I am Diane Grissell, also known as Silver Disobedience, and this
is the Silver Disobedience Perception Dynamics podcast.
And I'm beyond excited because we are recording this in iconic
Manhattan center located on 34th St. and 8th Ave.
They have the home of the Hammerstein in grand ballrooms
and amazing TV studios and a lot of great music has been recorded
here as well. So I'm very psyched to be here
and I'm even more excited as if that's possible because I have
two great guests today and we are going to be talking about
models, mobsters and manuscripts.
And my guests are Ginny Conquest, who is a Co director
at Wilhelmina Models for the women's and direct divisions,
and Anthony Solano, retired New York City Police Department
squad commander. And they are going to tell us
about their careers and how they ended up in this room talking
about their manuscripts. So Anthony, let's start with
you. OK, From the Police Department
to writing crime fiction and a lot of them.
How'd this happen? Well, after I, I had a business,
after I retired from the Police Department, then I, I had an
investigative company and I did that for 22 years.
And excuse me, I did that for 17 years in, in midtown.
I retired when I hit a certain age, I was 65 and I said I have
to do something because I wasn't quite repaired prepared to just,
you know, shut down. So I decided that I would try
writing a book and, and I, I, I based that on because I thought
that there were so many great mystery writers, you know, Earl,
the beggars of the Charlie Chan and, and the James James Cain
and Sam Spade and, and all of those Dashiell Hammett and all
those guys. I said they all had one thing in
common. None of them were law
enforcement people. So I said I that should give me
a voice. I should have some kind of
credibility because I do have some experience in that world.
So I, I coupled that with the, with the experience I had with
working organized crime when I worked, when I was assigned to
the DA's office out in Queens County.
And I thought between the two, you know, between the two areas,
I should be able to put together, weave together a story
or two. As it turned out, I weaved
together 7. 7 and counting now Ginny you You book models in
mega campaigns, worldwide campaigns all day long and then
you somehow find the time you're up to your 10th sexy romance
novel. How are you doing it?
Where's the inspiration coming from?
I really don't know. I, I maybe just day-to-day life
experiences and I have a very vivid imagination.
So I wrap all of that, you know, into one end, create these
stories for entertainment as an escape.
And it's not only escape from my readers, it's an escape for me
as well, you know, from the day-to-day, you know.
So that's how that all came about.
Now, now you're both authors who came from very intense careers
or Jenny, you're still in your career, so you're still booking
models all over the place in big campaigns.
Anthony, you, Oh my gosh, the things you handled on the police
force with New York City are are mind boggling, overwhelming.
Some of the stories you've told me have really left me
awestruck. I'm curious, when you're working
on books, are you both drawing from your daytime jobs or jobs
you had to build these characters?
Well, I, I think it's a combination and I think it's a
combination of both. I, I think you draw upon your
life experiences, you know, and that's how you create your
characters because let's face it, there are many, many
characters that we come across in life.
It's just a question for me, it's just a question of taking
those characters and sometimes, sometimes combining several
characteristics into one character from several different
people. And then of course, there are
actual cases that, that I had worked with and different
personality types. And in those cases, and that
adds to a, you know, another, another dynamic, you know, to
the books that I'm writing. I, I found it, I like to tell
more than one story when I, when I write a book and I try to tell
several stories. And the reason I did that was
really to sort of self protect myself because I said somebody
could pick up a book, read it and not like it.
I says, but if I go in with seven different stories and sort
of bring them all together at the end, the odds are they're
going to like one of those scenarios that I put together.
So they can't really pan the book all together.
And that's how that I got to do that.
You know, it's a very interesting style that you have,
and you have an interesting style too, Jenny.
You both you get you get right into it.
Like your first chapter, you're you're there's some scene that
makes you say, whoa, where's this going to go?
And Tony, your style is very unique in that you really do
have multiple stories going on. And sometimes I read your books
and I say, how's this all going to tie together?
You know, you both say you write fiction.
I want to know how much non fiction is in your stories.
Well, for me, I have, well, I'm, I'm known right now for my
Rockstar romance series and that pretty much stems from my years
in the early 90s of being a singer in my original rock band
Spies here in New York. And it was my drummers fault.
He's the one. He's like, you're writing all
these romance novels. Why don't you write a rock star
romance? Write about what you know, So I
was like, Ding, Ding, Ding, you know, the alarm bells went off
and I'm in now writing book three of a six book series, the
Song of the Heart series. So it that's pretty much near
and dear to my heart from those years of being a singer and a
man's dominated world pretty much, you know, back in the 90s
especially. And it would great experiences.
So I'm able to bring that realness to it.
So it's it is fiction. The characters have nothing to
do with any of the guys that I worked with or any of the bands
we performed with. I've just created stories based
off my own experiences. So it's been fun so.
