaker, entrepreneur, and investigative voice who tells the stories most people are afraid to touch. She is the author of the award-winning children’s book Samuel T. Moore of Corte Magore and the CEO of TAGSOURCE, LLC, a 31-year-old marketing agency specializing in branded merchandise and consumer promotions. Her career spans national recognition as a top thought leader in the promotional products industry and a columnist role at InformationWeek, where she explored digital risk, corporate overreach, and organized fraud. Today, Tonia’s most powerful work emerges at the intersection of truth and trauma. A survivor of stalking, financial fraud, and systemic erasure, she uses her voice—and platform—to expose the systems that silence women who speak out. Her work-in-progress, Invasive Species, is an intense, genre-bending narrative of survival, hypervigilance, and reclaiming personal power. Through storytelling, advocacy, and an unflinching gaze, Tonia invites readers into a world where justice isn’t guaranteed—but the pursuit of it is relentless. Learn more at ToniaAllenGould.com TAGSOURCE.COM View all posts by Tonia Allen Gould