Category: Italian American Author

Author, Italian American Author, Women's Fiction Author

Behind the Scenes of a Book’s Life

C. D'Angelo

Have you ever thought about what goes into getting a book in your hands? I have had a fleeting thought about it in the past, but must admit, I never put much thought into it…until I decided I wanted to write a novel. But, even at that point, my knowledge was low. My method was just to write and figure out the next step later. I knew that I would freak myself out with the requirements of the process if I looked it up any sooner (you know, the whole actually getting it ready to be published part, AKA the most important part). So, I just wrote the first draft of The Difference and when starting edits investigated the process. Thank God I waited because anxiety may have gotten the best of me.

Recently I finished my first round of content edits for my publisher. Content editing means analyzing anything that needs to be changed to make sure the story makes sense developmentally, including deleting, pulling a switch-a-roo with parts, or adding to the story. During my edits, I thought about how I have to share this behind the scenes experience with you! So, now you will know a little more of that burning question of “What is a book’s life before I read it?” I bet you always wanted to know.

Let me give you a general overview of the process, or at least my process. I created the manuscript, edited, revised, asked what we call in the writer world “beta readers” to read it (mine are 3 close friends who also are brilliant for various aspects of what I needed in a reader), continued to edit, oh and then edited again. Basically, think about continuing edits infinitely, or until publishing, but more on that in a second.

Once the draft was sent to my beta readers, I started working on establishing my website and social media. This is a necessary component of the process in this day in age because agents and publishers want to see more about you, want to see how many followers you have, and the platforms also show how marketable your book may be if they sign with you (more followers = more interest, logically at least but not always in reality). I am glad I started when I did because it does take a long time to build the connections. I’ll have to write another blog on this topic because I have had some fascinating and surprising situations.

Anyway, I then created my query letter, which is a cover letter in the general world, but it has a specific format in writer world. Us writers call this part “querying.” Letters need to include the word count of the book (oh yes, different genres have different word counts and they REALLY matter), a hook-type description that states the central theme and stakes of the character if they don’t solve some sort of problem, and anything of note about you as an author (awards, past successful novels and such). The letter must be 1 page, usually, and written in the tone of the book. Writers need to make sure the person reading it wants to continue reading, meaning the synopsis of the book the writer may have included or some of the first pages (submissions all have different requirements).

Speaking of the synopsis, writing that was next…and the absolute hardest part of my whole process to date. This document needs to be 2 pages max (sometimes 1) and tell the main points of the story, without any flare of fun in it (straight up facts only). Fitting a novel into this amount of space was a nightmare. Part of my outstanding beta readers’ help was reading the query letter and synopsis, oh, a thousand times (Nah, really 999).

So, once all of that was done, guess what. I edited and edited (and edited) the documents. But also, I listened to the beta reader feedback and edited my manuscript more. During this time, I also started to build a list of agents who I wanted to submit my documents to in the future. At that point, I wasn’t open to going straight to publishers (usually an agent helps you navigate the field, but going this route also means a writer needs to be ready to add yet another step. Publishers need to accept the mauscript from the agent “selling” it; so that’s 2 people to say “yes”). Luckily, my next step brought me to where I am today.

I decided to do a pitch party as another means of querying. These parties take place online where writers could pitch their book to gain agent and publisher interest, usually on Twitter. If the industry professional hearts (likes) the tweet, a writer can see their submission criteria and send them their documents. Many more rules exist, but that’s the gist. There are a few different pitch parties out there, but for my Women’s Fiction genre at the time, only PitMad was an option. So, I worked diligently on my 280-character pitch. Let me tell you how difficult that little task was, BUT extremely worth it. The tiny tweet needed to convey the hook and stakes of the character, plus leave room for comps (comparable books in some manner; topic, writing…), hashtags for the pitch party (#PitMad), and elements of the book, such as if it is a story including mental health (#MH).