You know, that's kind of like what Tony said.
You were talking about other writers who've written in the
crime, crime fiction genre. I find, you know, some of my
favorite authors in those different genres are people
who've been there and done that. Because the nuances of what you
bring into a story, the character development is very
different. And you really see that in your
your books, Tony, when you write about the different detectives
and the dynamics between the detectives.
And I don't think you would get that if you hadn't experienced
it. Yeah.
Well, that, that's true, you know that that's very, very
true. Yeah.
You know, the, the, the conversations that in my
Sergeant Markey series, the, the conversations between Sergeant
Markey and this Detective von Hess that really don't have
anything to do with the, the crime that they're
investigating. Those are conversations that
people have had, you know, that I've had probably with other
others. So there is some, you know,
facts to that in discussing A homicide.
Well, perhaps, you know, the homicide happened this way for
argument's sake. The case of two in the trunk.
Yeah, there were two girls in the trunk that we found.
But you build upon that. You know, you, you, you add to
that story to make it somewhat entertaining.
And what you do is you add personalities of of some of the
characters that are involved in that particular homicide,
witnesses and, and family members and stuff like that.
You kind of take those and you just embellish and you add to it
and you may draw upon somebody who had nothing to do with
anything, just somebody in your your childhood that you knew had
certain idiosyncrasies about them and you would incorporate
that person into one of those characters that actually took
part in in this case. I want to go back and forth on
this, Jenny. Are, you know, are you drawing
on particular characters and yourself, others?
You know, they say a lot of fiction is autobiographical in
different ways. And, you know, and that
autobiographical could be about the author self or as we're
talking about people you've encountered or the merger, the
myriad of personalities melded into one.
What do you say, Jimmy? Well, for my characters in the
Song of the Heart series, they are modeled after my favorite
rock stars. Who might those be?
The lead character, Bo Taggart of my book series is pretty much
now modeled after Tommy from the band Kiss, the lead guitarist.
And because I love him, I think he's such a solid, driven guitar
player, so he influenced that character.
For the singers, it was more Geoff Tate from Queens Reich,
formerly from Queens Reich. Dung, you're laughing here.
I love it. Queens Reich.
Yeah, my favorite, Kelly Hansen from Foreigner, Steve Perry,
who's always been Forget it since I was a young girl.
I loved his voice. And the women in the book are
all modeled after, say, Pat Benatar and Wilson.
Nancy Wilson, you know, just really strong characters because
this, the whole storyline is of six guys on the trajectory to be
the hottest rock band in the world clashing with six women
who are on the same trajectory. And there's a love hate
relationship between both bands. And they get stuck now on a tour
together, which neither band is happy about.
It's their first wore out and things happen.
So yeah. So.
Tony, you have a character or recurring character in your
bucks? Fishnet.
Yes, Fishnet. He's an intriguing detective.
A rogue detective, Yes. Where'd that character come
from? Well, you know.
Not to put you on the spot. No, no, you, you, you, you talk
about characters. You know, to me it's a little
like method acting. You know, when you create
characters, you are that character at least.
At least that's the way I do it. I put my head in the role of
whatever character, male or female, good or bad.
I become that person as I'm writing this.
And the actions that that those people take, regardless how
terrible they are, that's what I would do if I were that person.
And that's how sort of my characters develop.
Now, that doesn't say a lot about me, of course.
That's how I do it. And it seems to flow and it
seems to to work Now. Fishnet is a combination of, of
different rogues that I've known, you know, over the years,
you know, the people who would be willing to take a chance and,
you know, do things that are very, very unorthodox.
And then, you know, it's like anything else.
People are people. You have selfish people, you
have greedy people, you have envious people.
And, and these are all motivating factors that get
people to do the things that they do.
And they're human. You know, I'm not saying that
I'm not eulogizing or glorifying them, but, you know, I'd be
lying to say that they don't exist.
They do exist. And, and I try to tell a tale,
you know, that that's interesting.
And, and I, I, I can't say it's factual.
I mean, it's all fiction, but it's also possible.
You know, I, I want to point out if you're a movie producer or
you are TV producer or anything, one of the things I find very
interesting in both Tony Solano's books and Ginny
Conquest books is there very adaptable.
They're adaptable to film and you're very young prolific
authors. I'm going to call you
undiscovered, you know, because I do believe neither of you have
had your mega breakout moment that I think you're worthy of
and have the potential to be at those breakout moments when
you're writing, are you writing for yourself?
Are you writing for a bigger picture or you?
What inspires you to get up and tell these stories?
Either one of you, go ahead because I would love you to
exchange this between the two of you.
I think this could be an interesting discussion.
Well, for me, the first, the first one, I, I, I just wanted
to do something, you know, to keep myself busy.
