Straight from the Mouth of Rocco Lo Bosco, Author of 'Ninety Nine'

A writer for over three decades, Rocco Lo Bosco has published poetry, short stories and two novels. His first novel, Buddha Wept (Greycore Press, 2003), about a spiritually gifted matriarch’s experience of the Cambodian genocide, received good reviews (e.g., Publishers Weekly) and much praise from readers, many of whom called it “life changing.”  His current novel, Ninety Nine, is published by LettersAt3amPress. Lo Bosco also has a nonfiction book in press with Routledge (2016), co-authored with Dr. Danielle Knafo, a practicing psychoanalyst, entitled Love Machines: A Psychoanalytic Perspective on the Age of Techno-perversion. He is currently working on his third novel, Midnight at the Red Flamingo. Additionally, he has edited papers in the fields of psychoanalysis and the philosophy of science and has also worked as a ghost writer.
Questionnaire:

Thanks for letting us interrogate you!  Can you give us a go-for-the-gut answer as to why you wanted to be an author?

I didn’t want to be an author. I felt compelled to write. Soon I could not stop. My addiction to writing led to becoming an author.

Tell us (we won’t tell promise!) is it all it’s cracked up to be?  I mean what are the perks and what are the demands?

For me the best part is the white hot feeling when the words and the story pour out through me and onto the blank page. At first nothing, then the words, and finally a world. That still amazes me after all these years––fountains of story and meaning surging up from the underground.

As to it being “cracked up to be” whatever it’s supposed to be, it depends on who you talk to. I write because I have to. There’s no choice. It’s either write or become mad and possibly very dangerous. It’s slavery, but I love it.  

Which route did you take – traditional or self-published – and can you give us the nitty gritty low down on what’s that like?

I took the traditional route, publishing poems, stories, novel excerpts in various literary mags and the like. Finding an agent, and then finding another. That’s the tedious part, the search for representation and publication. So many books and articles tell you how to do it, but, in the end, the better you write, the better your story, the more chance you have of succeeding in any number of ways. For me writing is the main point. Everything that follows is secondary. I won’t go crazy if something I write is not published, but I will if I do not write. 

Tell us for real what your family feels about you spending so much time getting your book written, polished, edited, formatted, published, what have you?

My sister has helped me immensely as advisor and editor throughout my writing career. My brother avidly reads my work. Everyone I love is happy I write because it keeps me out of their hair. The truth is I’m a huge pain in the ass.

This is for pet lovers.  Do your pets actually get their food on time or do they have to wait until you type just one more word?

I have a fish. I feed Pierre first thing in the morning.  My plants are all dead though.

This is for plant lovers.  Are they actually still alive?

Umm.

In writing your book, how did you deal with the phone ringing, your family needing dinner or your boss calling you saying you’re late?

I have no boss. When I’m writing I don’t pick up. Family and friends know this. If there’s an emergency they can text me.

What was the craziest or insane thing that happened to you in the book publishing process?

I can’t tell you this. It would compromise my relationship with people who trust me.

How about the social networks?  Which ones do you believe help and which ones do you wish you could avoid?

I don’t feel experienced enough in this area yet to answer this question intelligently.

Book sales.  Don’t you just love them (or lack of?)?  How are you making the sales happen for you?

I’m now getting much help with social media, web marketing, virtual book tours and the like. Will also do readings and talks.

What is one thing you’d like to jump on the rooftop and scream about?

I want to shout about how brutally beautiful is my new novel Ninety Nine.

Okay, too much sugar for you today!  Here’s a nice cup of Chamomile tea and come on over and sit under the cabana and watch the waves roll in.  Now…can you tell us what you love about being a published author and how all those things above doesn’t matter because it’s all part of the whole scheme of things and you wouldn’t have it any other way?

It’s very simple. I have to write. It’s great to be published, but I have no choice about writing.


 Title: Ninety Nine
Genre: Literary Novel
Author: Rocco Lo Bosco
Website: roclobosco.com
Publisher: Letters at 3am Press
Purchase on Amazon

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