I was all ready to go on the first PitMad date on June 6, 2019, having newly “finished” my manuscript (I had be ready to send to industry people right away if requested). I received wonderful interest that day, my official first day of querying. How exciting that my new Twitter friends helped me by retweeting my 3 different pitches I carefully crafted ahead of time, as well as real-life friends signing on for that day only in some of their cases. But, after sending my materials to the interested parties, I got the dreaded rejections.

I ended up sending my documents to more agents in the field, not just the people from the pitch party requests, but continued to receive a big fat “No.” I am sure I can write more on this specific section of the process in the future, but for now, I’m going to keep moving…as I had to do last year in querying. Like that transition?

So, I continued to, you guessed it, edit and query agents. It wasn’t until the second PitMad that my eyes opened to more possibilities for my book baby. Well, I actually took a webinar with the Women’s Fiction Writers Association and learned about the different publishing paths. The combination of the two events allowed more flexibility in my thinking. By the second time I participated in PitMad, September 5, 2019, my lucky tweet from the first time around brought even more of a gift to my life; my current publishing contract. Here’s the golden tweet:

EAT PRAY LOVE feel + SHOPAHOLIC quirkiness: Rachel has “it all” but feels empty. Going on an ancestry journey to reveal a family secret has to also bring fulfillment (right?) or she may lose her relationship and worst yet, herself. #PitMad, #A, #WF, #CON, #IMM, #MH

I submitted to the requests I received and then waited for the rejections, but held out hope for a resounding “Yes.” Both results came from the interest from PitMad day, but all that mattered was that I got an offer from one of the requests; a small publisher named Kindred Ink Press, which turns out to be a perfect fit for me. I only queried 5 months total, so in the author world, that is nothing! I expected years of querying. I had put in so much time and effort by that point so don’t get me wrong, I worked for it, but also did not expect publication to happen so fast. I definitely feel blessed.

And after the signing of the publishing contract, on November 15, 2019, I’ve been in the true publication process. My content edits came last month, and I submitted the corrections in the manuscript a week ago. Now, I will have more rounds of edits until publication later this year. Yup, it takes a year to get in your hands from the point of the publisher contract. That doesn’t even include all the other elements I laid out for you above, plus many more details and querying paths, if you could imagine. Here are the main areas of editing:

(I’m in step 1)

Yet another topic of a future post (or two or three…) will be marketing my book. That’s a huge part of bringing it to you, obviously. And that part of a book’s life is open ended with boundless possibilities. But there you have the life of a book before it gets to you as a reader. Can you believe the amount of steps and hard work involved? Can you believe I will be starting it all over again with a second book? LOL! Well, what can I say; the writing bug has captured me. I’ll catch you soon with more of my journey, you know, between edits.

***

*Please follow and share my blog if you enjoy reading about my author journey. 

  1. Just click on the “Follow” hover button in the bottom right corner. You will be emailed when new posts are created. 
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Copyright © 2020 C. D’Angelo, Author. All rights reserved.

Author, Italian American Author, Women's Fiction Author

New Year, New Decade

C. D'Angelo

Here we are, folks. It is not only another new year, but’s it’s a whole new decade. I don’t think I ever felt as much of an impact in past years when I moved on to another decade (well, except the whole Y2K madness because everyone was on the edge of their seats). There’s a budding type of feeling that I can’t quite put my finger on yet. This new sensation has me thinking about the reason this decade change feels different for me. It’s obvious that I am beyond ecstatic for my first novel to be released in this year, but there has to be more contributing to my excitement. Hmm, let’s analyze together.

If you have followed my posts, you would know that The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is my favorite book of my lifetime. I fell in love with it in 9th grade when I was forced to read it, thank God. Fast forward to this past decade and the movie The Great Gatsby was released. Not only was I thrilled about an updated movie version being made, but it also starred my favorite actor, Leonardo DiCaprio (Leo, if you are reading this, please reach out so I can finally meet you! Ahem, life goal). I ended up loving the movie for more than just the facts above. The movie was beautifully done and is one I can watch repeatedly, as well as endlessly listen to its soundtrack. It’s pure genius, people! Therein began my heightened interest in the 1920s.