And then after I did the first one, I said, you know what,
maybe I can make this into a series.
Then I did the second one and then if I did the second one, I
said it seems to come easy enough.
So I said, well, maybe I could, if I could parlay maybe six or
seven, you know, a bunch of these, maybe I could sell them
to somebody or somebody would have an interest in putting this
on on a screen. You know, it's funny you brought
that up because I just had a screenplay done with this fellow
Glenn Toronto. We played Gomez on the Addams
family and and we're we're talking about, you know, I'm
sitting with the producer and and you know, one of these
independent, the producers and we're talking about trying to
put this on on the big screen, on the screen, you know, but
that's my story, Jenny. What do you say?
Wow, that's a loaded question. I do it because I need that
artistic outlet. I would go crazy because I'm not
really singing anymore. That door closed many years ago.
But I'm also doing it for the readers as a wonderful escape.
My first book was actually came about from a dream that I had,
and I was encouraged by an agent that used to work at Wilhelmina.
When I told her about the dream, she said you have to do
something with that. And then all of a sudden I
started thinking, I'm going to write a book.
I'm going to write a romance novel, and A Loving Name Only
was born. And then the second book I
wrote, A Love Forever, came from that.
I've put that aside for the Rockstar series, but from there
I've written second chance romances, I've written ROM coms,
whatever feeling I'm in at that moment.
And to kind of piggyback what Anthony was saying when he was
trying, you know, with character development, a lot of times I
will walk around, even in a store, because I'm not really
thinking about it, looking like I'm talking to myself, going
back and forth with the dialogue to see if it fits naturally.
Because it has to be a natural flowing conversation.
It can't be stilted or one sided because then the believability
is gone. I wrote a Christmas book,
Believe In It Will Happen, and that's perfect.
I think for like a Hallmark, I just whatever moment I'm in,
whatever feeling I'm in, that's the kind of writing that I do.
But right now I need to be focused on the Rockstar romance
series. That's my first love now.
How? How do you go about explaining
you're both married? How do you, how do you go about
explaining your characters to your spouses?
Do they ever wonder about your characters?
You create and ask you questions like what didn't I know about
you or where did you come up with this?
You know, it's very imaginative. Not to put you both on the spot,
but this is TV. We are looking for ratings.
OK, we'll we'll give you some. Ratings.
No, I'm just curious. I think my husband Bob kind of
hopes that none of these guys are modeled after him.
And actually, to be all honest, sorry, Bob, you're going to see
this. They're not.
I, I don't want to share that part of my life with anyone.
These are purely my, maybe, you know, my dream guys, if you want
to say that, or maybe the reader's dream guy.
It's whatever you want those characters to be.
But I, you know, Bob knows that I write this.
He does support me in the writing of these books.
He's read one or two chapters of Unlawful Full Love, which is my
MC to those out there, motorcycle club romance.
And he's like, where are you getting these ideas from?
And that was pretty much the end.
You know, he's more autobiographer, historian, World
War 12, Vietnam, you know, those are the books that he loves to
read. So romance is not his thing.
So. What do you say, Anthony?
Well, I'll tell you that was something I never figured on,
you know, writing these books. I never thought I would be
questioned as to where this came from because I was never the
kind of guy that took my work home.
I I never spoke about, you know, what went on at work or
regardless what it was good or bad or, you know, so I never was
want to to engage in war stories.
You know, when I went, when I went to when I went home.
And now after these books started coming out, now I find
out a lot of friends, the wives of a lot of friends of mine, ask
my wife, how how do you live with him?
How could you, how could you lay your head on the pillow, you
know, and hope you're going to wake up?
But that's, you know, I never gave it much thought, But I
guess, you know, that's just the way it is.
You know it, you're right about what you know.
And if you know it, you understand it.
And if you experienced it, it comes relatively easy.
Of course, if you have that touch of creativity, you know, I
mean, that makes it a lot, lot easier.
I mean, like listening to Jenny, I'm thinking as she as you're
speaking, I'm thinking of of you and I'm thinking of a woman in
your position hiring models. And I'm thinking of three girls
that go to your place and two of them make the cut and one
doesn't. The one that doesn't is now
after you because oh, here's a. Storyline.
Because you cancelled that. Storyline.
Now you're getting me scared. But but you know, this is what
fascinates me, how, you know, I'm always focused on
perceptions of people, how the the thoughts merge with beliefs
that become the operating systems, which is largely the
theme of this new newly launched podcast.
And character development is very big in that you know, what
you're picking up on people because I would describe you
both as extremely perceptive people that, you know, are
really good at picking up on nuance in personalities.
And you both do it subtly. You know, obviously you do it
professionally. And let's say Jenny does it
professionally. She's sizing people up.
You know, she's trying to decide, can I book this person?
