INTERVIEW SHOWNOTES WITH FICTION WRITER Michael DeConzo

B: Hello and welcome back to our author talks I am Bri and I am here with Michael DeConzo the author of Two Nickels thank you so much for joining me tonight. 

M: Thank you for having me Brianna. 

B: So I’m just going to get right to it what is something that the readers should know about you? 

M: Well let’s see what would I’ve been a teacher for a long time okay but before I was a teacher I did a bunch of different things I had a lot of life experience and one of the things I did was I own the candy store okay so we’re real life candy store with a soda fountain and train station and people would flood in and it was a very very interesting experience and I did it for 8 years I met my wife during that time and we had a family started our family and our kids would come into the store I was like legitimate soda Jack you know and I always say that I learned more about life and about writing from those eight years then I have any other experience because it was just it was intense and everybody in the world walked in that store so famous people walked in that store and neighborhood people and students and kids and all it was really it was an incredible experience I’m still processing it. 

B: That is so cool. 

M: I don’t think anybody would know that i’m actually a former soda jerk you know. 

B: That is so cool I had no idea. 

M: I took a lot away from that experience. 

B: Wow, I had no idea I never would have guessed that. 

M: So I have a website it’s it’s mfdeconzo.com and on the top left there are there’s a link and it says short stories so if if anybody wants to click on that link there’s a there are two stories there that come out of my experience in the candy store. A true story it’s one of them is a very harrowing story about what something that happened to me on Christmas Eve okay the morning of Christmas Eve so Christmas Eve morning and I’ve actually put that online a few times and it’s gotten a really positive response cuz people can’t believe it you know so just in case anybody.  

B: That is great to know. 

M: And um, it’s one of them is a very harrowing story about what something that happened to me on Christmas Eve okay the morning of Christmas Eve so Christmas Eve morning um,  and I’ve actually put that online a few times and it’s gotten a really positive response cuz people can’t believe it you know so just in case anybody interested go check out the stories but they’re true they’re not fiction completely non-fiction. 

B: Wow okay so what was your inspiration for writing Two Nickels? 

M: That’s a great question I would think part of it is my love for New York City you know it’s a very New York City now you know as you know right so it’s so I really tried to capture the feel of the city in the late 90s you know which was a different city you know every every decade the city changes you know so I really try to capture that feeling so I tried to create a novel with where the setting like Dickens rides about London in Paris you know where the setting is very much it has a great impact on the characters but also I try to create a novel that had like a colorful cast of characters you know so people that you might meet but they’re just a little more so than the people you just me you know so I I try to do that so that was kind of my inspiration but very much New York I live on Staten Island which is 20 minutes from the city which called the city you know so so anytime we get we run in there and we try to soak up whatever we can like I said the different city now than it was 20 something years ago but I try to capture that moment that’s probably why I did it.  

B: I absolutely love New York City I absolutely love New York City so to see you actually capture that absence of New York City in the ’90s was like a whole new point of view for me of seeing New York City. 

M: Oh cool. 

B: So I really enjoyed reading a book about New York City because it’s one of my favorite places to go. 

M:  It’s always full of surprises.  

B: Always. 

M: As my protagonist finds out as Jonny finds out it’s always full of surprises from hour to hour things change. 

B: Yes, you can never think something is not going to happen walking in the streets. 

M: Absolutely and those are the best experiences that’s why I tell people even today you know I’ll see them and my wife will say shh but like I’ll say stop looking at your phone you know you walk it down you know you walk it down Broadway or Houston street and look around there’s so much happening you know music and interesting people. Like don’t look at your phone You can look at your phone when you get home you know but I mean who’s going to listen to me but anyway my wife goes shh quiet don’t let anybody hear you say that. 

B: I never have my phone when I’m in New York I always leave it in my bag.  

M: Right. 

B: I’m taking in the sights. 

M: For safety reasons too. 

B: Yeah for safety reasons as well. 

M: Right absolutely its a good move. 

B: um, so what can readers expect from reading Two Nickels? 