The decade of the 20s were always interesting to me, due to the stylish dresses and bags, as well as that little thing called prohibition, but after I watched that movie, my fascination exploded. I read books about it, watched more movies and shows set in that time period, and listened to more music of the time. So, of course I find it humorous that we are entering into a 20s that I can experience. And I know I’m not alone since there are loads of Roaring 20s parties being advertised in my area this winter. But is this fascination the reason I feel different changing over to this new decade? …Nah. It just must add to the fun. My reason has to have deeper meaning.

When I think back on the last decade, I’m hit with the fact that I have changed drastically; probably more than ever before in adulthood. Now that I am in my 40s, I speak my mind more, have more confidence in myself, and do not care as much what others think of me. I am what I am and if you love it, great; if you don’t, that’s OK too. I especially have changed my views on what life satisfaction means for me, though.

See, I’ve always been a driven person and have had a successful career as a therapist for the last almost 20 years, but in the last few years I’ve realized there needs to be something more in my life that I was doing for a purpose. I didn’t realize I needed something more and especially did not know what that something was, until recently. I think the key to my deeper life satisfaction has been to integrate my artistic urges into the work I do as a therapist (which I have done) and to devote more personal time to my art as well (also, check). It fulfills my soul. Writing my novel has increased my satisfaction (not that I wasn’t satisfied before, but this is a whole new unexpected level). It ignited a fire within that keeps on shining bright. It’s a fire that can’t ever be put out and was dying to grow and be seen. Who knows how big it will get? Not me. And just like in Survivor, fire is life (yeah, I still watch that show).

I’ve noticed much more happiness and grounding in my life since I started writing my novel, especially when being more mindful of dedicating time to writing it in the last 3 years or so. Part of that shift internally has been to actually recognize the identity I have as an author; to be brave enough to say it publicly. The identity opened many doors emotionally and physically (seeing that my book will be in my hands this year!). I can’t wait to keep finding out where my writing will lead me. It was, after all, the genesis for the change. I’m doing more art than ever before and am back in touch with old art forms I did as a child. I also will learn new art skills in the near future because I obviously need more to do! It ends up that The Difference made all the difference in my own life, not just main character Rachel’s life.

Yes! This. Is. It. The reason I’m excited for 2020 is for the HOPE that exists! There is hope and anticipation in my new career as an author, with a fresh new set of years gleaming before me. It’s just like the green light in Gatsby, except I can and will reach “it.” I never thought I would have any other job besides counseling, but here I am, entering a new decade with a new career. I learned in graduate school that people have 3 careers in their lifetime. Within my therapy career I have had 2, so maybe this is my 3rd one. I’m not saying I want to stop doing therapy because I love it and can’t live without it actually, but it’s just that there is more in me to pay attention to now.

Where will my author career lead me in this decade? Already in this last year, I’ve started my website, social media, and this blog right here! I also will be starting my 2nd novel. The new identity of author has led me to meet new friends, to learn new skills, and has led to the best gift of all; a publishing contract. So, it’s exciting to see where I will be led in the future. I couldn’t predict the treasures that I’ve already received and I can’t tell you what will happen with every step I take in my life path… and that’s what makes it wonderful. I’m just going to follow the lead of destiny while riding on hope (and hard work, determination, etc. of course).

So, this was not at all a typical blog about my New Year’s resolutions, your resolutions, and how it’s hard to keep them. Being ordinary is not my gig. In saying that, maybe you can think about your fire for the decade ahead. I encourage you to think in these terms instead of the hyped up, over commercialized dreaded little word “resolution.” It has too much pressure attached to it, and who wants that? Instead, just follow your urges and your heart. It may lead to places you’ve never dreamed of, just like it did for me.

Now go on and put on your flapper dress while you celebrate the 20s. I’ll see you in the speakeasy. Happy New Year! 

***

*Please follow and share my blog if you enjoy reading about my author journey. 