Could you be a model? And Anthony, you must have done
this countless times, interviewing witnesses or
criminals, you know, or So what do you think about the
perceptive aspects of your nature that you bring to the
writing process? Well, I, I think police work in
general, it, it gives you like a very, very negative outlook on
things. I mean, it, it just, you know,
you see a lot of things that aren't so great and, and it sort
of makes you a pessimistic person when it comes to when
you're dealing with people. So you always have your, your
antennas up. You're always a little a little
leery of of the motives of the people you're dealing with.
And you know, when, when you think like that, you, you, you
just kind of know, it's like a sixth sense.
You know, when somebody is selling you a bill of goods, you
know that this isn't the, the, you know, the right wife for
your son or you know, this isn't the right boy for your, your
daughter. You know, you just kind of know
because it's it's you're suspicious by nature and you're
basically looking, you're looking for tell tale signs that
could be problematic without conveying that you're looking at
those signs, if that makes sense.
No, that does make a lot of sense.
Where do where do you think your perceptive nature comes in?
From just from over the four decades I've been at Wilhelmina
interviewing girls, countless thousands of girls over my
career and just being kind about letting them down.
If they're not. You just know when a girl comes
in, you're looking for that diamond in the rough, right?
And you just know, if somebody has it, they might have it.
You have to bring it out. Or definitely, I'm sorry, you
have no business. It's just not going to happen.
And it's sad because those are those people's dreams.
And I hate to be the crusher of dreams.
You know, my hashtag is, you know, we make dreams happen, you
know, And so I think I've over the years been able to pick out
who's going to be beneficial for the agency, who is not going to
be beneficial. And it's just a way of letting
those women know. It's just how you speak to them
with the form of kindness. And that's how basically I go
about it. Now.
I'm telling my secrets as an agent out there that all the
young agents, but from doing this for so long, I just pretty
much know when I see somebody. That's quite a contrast, you
know, from, from the way we would, I would look at things
because I know we got used to, I got used to conveying bad news,
you know, negative news to people.
That's not easy, you know, to, to tell somebody that they lost
a child or their son got murdered.
You know, it's, it's a little, it's, it's difficult, but you
get used to it like anything else.
I mean, you know, and you get better at it, for lack of a
better word. I mean, you, you get better at
it and and you're able to to convey negative stuff, you know,
without, you know, in the best possible way.
And, you know, very rarely in the in police work do you really
have great news to convey, to convey to somebody.
Yeah, your son was shot, but he's going to live, you know
what I mean? You know, I mean, what's,
what's, I mean, it's nice that he's going to live, but it's
also terrible news, you know, to receive.
And, and that's kind of the world and, you know, in, in when
you compare that to to civilian life, to somebody who doesn't
have to do that, it's really hard to, to tell people some
negative things. And I, and I understand Ginny's
feeling on that. That's not easy.
You know, you don't want to displease people.
It's like writing your books. You don't want to displease
anyone. You want to please people.
You want them to enjoy themselves.
You don't want them to, to hurt anybody's feelings.
And when, when it gets back to you that they did enjoy it, that
there's nothing more rewarding than that.
I mean, it transcends money and anything else that comes with
it. It's just a good feeling, but
particularly at this stage of the game.
Well, it makes it all. Such an interesting segue guy.
Yeah, it it just makes it all worthwhile because it's time
what Anthony and I and so many authors do.
It's time, it's money, it's angst.
It's like your book. You're really happy with it.
And then it goes to your editor and proofreader.
And then they get on the phone with you and say I'm hacking
this, hacking this. You got to do this.
And I'm, I'm like, I just spent like months on this thing and
now I'm in the middle of rewrites, but it's all for the
better purpose. So when I have a great review
that comes out on Amazon, I'm sure Anthony feels the same way.
It's all worthwhile when you know you've reached a reader and
now they like you and now they're looking into your other
books. It's a great feeling.
You know, it's so funny when you mention the editing process.
My my friend Judy Katz, who's been on this show before, we met
when I was 21 and she's ghost written 55 books, but going back
probably would have been about 30 years ago.
I had written my first business book and I was so proud of it.
And I showed it to her and it came back and I swear it looked
like OJ Simpson had been there, you know, and they had used my
book to mop up all the blood, you know, she had used this red
sharpie. I don't think I talked to her
for two weeks, could have been two months.
I was so upset. The editing process.
I tell people all the time there's and I can't write a
fiction book. I don't know how somebody starts
a fiction book. I don't have that capacity to
invent a character, really. Or 1 maybe to maybe, but to get
them to intertwine into a story, it's such an interesting brain
space that someone can do that. But before we get into that, I
really want to talk about the editing process because there's
writing and then there's editing.
And when people want to write books, they and they asked me
for advice. I try to say, just remember,
there are two different processes.