M: I think you know I think you’re going to expect them a lot of New York City you know a lot of music music is a big part of our lives here so I think you know Johnny is very in tune with the rhythms of the city and and the songs he loves. I think there’s a lot of music excuse me food and drink you know and uh,I think I tried really hard to capture like the the craziness of the city like Johnny. The whole novel takes place in 10 days right before Christmas so I try to capture that energy that I think you know pulse pulses through the book.  

B: And New York at Christmas time is crazy like there’s so much going on so to see that happening all while Christmas is there in the city it kind of just really played into it so it was really great to read. 

M: Oh, thank you very much. Thank you. 

B: So how did you come up with your title? 

M: It came to me it just came to me you know it’s funny cause the book that’s going to be published very very soon I at least I thought about the title and I had a couple of different titles Two Nickels was there from the very beginning it was never not Two Nickels you know and you know comes from an expression you know um, you know he doesn’t have two nickels to rub together you know so that’s kind of an illusion of that saying the idea of the arbitrariness of life and the heads and tails thing you know and and you know you flip a coin and you don’t know whats going to happen what’s going to come up and that’s kinda like what your day might be you know I wanted that symbolism of like i said the arbitrariness of life you know but none of that would but one day I just woke up and said okay Two Nickels that’s the name of the book. I didn’t even think I had a book yet I just had Two Nickels. 

B:  Just the title that’s all you had. 

M: Just the title and I said okay let me see what I can do with this. 

B: That’s great because you never know how an author comes up with their title so to just find out that it just came to you is actually refreshing.  

M: Like I said it was never not Two Nickels I never had to give you know what am I going to call this novel it was always from the very first word it was always Two Nickels. 

B: That is great to know, um what did you learn from writing your book? 

M: I learned that I could write a book, it was a bit of a shock. You know it took me a while to write it. It took awhile you know I was very busy with teaching and my family and uh other activities, after school activities and coaching my kids so it was not like I sat down and I wrote a book so it happened over a span of years you know and and at times I said I just don’t have time for this you know and I don’t wanna take away from my family so I would put it down. And I would come back to it and I would look and say okay if it really stinks I’m just going to let it go you know but I kept on something drawing me back to it and I finally you know when I finally finished it I just said wow this is I’m really proud that I could actually accomplish this you know and then its funny cause I said it took me a few years and I have this other book coming out probably in a few weeks and one of my friends said but it took you so long to write Two Nickels how did this other book come out in 2 years you know how’d that happen? I said because I have a little more time now to dedicate to it and I kinda knew what I wanted to do and Two Nickels kinda evolved you know as I was telling the story it just kinda evolved.  

B: That’s great, uh, what was your writing process with your book or books? 

M: Uh, I get up very early I get a very early I have a a black lab rescue with you know and he’s he likes to get up early his name is Gatsby. So so he wakes me up and we’re walking the neighborhood before 6:00 in the morning and that’s a beautiful time you know so we’ll walk the neighborhood and ideas start coming  You know I don’t have the phone out I don’t have anything out we just walking and will take like a nice nice long walk and then I come back I make coffee the house is still relatively quiet and I just start to write you know also there’s a lot of notes so so when I was teaching and I’m still teaching but a little less so so I would have my pockets full of notes full of notes I’d be scribbling those constantly at traffic lights in the classroom you know most of them survive the wash most of them survive the the washer and the dryer you know some shredded ideas I’ve never never saw the light of day you know and then I would in the morning I would piece all these notes together after we walk and I had a cup of coffee and then start figuring out okay what do I want to say where is this going today you know and once locked in I would write for 2 to 3 hours. You know and usually I start around 6:30 and probably end it 10:30-11 and that was it for the day. 

B: Okay, what is one piece of advice you would give to an inspiring writer? 