  1. Just click on the “Follow” hover button in the bottom right corner. You will be emailed when new posts are created. 
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Copyright © 2020 C. D’Angelo, Author. All rights reserved.

Author, Italian American Author, Women's Fiction Author

Christmas as an Italian American

C. D'Angelo

It’s time to say Buon Natale, or Merry Christmas, again. I’ve been thinking about all the wonderful traditions I had as child in an Italian American family and I want to share them with you. Every family has their traditions for the holidays, but mine when I was a child were all Italian style, so I’m curious to hear how they are similar or different to yours.

My grandpa was an immigrant from Italy and my grandma was a first generation American, so their traditions were pretty darn authentic to the experience one may have if they celebrated Christmas in Italy, with maybe a dash of American flair to make it a true Italian American experience. I feel lucky to this day that they taught me the beautiful aspects of an Italian Christmas. 

What did the traditions include? Well, I’m glad you asked (um, I mean that you are still reading this post). I am breaking the traditions into food, food, and more food. Just kidding, but really there was a lot of food. Okay, let’s say the memories include time at home, food, music, and religion.

Christmas Eve was just as large and important as Christmas Day in my house. It was always celebrated at my grandparents’ house and Christmas Day was celebrated at my house (that’s just a D’Angelo thing and not specifically an Italian thing, to clarify). My grandparents had the standard pepperoni and provolone cheese appetizer, with plenty of crackers. Sometimes figs from grandpa’s tree were also set out. Always a variety of nuts as well. A random but delicious and light mix for apps. 

The music played softly but just loud enough to draw attention to it, from the room next to the kitchen. Crooners like Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra were only a few of the many voices I heard as a child. I also loved when the children’s Christmas songs came on the radio, like Dominick the Donkey (google it and it won’t get out of your head the rest of the day; it’s the best!). 

Before I get to the dinner, let me tell you about the wine. Everyone had a small glass of red wine, even me as a kid (gasp!). It’s normal in an Italian household to allow older kids and young teens to have a small glass of wine. This way, it is savored and you learn to appreciate it, not to abuse it or seek it secretly.

The dinner we ate was huge, especially for a kid. Grandma’s special soup was always on the stove the entire time we were there and finally we were able to eat it as a first course. The soup had rib meat, celery, carrots, garlic, onion, and pasta of course. I have the recipe but could never make it like her. Another part of the first course was the fish baccala, which only my grandpa liked. Traditionally, Italians do the feast of the seven fishes, but we didn’t have that kind of money! The final first course was prepping for the main course by the adults eating hot peppers. These spicy to the max peppers were ones my grandpa grew in his yard. I’ll always remember all of the adults crying while they ate them, saying through their tears, “uh, these are good;” sniff, blow nose, eat more. It was strange to me, but now I get it.

The main course was always aioli. This simple but flavorful linguini dish had garlic and olive oil with a sprinkle parsley and plenty of grated parmesan cheese (aglio= garlic, e =and, and olio = oil, hence, aglio e olio or aioli). Don’t forget the homemade bread. While grandma’s soup simmered, grandpa made loaves of bread. His crusty white bread couldn’t be beat. The other part of the main course was salad, eaten after the meal. The European way is to eat it after so I did that nightly, and still do. The dressing was only one; grandma’s mix of olive oil, vinegar, oregano, salt, and pepper. 

Dessert was always a mix of homemade Italian cookies, including pignolis and pizzelles. If you haven’t had these, you have to try to find them this holiday. Pignolis are pine nut cookies and pizzelles are snowflake looking, thin almond flavored, traditional Italian Christmas cookies that have confectionary sugar on top. Is your mouth watering by now? Mine is.

So, after all of this, we didn’t lay on the couch; we went to midnight mass! As a kid, I slept until 11 PM, stay awake until we got to church, slept more, and then was awoken at midnight by loud singing and church bells signifying Christmas Day was upon us. It was a groggy time, but also exciting because, my gosh, Santa was coming!