Get as much as you can on paper as a writer and then go back and
edit. But you could get stuck for an
hour rewriting your first sentence, you know, and the
whole hours over. So what do you think?
I'd be here curious about the writing process and editing and
how you try to separate them both of you.
Well, for me, I love writing prologues.
Every one of my books has it, and I find that's the easiest
segue into chapter 1. Now that I said that, I've been
stuck on chapter 1 for about 3 months right now and I really
have to get serious because I have a book signing in June and
I want the third book out. The cover's been shot, but
listen, I know my my editor proofreader, she's going to like
attack it with, you know, with her computer and that's fine.
She brings out the best in me. I found someone that I really
trust with my writing and I think that's important, you
know, for an author that you trust the person, they have your
best interest because they're editing a lot of people's books,
a lot of different genres jumping around.
So you want that person to be into your style of writing.
So this will be, I guess, the 5th book she'll be editing for
me. So it's common, Rose, it's
common. Yeah, I find editing is an
interesting thing because, you know, there's one thing about,
you know, taking care of the punctuation and the tenses and
that's that's part of it. But there's another thing when
they start changing the content right now if it's.
Personal. Well, it it it gets personal in
a way, because the person who's doing the editing doesn't
understand the character that you're writing about.
Now, if I'm writing about mobsters, you can forget about
politically correct. Yeah.
I don't need you to tell me I can't use the term nervous,
Nelly, because some gangster uses it.
I mean, we've reached the preposterous, you know, And I
think that that is a little bit it's, it's, it's tough to
navigate that water because, because you don't want to offend
the editor either. But quite frankly, have the
editors, they, they really did, you got off the boat.
I mean, you know, they, they don't quite understand the
flavor of the character that you created.
And I'm sure when, when, when, when Jenny, when you create a
character and that character says something, you've heard
that from a person like that, you know, so it's coming from a
real place. You don't need your language
corrected. Yeah, you know, and and I find
that is my only thing with the editor.
So the editor went by with. For me, the editor went by way
of lumbago doesn't exist anymore.
You know, that is so funny because when I I obviously I
wrote business books. When I started to write more
personal stuff was when I started to blog everyday, which
I've now I think I'm in my 8th year and people say wow when
they meet me. They say you write just like you
speak and I'm like is that a compliment or not?
You know, I like I've been trying to break that Long Island
accent for years. So hopefully it's not that part,
you know, it's, it's the tone, it's how you express a story.
It's where you would accent something.
And I think what we're talking about is this right now, you
know, when someone takes your character or your message and
you've really thought about it or they want to move this
paragraph up here, you know, or this part of the story here,
which is interesting that you say you start with your
prologue. All the time.
I love that. It really, it just sets the
whole tone for me and makes the process a little bit easier.
But yeah, she'll come back with me and saying, Jen, I don't
understand this part where you're going with this because
sometimes, like you said, I write like I speak.
And sometimes I'm like, because I'm afraid I'm going to forget
something. So I want to get everything out.
And then when you look at it, you're like, what the heck is
she talking about? But if you know me, you love me
and, you know, and you get where I'm coming from.
But no, in reality, that's where, you know, she steps in
and reigns me back in. So I appreciate her.
Well, it's real too. The words that you're using,
they're real because you've heard them, you've used them and
and to turn them into something that's unreal is not good.
I mean, you know, in sometimes you have to just stand firm, you
know, on what you have. I mean, that's, that's the way I
that's the way I write. I mean, that's the way I feel.
And you do have intense characters, like you've got the
mobsters in there that you know, there are, there are a few
characters that I've read in your books, Tony, where I can
feel, you know, that feeling on my neck start to go up when that
person's back in the chapter again.
Yeah, well, they're scary characters and they're killers.
I mean, you know, they're not altar boys.
I mean, they're, they're not nice.
And you can't convey them as nice.
I mean, let's face it, it's not Shakespeare.
This isn't, this isn't Dickens that's writing this.
I mean, you're telling a tale of, of, of an element that's,
you know, vulgar food, but not to say unintelligent, you know,
not to say that they aren't intelligent because they are
intelligent. These guys are very.
These. Guys are very intelligent, yeah,
you know, and and if they maybe had, they haven't had the
opportunities that that some of us have had.
But that doesn't mean that they're not smart and they're
not cunning and and capable. And I and, and the only one to
convey that is the author, because you have that
experience, you have that feel and, and you can convey that to
have that tampered with. I, I don't see that as, as a
good formula because you'll lose credibility.
You know, how we use Sir is never going to be said by some
major gangster that that's just not going to, you know?
Or not without a lot of sarcasm. You know, it's funny.
You bring in characters that I can feel the tension.
You bring in characters that bring in the tingle.
Oh, OK. But then I did my job.
Yes. Yeah.
