Happy Friday, friends: I love to attend writer/reader conferences. Gives me a chance to meet such interesting people. One such person is my delightful guest author today. Please welcome Author Connie di Marco. ~ Donnell
By Connie di Marco:
Author Connie di Marco
Today just happens to be release day for my fourth book in theZodiac Mysteries — Serpent’s Doom. And I have to pinch myself because I never thought I’d be a writer and I seriously doubted the first book in this series would ever see the light of day.
I feel guilty saying this “out loud” to other writers, but writing never appealed to me as a career or an avocation. I couldn’t imagine being stuck in front of a computer monitor, or a pad of paper, trying to come up with ideas to write about. I’ve spent most of my adult life as an actress (with a day job) working in television, a few films, and Equity-waiver theater. I’ve played nurses, moms, widows, secretaries, waitresses, a blackmailer, a street person, a victim of lawyers, even a cardiac surgeon. You name it. I never loved the “business” as some do. I never thought the acting world was glamorous, believe me, but I did fall completely in love with the craft. The work to create another human being, with her aspirations, her fears, her habits, her voice, her walk and posture, slipping into the skin of someone who doesn’t really exist was incredibly fascinating to me. It was always an E-ticket ride.
Looking back, I was also a huge mystery and thriller reader. I cut my teeth on the classics – Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, after Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew of course. And on and on to all sorts of authors and genres for years. Perhaps that’s where a budding desire to write stories first took root. It wasn’t until I was stuck on the set of a miniseries (where my three scenes had been cut to one) playing a secretary who helps an undercover FBI agent posing as a Muslim terrorist fill out a job application, that everything changed.
It was 105 degrees that day in a Hollywood parking lot. My trailer was air-conditioned but parked dangerously close to an exit of the 101 freeway, separated only by a sagging chain link fence that wouldn’t have stopped a large cat. I chose to sit in the heat, and as makeup was melting onto my lap, a light bulb went off and I wondered if I – me – if I could possibly write a mystery(?) That was my goal — one book. That’s all I envisioned.
It was creative boredom that lit the fuse. I gathered my courage and began to write that first book. It took a couple of years and it was much harder, no, cancel that. I knew it would be hard, but it was much harder than I anticipated. That book became the first in the Zodiac Mysteries (The Madness of Mercury). Was I thinking about a series? Nope. Certainly not. This writing business was way too hard. But then I found an agent and I was overjoyed. I thought, ‘Wow! Someone likes my book!’ Surely it will sell.
Guess again. No publisher wanted it. But by now, I really believed in my concept and my protagonist, a San Francisco astrologer who solves crimes. I was bitten by the writing bug. So I forged ahead and wrote the next two books in that series. What I learned was that writing allowed the creation of not just one character, but many, and a whole world to boot using only words. I discovered the process of writing was just as fascinating as the first craft I fell in love with and I was hooked.
Ten years have gone by since that light bulb went off, a culinary cozy series in between, and three publishers later, and finally, the Zodiac Mysteries are back and they will live on. It’s been an incredible journey. My only regret now is that I didn’t start writing much earlier!
About the Book:
Connie, thanks for being my guest today! Love how you got your start and your background has to be amazing for developing characters. Best wishes!
Hi Donnell ~ thanks for inviting me over! One thing that has come a little easier for writing is dialogue (all those improv exercises). All the best to you too!
so nice to learn more about you!
Hi Vicki! Thanks for stopping by. I don’t often share this story, but I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Hi Connie. Thank you for sharing. Serpent’s Doom sounds interesting. I look forward to reading it.
Hi Steve ~ I really hope you enjoy Julia’s latest adventure!
What a great story! I love that you created your first idea for a mystery in the heat and that you use an astrologer. I love astrology and can’t wait to read your books.
Hi Valerie ~ yes, it’s a story from my (probably misguided) past. But looking back, I do think it’s the moment I decided to try my hand at a mystery. If anyone had told me then that I would be writing two series, I would have thought they were crazy. But I am very glad I did!
A perfect detail too: makeup melting.
True! Thank heavens there are makeup ladies on sets. I’d never have been able to handle it otherwise. LOL! So glad you could stop by, Valerie!