Waking up on Christmas Day was pretty standard. We opened gifts and blah blah blah. But later, grandpa and grandma came and the real celebration began. 

The appetizers were set out to munch on, including a few of the same from the night before, but also one special one came with dinner. As we sat at the table, my mom would sometimes have shrimp cocktail ready for us at our setting. Then, the soup of Christmas, pasta fazool (okay, it’s really called pasta e fagioli; pasta and beans). My mom was taught by my grandma to make it our special way, which isn’t the way you would see it in restaurants. Ours had long spaghetti broken up instead of small pasta. The beans were usually northern cannellini in type. The tomato sauce base was pretty standard though. 

The main course was usually stuffed shells or lasagna. The sauce (not gravy! This is an Italian American battle of names) was homemade to perfection. Meatballs also, of course. The homemade bread was there again also. Salad came last once again. 

Dessert was again pizzelles but also could be something special like cannolis or cheesecake. Now I’m even more hungry!

So, on to music. My dad played accordion and keyboard so the radio wasn’t on after dinner, my dad was “on.” He belted our Italian classics and all of us watched and sang with him. Music is a large part of the Italian culture. There is always music being played on the radio/records/tapes/CDs, being played live, singing with the music was normal, and breaking out in dance was almost a certainty. My grandma danced around with me, while we tried to get grandpa to dance. He was more of a watcher. But the holiday ended on this high note, pun intended.

It was so much fun to re-live these memories through sharing them with you. Please tell me about your experiences. Most of all, enjoy the moments as you partake in the traditions you engage in today. These are the special times we will hold into the future.

***


*Please follow and share my blog if you enjoy reading about my author journey. 

  1. Just click on the “Follow” hover button in the bottom right corner. You will be emailed when new posts are created. 
  2. Feel free to comment or share (click comment and share buttons appear). I’ll always respond to comments. Thanks!  

Copyright © 2019 C. D’Angelo, Author. All rights reserved.

Italian American Author, Women's Fiction Author

Creative Connections

C. D'Angelo

Over the last month, something spectacular occurred regarding my continued work as an author. But I’ll get to that in a minute. First, I wonder what does the phrase “creative process” mean to you? Pause and think for a second… Have you ever thought about it relating to anything that you do in your life? If you engage in any type of art, you may have thought about it, but even if you don’t, I’m sure some of you have reflected on what led you to an outcome at one time in your life. Maybe it was a dinner you had to make for your first major holiday celebration, and you had no idea how to pull off multiple dishes needing to be ready at the same time. Maybe it was succeeding in a work project that ended up to be the complete opposite of where you thought it would conclude. No matter what the situation was, your creativity led to an accomplishment of some sort and you can still feel proud of it to this day.

Well, I’ve been thinking about my own creative process more lately for two reasons; because this blog is about the behind the scenes of me as an author so the creativity behind my work is emphasized for me at this moment and how as I get older I become more at ease with actually identifying outwardly as an artist (more on that in a future post I’m sure). Now, if you have read my last post (and I hope you did!), you’d see that I talked about my blogging process. This post is not all about process per se, but yes, I am including the word “process” once again because it’s the overall category for my topic of today. It’s that important, I guess. Or, maybe it’s just my new favorite word.

So, let me tell you how wild it is to me that without me purposely trying to think of an idea for my second novel, the characters and storyline started to come to me in a procession of glorious little tidbits (much like my first book, which completely surprised me because I was not an author at that point, but felt that I had to write it; more on that back story in the future). The details just kept and still keep on unfolding almost daily in the last two months. The way this keeps happening fascinates me because when I work on a visual art project, I have the outcome in my head and then I work toward that end picture or result. Does anyone else relate to that? But with both books now, the ideas come to me in fragments first and then I put them together to make the finished product. The puzzle easily goes together for me but why is it a puzzle in the first place? It’s completely the opposite of the way I’ve created anything in my entire life! Something about the writing artist in me works differently than the other artist selves within me.