Totally different than Tony. I I have to read one of your
books, but I I think I have to keep the light on all night.
You know, after I. You could take one home with.
You. OK, I would love to read it, but
yeah, I think from a romance writer's perspective, it's a
little bit more entertaining and it's a way to get lost.
It's a vacation. Take a vacation with one of my
books, you know, or take it on vacation, you know?
But yeah, it's pure entertainment and an escape, so.
Where, where do you envision these these characters?
Do you do you want to keep your characters going?
How do you put a character to bed?
Like, how do you say no more for this character?
That to me seems painful. It's heartbreaking for me
because I feel like every time I finish writing, I break up with
somebody, all right? I feel like it's a broken
relationship. I will eventually go back to
books one and two and bring Gregory back.
He was my first love. Was Gregory Steele right?
Yeah, great. Very good, very good.
Yeah, he's. A memorable guy.
And then with the Rockstar romance series, each book has to
do with one of the guys in the book.
So right now, Book 3 focuses on the singer of the band, but all
the guys are in it, all the girls are in it.
So I've got like 20 character voices through my head.
Adding in the manager, the PR person, it's not just six and
six, it's it's a lot. And as those books go on, the
guys are getting older, the girls are getting older, and I
are, I know what I'm doing for the 6th book.
It'll be a new generational thing.
And then whether or not I continue with Song of the Heart
series, Part 2, the new generation, I don't know.
We'll see when we get there, but I think this book book series is
going to wear me out by the time I'm done with it.
It'll. Keep you going, it'll keep you.
Going now, Tony, you have had the Sergeant Marquis series, but
the last time we talked in person, you told me about a very
different style book you were writing that is coming soon.
Yeah. Where you took the female's
perspective as the author. Yeah, what happened with with
that was the my character's female, the excuse me, this
fishnet Milligan that I had Rogue over six books.
He got worse and worse and worse and worse until finally you kind
of run out of ideas and how much worse he could be.
I mean, you know, and so something had to be done.
So he was killed off. And, you know, when he was
killed off, I had somebody tell me, he says, Gee, I thought he
would have suffered more. I don't want to boil them in
oil. I mean, you know, anyway, so now
you have to come up with something a little different.
And what I did was I, I kind of looked at a couple of things
and, and the 7th book has to do with AI don't want to say a
romance novel, this would be a stretch, but it's about a very
vulnerable woman who, who has has a number of bad experiences
with men. And she, she turns to her diary
and she records these in her diary.
And as she does this, it, you know, she keeps getting her
heart broken. And finally it's, she's fragile
and, and finally she commits suicide.
And that suicide is, is the, is the basis for revenge where her
father finds this diary and he knows his daughter's heart was
broken and he doesn't know which guy exactly was the one that put
her over. So he decides he's going to kill
them all and to do this he has to recruit.
He has to recruit help because he's not a killer.
You know, he has to recruit somebody to do his dirty work.
So it takes a little conniving and scheming.
So it's a little different, you know, in that one and then this,
this one I'm working on now, the 8th one, I'm halfway through it.
It has to do with a family business, the, you know, the
treachery that could be involved when it, you know, you're
talking money and funds and, you know, season control.
So that's what I'm up to. Oh, those are those are good
angles. When does your next one come
out? I'm hoping it comes out this
month. Wow.
It's with the publisher now, so hopefully it'll, you know, it'll
be out there, you know. I'm, I'm really Jenny.
When I think of yearbooks, I'm I'm really waiting for that
Walmart Christmas story. Yeah, well, I wish they'd call
me. I'm here, you can find me.
But yeah, that would that would just be wonderful that because
that storyline that started that book actually happened to me
with my little niece who now is in her 30s.
And yeah, I don't know if I should tell the story, but now
that I opened up Pandora's box, right?
But. But you all might want to read
it because she just admitted it kind of is based on some.
Truth. Yeah, just just just the opening
part and then the rest of it is all fictional, so.
But it's a real, it's like a second chance holiday romance
and just very sweet and very, you know, Hallmark.
Very. Yeah.
I think it'd be perfect for them.
So you can get me through Diane Grisel.
Absolutely. What do you find the challenges
are being an author? How do you balance your time
with writing, your time with other obligations, careers,
building out the storyline? How do you balance your time
during the day to keep those books moving so you're
enthusiastic through the process?
It's it's difficult to juggle because not only am I still
working full time at Wilhelmina, I'm very blessed.
Very full time. Yeah, very full time and into
the evenings and some weekends. But just being able to work from
home for four days and in the office one day, I'm very blessed
for that. So I'm juggling that.
I'm my husband, 2 Basset Hounds, my church group that I've been
president of for the last 20-3 years, and that's a lot of
fundraising and everything for my parish.
Gee, what else? I don't know.