M: So, that’s another great question you have very very good questions here really terrific questions so I would say use your experiences no matter what genre you know you want you want whatever you write you want it to ring true. You know so many times you pick up a book and you you watch a movie you know you say this wouldn’t happen or this is why would he do that it’s just not consistent and I think one way to to be genuine is to use what has happened to you i mean no one can dispute that happened to you you know that happened to you so that’s a genuine experience so and again you know depending on the genre you’re going to mold those experiences to the genre. You know but I think experience is universal right we’ve all had great happiness and we’ve all had heartbreak, frustration and if you can tell if you can capture those feelings in the moment but then change the moment you know depending if your writing science fiction maybe that moment happens on one of Saturn’s rings you know or your writing fantasy maybe the frustration comes from your dragon not being up to the task of charging a castle and you know but still if you write about frustration its coming from a genuine place and i think that also you cant be afraid to reveal yourself in your writing you know you cant be afraid you have to put yourself on the paper you know and I think um, like my friends when they read Two Nickels you know they all said is that me is that me you know and I said I am in the book they’re still asking me about the new one  cause the new one is a coming of age so it’s all of us growing up you know am I in the book I said were all in the book you know were all in the book we all your gonna see glimpses of things that happened to us its not necessarily you its all of us but your definitely ‘m going to reveal you know some truths but I’m not gonna reveal names I’m going to do it in a very safe kind of way so ‘m not going to embarrass anybody naturally hopefully hopefully mercifully but uh but i think you have to tap into the truth that you experience and i think if you do that  people will pick up on it and people will respond to it. 

B: Okay, is there anything else that you’d like to share with our audience about your book, or possibly about anything new happening with you soon? 

M: I said this the new book is called Welcome to the arcade and it’s it’s basically a prequel to two nickels so it’s the same cast of characters that um,  picks it up like 20 years younger so it’s it’s starts when they’re 10 and it finishes when they’re 20 okay and its told and and theres different same characters but also new characters and um im very proud of it actually I um received a grant from Staten Island Arts um, like last year to promote it and support it so we have I have a reading coming up you know um on June 3rd so if anyone is on Staten Island you know im gonna im gonna post about it soon as soon as i get an official release date but um, i’ve already a couple of writers from Instagram, Instagram is great cause I’ve made you know such good friends and such great connections and already they are emailing me saying well I see you mentioned something you know im coming you know so its so great these are writers people you know reviewers and book lovers that I have never met but they’re saying there coming to the uh book reading so. 

B: That is so exciting.  

M: It’s so exciting because they seem like such nice people like you your such nice people you know and to be in the same space like a physical space is a really really cool idea you know that’s one thing and also my daughter is getting married June 23rd so that’s huge.  

B: Wow you have a busy month ahead of you for June. 

M: Busy month so uh so that’s very exciting too. 

B: Is there anything you can tell us about your second book without giving to much away? I know you talked a little bit about new characters and old characters. 

M: Again its um it it picks up their story when they’re children you know they’re ten uh and its it’s um three different  voices so Jhonny the protagonist from Two Nickels he’s one voice, Ralphie who you meet a few times in Two Nickels is best friends from high school he’s another voice and uh and another one of their friends and the stories begin separately you know in the first section and then they come together and it takes them through high school and then post high school and then um you know uh a couple of things happen that I don’t want to mention  but it kind of brings it all together at the end you know I I  was really trying to write a book where i could teach it like my students would enjoy it you know again they’re ten they’re twelve they’re fifteen sixteen nineteen and its hard to find those books you know I mean theres some hate you give is a great book, The Outsiders, uh House on Mango Street, but its hard to find books that have that appeal to teenagers you know so  that was one of my goals in writing this is that teenagers would enjoy it but also adults would enjoy it you know so I was trying to trying to uh encompass a pretty broad audience you know but I really wanted some of my students to read it and say wow that was a cool story that’s the greatest praise ever. Mister mister that was a cool story. 

B: I definitely enjoyed reading Two Nickels so I was drawn to it I read it I think in a couple of days so um. 

M: A couple of days yeah it’s a fast-moving thing but I’m so happy to hear that you know thank you for that. 

B: Yeah that was all I had for you tonight so I want to thank you again for joining me and I look forward to your next book. 

M: Thank you Brianna very very much for your time. Wonderful.