The second book idea started to come to me when I was speaking to one of my best friends on the phone about an idea she had for a business. Out of nowhere I started to literally see pieces of a story I wanted to create. As my friend spoke, her passion about her business must have sparked a creative fire in me (and we do have a 30-year connection so that makes sense). I saw images from this new story as if they were familiar already. It continued to happen so much during that inspired phone call that I wrote down ideas I thought of immediately upon hanging up the phone, after divulging what just happened to her of course. Over the next few days, I had details about my main character, where she lived, and what she did as a career written on various scraps of paper in an accumulating pile. My main character’s personality and the actual plot have uncovered themselves to me as recent as last week. It happens when I least expect the thoughts to come, which I love. It’s all coming together in an organic way. I wouldn’t want it to be forced, after all. That’s not how I roll.

You may have seen my post this past weekend on social media where I revealed the location of this second book. Get excited because it’s happening in good old New Orleans, LA (NOLA)! Okay, I have to take a side note here. Being an Italian American author, you may be thinking that it is a strange choice to choose that city because there doesn’t seem to be any Italian heritage there. Well, that isn’t the case. When I had researched my own family history, I saw that there were immigrants from Italy that settled in NOLA (I never knew!). It’s a place with a rich history in general, plus it’s where I saw my main character living in my mind’s eye right after that notorious phone call. NOLA is a perfect next location for me for many other reasons as well; it’s a place I love to visit, there’s an emotional tie to another best friend, there is a French influence so it pays honor to another ethnicity of mine, and the Italian history there isn’t as well-known as say, the history of immigration to the northeast so that brings more of a unique aspect to it, which I thrive on. It’s screaming to me to write about it. I guess I’ll have to take another trip there in the future, you know, for research purposes.

Getting back to my creative connections now, remember also in my last post I talked about art forms informing other art forms? Well, my friend’s creative idea for her business ignited this story idea in me, so her art influencing my art occurred. Then soon after that conversation, I was listening to an audiobook about a completely different topic than my story and wouldn’t you know it, more ideas came to me almost every time I got in my car and listened to that book. I often had to use voice to text to make notes to myself for my concepts because I didn’t want to forget before I got to my destination. Somehow there was some feeling from the book that fed my NOLA story in my mind. How in the world does that makes sense? It doesn’t. It’s just how art goes. Apparently, it’s my creative process for writing.

What have I learned from this chain of events? I never know where my inspiration will come from. I never know how I will get my story ideas; be it through music, stories other artists have told, or other stimulating people who want to see their passion come alive. What I do know is that I’ll take it! I want to continue to allow the art to fill me up and lead me to what it wants me to say. I have to listen to the art that wants to be expressed because it gives me purpose. I also hope the stories I tell give other people insight into themselves, or maybe even lead them to find their purpose. I enjoy this alternate artistic experience that comes as an author. It’s unexpected, but thrilling.

I welcome you to tell me any of your stories in the comments below. I love to hear about your creative processes. You never know, it may inspire me or another reader.

***

Please follow and share my blog if you enjoy reading about my author journey. 

  1. Just click on the “Follow” hover button in the bottom right corner. You will be emailed when new posts are created. 
  2. Feel free to comment or share (click comment and share buttons appear). I’ll always respond to comments. Thanks!  

Copyright © 2019 C. D’Angelo, Author. All rights reserved.

Italian American Author, Uncategorized, Women's Fiction Author

The Behind the Scenes of the Behind the Scenes

C. D'Angelo

Okay, remember how I said part of the reason I am doing this blog is to open up my behind the scenes aspects, AKA my life, to you as the reader/audience/follower? Well, hold on to your seat because it’s going to get very meta on you for today’s post. I know you can handle it, so let’s go.

After starting to write the last post, something strange happened to me. As soon as I started to write, the content seemed to take on a life of its own. Somehow, I started the post as a different topic than it became, but the words just kept going in that new direction. It’s boggling my mind that I could write the last two posts so easily. How could that be? I’m not a blogger (or am I?), so this doesn’t make sense. I write novels; novels that have a predetermined purpose and timeline of details. Then, blogs should be the same in my mind, logically speaking. And, just letting my hands take it away without my brain having confirmed their message ahead of time is completely un-C. D’Angelo-like. That is not my style at all when writing for the public…right?