I think that that's a lot. But yeah, to be able to juggle.
I usually try to write in the evenings and on an occasional
weekend if I could slip it in when I'm not doing house chores
or we have to do something else or a family commitment.
So it's a lot of juggling, but we make it work.
And Tony, you've got a family. You, you're the ultimate
networker I think I've ever met. You know, you're always out
there doing stuff. How do you balance it?
What's your day like for you to get up and say I'm going to
write from now to now or what did you do?
I, I write when I get up in the morning and then I can get up
4:00 in the morning, 4:30 sometimes I, I get up really
early and I find that at that time I'm most creative.
I, I could, you know, I could think of characters.
I can pick up storylines. And so I'll do that for a couple
of hours and then that's it, you know, then that's it.
I'll do whatever I want to do for the rest of the day.
And maybe before I go to bed, I'll go back at what I wrote and
I'll clean it up, you know, embellish on it, add to a take
away, make it pretty. And that's the way I do it.
And I find that it's not too strenuous, you know, physically
it's, it's and I'm locked into a chair for so many hours and I
find it works. You know, that was a process
that didn't happen overnight that, you know, I learned the
hard way after the first couple of books, you know, and then I
realized, OK, this is my sweet spot.
When I wake up, that's when I'm the sharpest at this.
And that's when I that's what I do.
You know, it's really interesting you say that because
I always try to get up earlier than anyone else in our
household because it's. My head sharp.
It's clear, there's no interruptions.
I don't look at e-mail. You know, it's just like, what's
the first thought that comes to my head?
What can I write about? What what am I thinking about?
What did I observe yesterday that somehow percolated in my
subconscious over the night? You know, because it's really
fascinating. And, you know, my mother used to
say when we were growing up, if you have a problem, Diane, sleep
on it. You know, let your mind work on
it overnight. And I know that helps me a lot
with my writing. Do you find you have like times
you wake up in the middle of the night and you have to keep that
pad next to your bed or you want to write first thing in the
morning because something about a character or how that plot
unfolds just hits you in the middle of the night?
Mornings aren't good for me. They're not.
No, I will. Probably because you've got so
many demands. Yeah, no, morning.
I I don't even think about that sometimes.
For me, writing late at night has been great.
I finished a book writing 3:00 AM.
Really. Yes, yeah.
Love Never Fails was done at 3:00 AM.
And that's just, I don't know, I'm a night owl, I guess.
But having to say that, I'm going to contradict myself
because book one of my very first book I wrote on my iPhone,
iPhone 4 on my commute to and from New York.
So that's what I did. I wrote it in the notes.
And then I would e-mail the notes to my e-mail because
sometimes I'd be so afraid that the notes would disappear.
But I had an hour and a half on the train going and coming, and
I would just write out. And then I would show my friend
on the train and I'd let her read what I just wrote.
And she's like, Jen, I got to go to work.
You know, I can't get like this like crazy, you know, with the
book. But yeah, but that's what I did.
My first book I wrote on my iPhone 4.
So you're, you're like our kids. No, no, I I don't 2 thumbs.
No, I forget that. I go like this if I'm like this.
OK, that's a shout out to Shamani.
Yeah, I'm like this. I I, yeah, I can't do the two
thumb things that that's no way. I'll start texting something and
either one of our kids will say, Mom, seriously, you have got to
learn how to use your thumbs because I might never.
Done that, never done that, but I can go real fast.
That's unbelievable. I can go real fast so.
Too funny. Yeah, I, I have sometimes middle
of the night creative ideas and that'll prompt me to get up and
and take notes, just write things down on a piece of paper.
So I remember when I get up to do it.
You know, the problem with those middle of the night wake ups and
you know, we don't get enough sleep is you find yourself at
the at the computer and you're, you know, typing away and you
end up falling asleep. You know, I was once typing
something and I I was tired because I gotten up, I didn't
get much sleep and I had my finger on the letter X and I
fell asleep. When I woke up, I had 40 pages
of exes no on the computer. The Oh my.
God, that was going to say. That was a true story.
That was a true. Story.
OK, that is really funny. That's in one of the books.
I don't know which one, but I put.
You added in there, see, it was, that was what you woke up for.
That needed to be there, right? I, I think I'm going to have to
take this footage and send it to somebody who can break down the,
the little six second because that could go viral on TikTok.
So I fell asleep and my home page is.
Working Alexis. Oh my gosh.
That's very funny. Yeah, you know, yeah, those
middle of the night thoughts always.
I. Know those are tough, but but
the getting up in the morning, I definitely find the clarity.
Do you find when you're having a conversation with someone?
I know for me, I could be walking on the street or I'm
having a conversation and someone will say something and
in that split second I'm like, OK, that's my blog for tomorrow.
I know exactly what I want to write about.
