Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a native of Detroit, Michigan, and am retired from a forty-plus year career in education, as a teacher and school administrator. My parents were the children of immigrants and I grew up in Detroit, Michigan, in the 1950s in a neighborhood full of other Italians as well as Irish and Polish. We eventually moved to California where I graduated from the University of California and married. This is my first work of fiction, although I’ve published a number of articles in educational trade journals over the years.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My book is PULLING GOD’S TEETH, the first in a trilogy called “The Last Italian: A Saga in Three Parts.” With the advent of the internet, I discovered cousins in Italy I never knew I had. Getting to visit them and the home village of my grandparents in northern Italy sparked an interest in the history and culture of the country. It even led me in 1993 to acquire dual Italian citizenship for myself and my family. Eventually, I felt compelled to create a fictional work to illustrate the life and times of a remarkable people with whom I’m pleased to share blood ties, and, perhaps in the process place my readers in settings and situations that are new and interesting to them.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not having written a novel before, let alone three, as I started out I tried not to think of all the words I had to produce. Instead I resolved to take on the project in bites I could manage on a consistent basis. I found that I could write a coherent narrative of about a thousand words a day, so that’s what I set as a goal. I wrote every day, five days a week (occasionally with some longer breaks) from February 2018 until the end of June 2019.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I enjoy the grand historical sagas of James Michener, and non-fiction historical works by authors like Rick Atkinson, Doris Jearns Goodwin, and Edmund Morris.
What are you working on now?
I’m looking at a collection of poems I wrote over the years and never published, trying to decide if they’re worth formatting as a book and offering on Amazon.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m not active on social media so I count on sites such as Awesome Gang to get the word out to potential readers. I’m also using BKnights, Book Goodies, Whizzbuzz, Armadillo, among others.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
I’d say take time to outline a plot as opposed to just jumping in and don’t let yourself get overwhelmed by the scope of what lies ahead. One Italian proverb I ran into when writing my book was, “A little at a time fills the pocket.” I’d say that’s a workable strategy for any author as far as creating content.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Treat people as if they already were what they should be, and you help them become what they can be.” — A paraphrase of a quote attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
What are you reading now?
Believe it or not, “War and Peace.”
What’s next for you as a writer?
PULLING GOD’S TEETH and “The Last Italian” trilogy is my first foray into Amazon Kindle Publishing. In the coming weeks, I expect I’ll be fully engaged in monitoring how that whole process unfolds.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Patrick O’Brian’s entire twenty-volume “Master and Commander” series, “The Landmark Julius Ceasar”, and probably a good how-to-survive-in-the-wilderness handbook.
Author Websites and Profiles
Anthony Delstretto Website