All of this makes me think about a little word called process. As a mental health therapist in my day job, ‘process’ is an extremely familiar word to me. It’s therapist jargon for sure and is thrown around almost daily as an essential part of the therapy process. See, there I go again. Process, process, process.

So, let’s break it down. The word process, when used as a verb in the therapy world, means to explore, to dissect, to search through the topic (in my words, not a famous dictionary version). In therapy notes, I sometimes write “Client and therapist processed [fill in the issue].” Processing is an actual intervention involving action. But it is also a thing (remember the whole person, place, or thing = noun?); a process. The word’s versatility is what makes it interesting to me at this moment because I am currently processing my process of writing blogs. Like, right now. Right as you read this paragraph. That’s process. And, that’s very C. D’Angelo-like. I’ll analyze anything to death, so let me keep going.

You may be wondering why it’s important for me to write about this blogging process though, or rather my blogging process. I think it is because I am still getting my feet wet with this new world. My writing in the past has only been for me, but now I am writing for the public to view as well. That means my inner-most thoughts are laid out for all to see, anytime they want! Forever, online! Oh gosh, I can’t think about that too much or I would never post anything. But, that’s why I thought it would be more difficult to blog than to novel write. I know, writing a page or two vs 400 being more difficult seems counter-intuitive, but that’s how my mind works.

My new identity of a blogger (okay, I’m slowly starting to own it), in addition to a sort-of new identity of being an author is, well, something I am still grasping in my mind. Also, the way I write has been pretty steady for my debut novel, which includes strict planning, including outline, characters, and storyline. My blogs have been less formal, which is freeing in a way. I only come up with a topic and let loose. I feel free when writing my books, but it’s a different kind of free. That’s a free through someone else’s eyes; my character. It’s somehow safer. It’s just me and my characters in the room. These blogs are through my eyes in a more direct manner. It’s me in a direct connection to the world. No publishing process is inserted between the two. Both novel writing and blogging are creative expressions for me, but the novel writing is more designed than these blogs. Both of the past blogs have been main ideas that developed as I wrote, into the finished product. That is thrilling to me. It’s a what-will-happen-next type thing even for me as their writer.

In the therapy world, I use expressive arts therapy as one of the theories I work from with clients. This process reminds me exactly of the main tenant of that theory. The art used by the client can go from music making to painting to dancing, for example, and all contribute to the overall movement and healing of the person. One art form informs the next step; it cannot be planned out. That is what has been happening with my blogs, apparently. They have flowed from the beginning of my writing adventure (the novel) and that art has led to this art form of expression (the blog). It’s almost like I’ve been in another state of mind when writing during the blogs. That happens with the novel writing as well, but again, in a different format; a more structured and formal state of mind. I shall continue to analyze this forever of course!

I guess it just comes down to writing is fun for me in different formats. I also achieve a state of flow for multiple arts in which I engage. Maybe I’ll experiment with another genre someday or a different format, such as short stories. Who knows? I thought blog writing would feel like a task (sorry to say) but it never has felt that way and I intend to keep that up. When my writing comes from a place of a need to create, a need to express, and a need to share, I can’t go wrong. You know the difference when it comes from someone’s heart filled with joy vs a forced place. That’s isn’t how I operate for any of my arts.

I never thought that blog writing would allow me to learn more about myself, but here I am learning even in this post as I…wait for it…process. I wanted to allow people to know me more by blogging, but look at what happened instead. It goes both ways. So, this lack of planning beyond topic may bleed into my next novel. Maybe I will just see what happens from the start with absolutely no planning at all. Um, nah…I’ve already started planning. But maybe I will at least be less of a planner and can see where that takes me. We will see. I’m excited for this new art form to inform the next. That’s what I know now. Thanks for helping me to evaluate myself; what every author therapist loves to do apparently…or at least this one.

