Showing posts with label NY Yankees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NY Yankees. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Interview with Frank Zaccari, Author of When the Wife Cheats

Today's special guest is Frank Zaccari, author of the family/marriage book, When the Wife Cheats. A native of upstate New York, Frank Zaccari earned a degree in finance from California State University at Sacramento after serving as a military medic in the U.S. Air Force. He is currently the owner of an insurance agency and resides in Sacramento, California.

Welcome to The Book Connection, Frank. It's great to have you here. Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

My earliest dream was to play shortstop for the New York Yankees. Unfortunately my skills weren’t as great as my desire. I earned a degree in finance from California State University at Sacramento after serving as a military medic in the U.S. Air Force. I spent over 25 years in the high-tech industry holding positions from account representative to CEO, and for nearly 20 years I specialized in turn-around management of companies under 100 million dollars. Upon becoming a single, custodial parent after nearly 25 years of marriage, I left an industry that I loved to buy a small business in order to be home to raise my children. Currently I own an insurance agency and reside in Sacramento, California.

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in western New York in a little town named Dunkirk which is about 45 minutes from Buffalo.

What is your fondest childhood memory?

My fondest childhood memories are the hundreds of hours I spent playing baseball at the local playground.

When did you begin writing?

I wrote the book When the Wife Cheats at the recommendation of family/grief counselors. The counselors told me this was the first generation in the United States where the wife/mother was leaving the family. They added there is little to no data regarding the impact on the family, particularly daughters, since men are not willing to talk. They said writing what occurred would help my daughters validate their feelings.

Do you write during the day, at night or whenever you can sneak a few moments?

Writing When the Wife Cheats was a very emotional experience. My youngest daughter was still living with me at the time and I did not want to upset her while I was writing the book. I also wanted to be completely available for her when she wanted to talk or vent. So on the nights when my emotions would not let me sleep I would get up, go into the extra bedroom and write the book. When the Wife Cheats was largely written between the hours of 1:00 and 4:00 in the morning when my daughter was asleep.

What is this book about?

When the Wife Cheats is about a family, father and two young daughters, discovering then coping with and ultimately surviving the lies, deceit, betrayal and abandonment of infidelity.

What inspired you to write it?

As the word about my wife’s affair and leaving the family made its way around our community, a strange thing happened; male friends and acquaintances told me how sorry they were and shared a similar experience. I was shocked. I had no idea so many men had been victimized by infidelity. I thought I was the only man who was so terrible that my wife not only left me, she left our entire family. I knew something was terribly wrong with our marriage, but I had no idea what it was and my wife was not forthcoming with the reason.

As I heard more stories, I started to see a pattern, some common threads in all the stories. I decided to write this book about infidelity from the man’s and children’s perspective. It is based on actual situations told to me by many men who went through the devastation of their wives’ infidelity. Their story and mine were woven into one story.

Who is your biggest supporter?

My daughters Stephanie and Sara! They did not deserve the lies, deceit, betrayal and abandonment we all had to endure. Yet somehow we survived. I survived mainly because of their love and support during the saddest and lowest point in my life. We survived because of our unwavering love for each other and the commitment to our family of three. Both Stephanie and Sara have grown to be wonderful daughters, and soon loving wives and loving nurturing mothers. Being their father is the greatest joy of my life.

Are you a member of a critique group? If no, who provides feedback on your work?

I don’t belong to a critique group. Since I am a new author, I used friends and family to help me.

Who is your favorite author?

I love authors who tell great stories. I have read every Sidney Sheldon book. He was an amazing story teller. I enjoy Jeffrey Archer’s ability to create intrigue and the ability that Mitch Albom, Nicholas Sparks and Tim Russert have to touch the reader’s heart.

Do you have an agent or are you looking for one?

Since I self published When the Wife Cheats the entire writing world is new experience. I do not have an agent at the moment but would love to have a serious conversation with one who can guide me through this exciting yet confusing process.

Was the road to publication smooth sailing or a bumpy ride?

When the Wife Cheats is my first book. I guess the old saying ignorance is bliss is true. Since I didn’t know what I didn’t know, I just plowed forward, wrote and self-published a book. Getting the book published wasn’t very difficult, however the promotion after getting it was published has been an adventure to say the least.

If you knew then, what you know now, is there anything you would have done differently?

I would have spent more time researching the most efficient methods of promoting a self published book.

Where can readers purchase a copy of your book?

Currently When the Wife Cheats can be ordered at Amazon.com

Do you have a website and/or blog where readers can find out more?

My Website is http://www.frankzaccari.com/

Do you have a video trailer to promote your book? If yes, where can readers find it?

I used You Tube to post a book trailer for When the Wife Cheats. The trailer can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqPOm5WHr-E.  I hope as people read and hopefully enjoy this book and the trailer they will spread the word to their friends. This is a topic that must be discussed to help men and children survive the devastating effects of infidelity.

What is the best investment you have made in promoting your book?

After some trial and error I was introduced to Charles Barrett from the Barrett Company. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Charlie and his associates.