Do you find when you're you're having subtexts in your head
while people are talking about, oh, my character would say
something like that? Or how I can imagine working
that into the story somehow. Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, definitely. I mean, I could get an idea
sometimes if I see somebody cut somebody off in traffic and then
they start, you know, waving fists at each other, to me
that's a story. Matter of fact, I opened up one
of my books with a similar story like that where motorists, you
know, got into something with somebody.
But it was the basis of AI was able to incorporate that into
the story. I was telling everything.
I mean, it could be a somebody who waits on you in a
restaurant. It could be just the behavior of
somebody that the way they walk or the way they talk or the way
they, you know, just conduct themselves or maybe the way they
interact with their spouses. You know, these are all all
things that you can build upon. These are building blocks.
You know when when you talk about incorporating things into
your stories. Have you had any of your friends
or or charities asked to get included in your stories?
You know, could you make They Have me as a character kind of
thing? Well, I tell you the truth, I
did do a friend of mine as an attorney and he's a good guy.
And I called him up and I said would you like, I don't know if
he asked me or I offered to do it, I probably offered to do it.
And I said would you like me to incorporate you?
And you know, one of the books I have a piece for a lawyer I
could put you in. And, you know, he said, yeah, do
it. And I didn't.
I put them in two books. So he was very happy, you know,
to, to be memorialized, I guess in, in, in some kind of fashion
like that. And I have two gay friends.
Lovely. And they, you know, I told them
if it was all right, I modeled 2 characters after them and they
just loved the idea. So when the book Desires Way
came out, one of the guys worked with me at Wilhemina and when he
saw that it came out, he called me on my extension and started
screaming. I was like, because the
character loved to eat. He was a chef, he had his own
catering business and this person loved to eat.
It was all about food for him all the time, but he was that's
my ROM com. So that book was, you know, very
funny from that standpoint. But I also put in things that
have personally happened to me. So every book that I write, it
has something that has happened to me and I leave it up to my
reader to decide what that particular scene is.
So. Because I always got a kick out
of the Stuart Woods Bucks that he would write about Tudor City
where he had the main de character.
I can't, I don't know why I can't think of his name would
have a home in Tudor City. But he also had one in
Washington, Connecticut, which we had lived in at a time and
not too many people. But he talked about the Rossiter
mansions there, which we used to drive by because they were so
unique. And then he would tie Elaine
from Elaine's into the stories because that's where they would
go have their dinners. So it's, it's fun to be a, it's
a great charity thing. I'm sure there's lots of
charities that would just love to action off.
It'd be included in one of your novels.
I hate to say this, we are at the end of this episode.
Time just goes too fast. I got the five minute sign a
second ago. So thank you, Josh.
And really I'm Diane Grisel. This been the silver
disobedience perception dynamics podcast and Jenny Anthony, do
you have any last things you want to say?
Inspiring other authors, maybe. That's the greatest thing in the
world. We, you know, I do these
lunches, as you know, Diane, and we do that's called the authors
Wordsmith networking lunches where we bring business people
and, and you know, authors and, and people who maybe have a book
in them, but they don't know how to quite get it out there.
And we got 7 people published, you know, as a result of this.
And, and, you know, all it took was a little bit of hold, hand
holding, you know, walking them through it and and they got a
great story. Matter of fact, my friend
Lenny's book, I'm going to give it to you when I see you next
week, Diane. It's really a great read.
And it's a great story that he has to tell a, you know, a
business tale. That's the greatest feeling in
the world because, you know, you've you've done something for
somebody and you know that maybe you didn't have somebody help
you, but it's OK. It's a good feeling to, to, to
help somebody else, you know, on a journey that's doable and,
and, and it's, it's not as challenging as what it may seem
to be, you know, to most people. And I would just say go for it.
If there's anybody out there thinking of publishing a book of
poetry, short story, fiction, non fiction, romance, murder
mystery, whatever, just go for it.
Go for your dream. You just never know where you're
going to end up. And that would just be my words
of wisdom. Don't be afraid.
Just take that leap of faith. So.
Thank you so much. I enjoyed this tremendously
everyone. Thank you.
Thank.
You. This has been the Silver
Despedience Perception Dynamics Podcast.
I'm Diane Grisell. My guests have been Ginny
Conquest and Anthony Solano. They are both prolific authors
in the notes below this podcast. So besides watching it or
listening to it, please Scroll down and do see the notes.
There going to be lots of links to their author pages so you can
easily pick up their books. So thank you very much.
You know what do me a favor? Hit subscribe because there's
lots of great content in past episodes.
You can see one on ones with both Jenny and Anthony
one-on-one interviews that we've done in the past and there are
lots of great future content coming.
So thank you very much for tuning in.
Please hit subscribe and thank you, Manhattan Center.