Copyright © 2019 C. D’Angelo, Author. All rights reserved.

Italian American Author, Women's Fiction Author

Not Your Typical Thanksgiving Post

C. D'Angelo

Many blogs and social media posts this week center around one concept; gratitude. I’m usually slightly different than the norm, so this blog post will not be about gratitude. But wait! It isn’t that I am not grateful, because I am and have SO MUCH to be grateful for in my life. I’ll just write about it at another point in time. It’s all because of what today’s post is actually about…inspiration.

Right now, I want to share more about this topic because, well simply, I feel inspired at this moment. And maybe you will get inspired also. I’m in a new phase of my author journey and the creative juices have been flowing even more lately. I don’t have a rhyme or reason for the surge, but am going with it.

I have found over the last few years that music is a key component of my inspiration for creating art. Growing up in an Italian family, I learned about music from day 1. Not only was it always playing in my house, but we all played instruments as well. I begrudgingly learned to play the organ at age 7. The organ! What 7-year-old girl wants to play a big old boring instrument like that? Not this one. I thought it was a “boy instrument” and as the epitome of a feminine girl, did not want anything to do with it. The piano, now that was a “girl instrument.” But the D’Angelos had an organ in the house, so there I was taking lessons.

After a few years, my parents finally let me stop taking lessons. I could play fine, but did not enjoy it, much to my parents’ chagrin. It wasn’t until middle school that I wanted to try another instrument. You are guessing right if you are thinking I chose a “girl instrument.” The flute was my new love. I played at home all the time, at church for services, and then in the high school band (concert and marching, thank you very much). I had a blast with my dainty, feminine new form of expression.

From college on, however, the actual playing of music faded as adult responsibilities kicked in. It wasn’t until about 5 years ago that I had a burning desire to play something again. During that time, one instrument was a star and when I saw it one time in a quirky Zooey Deschanel video, I knew the ukulele was for me. Where were stringed instruments all my life? This is the one for me. So, I taught myself and now sing and play as much as I can. I can’t get enough. Look at her shining beauty (I even decorated her backside).

Over the last 5 years or so, I noticed that songs on the radio or from my playlists began to make sense with unanswered questions in my life or even related to something happening that day. Now, brace yourself. I have a few loved ones that are deceased and I do believe sometimes there are signs from them. Hopefully that isn’t too woo-woo for you, but it’s true. I especially believe my dad sends me messages through music at times. Of course that’s how he would connect to me; he was a professional musician in life, so it makes sense.

When I couldn’t think of a title for my novel, I made lists of random words and subjects it was about, but nothing made sense. I tried to come up with a title for months, but concluded nothing. I knew it would come to me in time, but never expected how it would come to me.

I searched online for certain words that were relevant one morning. Pictures, articles, blogs, and whatever else I found lead to dead ends. As soon as I stopped looking one specific day, a song came on that I hadn’t heard in the longest time. Do you remember the band The Wallflowers? They have a song called “The Difference” (hmm, does that sound familiar?). It clicked in my mind that the song title was the perfect title for my novel. Art inspired art. I immediately brought the video up on YouTube and guess what solidified my decision to use the name. There was an organist in the video. What 90s video ever had an organist in the band? What band in general really has someone playing organ? And I do not mean a keyboard, I mean there is an organ. I knew that was a sign from my dad. Ironically, right after that an Elvis song played from my playlist (yeah, I’m eclectic) and he was my dad’s favorite singer.

Okay organ, you win. You didn’t come back to haunt me, but instead finally found your way to my heart. I will continue to play my uke passionately, but that darn instrument called the organ will just have to have a small space in my soul as well. My dad says so.

I hope that you can share what inspires you in your life in the comments below. Let me know because you never know how you can touch others with your messages. I hope you’ve been inspired in some way to create, look for signs, or just let the music play. Happy Thanksgiving.

Copyright © 2019 C. D’Angelo, Author. All rights reserved.