What is one piece of advice you would like to share with aspiring authors everywhere?

Don’t take NO for an answer! You are going to hear NO far more than Yes.

What is up next for you?

I wrote a second book named From the Ashes: The story of the University of Washington Volleyball Program. This is a true story that chronicles how proper leadership and business management principals helped in turning UW’s volleyball program from a disorganized, losing system to an incredibly successful, elite program.

I am finishing my third book named Inside the Spaghetti Bowl. Like many of the “baby boomers” my family recently faced the difficult task of burying our Mother. This is a book about family and unconditional love through the good times and bad. It is about a family who is and always will be there for each other no matter what. We hope you see your family in this book and the memories make you smile.

Is there anything you would like to add?

Thank you for the opportunity to tell you about When the Wife Cheats.

I hope and pray that you never suffer the devastation of infidelity, but if you do, let me leave you with this one last thought. When you find yourself in the depths of depression and sorrow; when you don’t believe you have the strength to even get out of bed; when you have no idea how you are going to survive the next hour – let alone raise your children. Believe me you will have ALL of these feelings. When you feel completely overwhelmed – remember this”

Look up…Get up…And never ever Give up.

Thanks for spending time with us today, Frank. We wish you great success.

Readers can visit the author on Facebook at 
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001207722973.

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Book Review: Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil by Jerome Charyn

Just as he did with his book on Emily Dickinson, Jerome Charyn draws the reader in with an engaging story of another American great in Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil.

If this were merely a book about baseball, I might not have read it. I enjoy baseball, but the times in which DiMaggio became a legend were before me. Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, and DiMaggio were all just names I heard from time to time as I sat watching the New York Yankees and my Red Sox during the 70's and 80's. They weren't real to me like Jim Rice, whose autographed picture hung in my room. I didn't have the memories of those greats clear in my mind, like I still recall the games where pitchers opted to walk Reggie Jackson than risk his bat connecting with the ball.

In Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil, Charyn provides the reader with a candid, yet sympathetic, view of one of baseball's greats. It is the focus on the man on the field and outside of the ballpark that made this such a spectacular read for me.

In his touching Preface, Charyn remembers growing up in the Bronx, scraping by, but always finding a way to make enough to get through the turnstiles at Yankee Stadium; a need that increased as DiMaggio shot to fame.

DiMaggio is portrayed as a complex, intense man, unable to feel comfortable in his own skin unless he was in center field. Off the field he was shy and barely spoke. His list of famous friends seems endless, yet we are left wondering how well they really knew him. Perhaps the only one who truly knew the real Joe was Marilyn Monroe. Their short-lived marriage captivated the world then, and as Charyn's book exemplifies, their tumultuous, tragic love story still nags at us. Could he have saved her? Could she have saved him?

Joe DiMaggio lived in a world of baseball that no longer exists, as Charyn so poignantly indicates.  As the official Joe DiMaggio website says at the end of his life story, "He is the symbol of another era, of another breed of athlete and star."

I highly recommend Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil by Jerome Charyn. Whether you love baseball legends or are looking for a well-written book that moves along at a perfect pace, you'll find it in the pages of Charyn's latest release.


Title:  Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil
Author:  Jerome Charyn
Publisher:  Yale University Press
ISBN-10: 9780300123289
ISBN-13: 978-0300123289
SRP:  $24.00 (hardcover)

Also available in a Kindle edition and at Barnes and Noble.


Blog Tour web site:
http://joe-dimaggio-the-long-vigil.blogspot.com/

Jerome Charyn's web site:
http://www.jeromecharyn.com/

Jerome Charyn's Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/jerome.charyn

Jerome Charyn's Twitter:
http://twitter.com/jeromecharyn

Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Joe-DiMaggio-The-Long-Vigil/173247736020293

Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil Twitter:
http://twitter.com/JoeDiMaggio2011

Yale University Press web site:
http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300123289

Jerome Charyn (born May 13, 1937) is an award-winning American author. With nearly 50 published works, Charyn has earned a long-standing reputation as an inventive and prolific chronicler of real and imagined American life. Michael Chabon calls him “one of the most important writers in American literature.”


New York Newsday hailed Charyn as “a contemporary American Balzac,” and the Los Angeles Times described him as “absolutely unique among American writers.”


Since the 1964 release of Charyn’s first novel, Once Upon a Droshky, he has published 30 novels, three memoirs, eight graphic novels, two books about film, short stories, plays and works of non-fiction. Two of his memoirs were named New York Times Book of the Year. Charyn has been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. He received the Rosenthal Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and has been named Commander of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture.


Charyn was Distinguished Professor of Film Studies at the American University of Paris until he left teaching in 2009.


In addition to his writing and teaching, Charyn is a tournament table tennis player, once ranked in the top 10 percent of players in France. Noted novelist Don DeLillo called Charyn’s book on table tennis, Sizzling Chops & Devilish Spins, "The Sun Also Rises of ping-pong."


Charyn lives in Paris and New York City.