Mark Tedesco Interview Published on: 28, Jan 2021

I have always had a big imagination; I recall a day when I was a young boy playing with some neighborhood friends in our house's backyard. It was Halloween, and we started to head home to get into our costumes for trick-or-treating. The sun was starting to set and, as I looked around the yard to the right and left, the piles of dirt and brush seemed to take the form of faces! Monsters, skulls, and squinting expressions; all were looking up at me. I quickened my pace, then fled home. Once home, I felt safe as I got into my Halloween costume.

My first book was "That Undeniable Longing: My Road to and from the Priesthood." I didn't write it to be published. Parts of my life seemed like a puzzle, and I wasn't sure how to put the pieces together to become a unified whole. My years in the seminary in Rome and everything that came afterward felt like several people's lives and not my own. So I began to write down my memories of living in Rome to try to make sense of it all. Once I showed the finished draft to my sister, she said, "This is good….really good. I think you could get this published." It was only then I thought of looking for a publisher since I didn't think anyone would be interested in such a unique story. I sent the manuscript out to three publishers, and the third one picked it up and published it.

I was 47 years old when I published my first book.

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My musical taste is eclectic, but I tend towards classical, some Jazz, and classic rock. I also enjoy Latin music with a Spanish beat.

By profession, I am an educator, and I've taught high school history for several decades. Before that, I was working for a nonprofit in Washington DC. I think my passion for transforming lives comes from this period, while in Washington DC. I was unhappy in my job because what I was doing didn't seem to matter. I wanted my life to count, make an impact, and hopefully make a difference in others' lives. So I was drawn to teaching, where I could work with young people and learn from them and they from me. It has been, and still is, a very fulfilling career.

Teaching history showed me that the world is made of stories. I noticed that my students became interested in the past if it was presented to them as a story that they could become involved in and relate to. This helped me to be more attentive to the stories around me, either surrounding people or places.

Sometimes stories just come to me, usually through an encounter with a person, place, thing, or even animal. When I write a book, it is usually already written in my head before I start to type it out. When I share a story that someone relates to or finds fulfilling, it makes it all worth it.

Being a history teacher in Los Angeles has been more about learning than about teaching. I love history, especially the ancient world, but the challenge has been to engage students and make history come alive. Experiences are more interesting than mere words, so I've always strived to create history in my classroom. When I taught middle school, for example, for the Renaissance, we organized a walk through Florence, with nine different stations that students could explore. Each station focussed on another aspect of Renaissance Florence: painting, the David, the dome of Brunelleschi, music, and literature. When we studied the French Revolution, I brought my students outside to the tennis court to reenact the Oath of the Tennis Court. We then divided the class into the three Estates; since most of the class belonged to the third estate, they had few rights for one class period and felt some of the frustration that the peasants felt before the Revolution. Then we reflected on the experience.

For me, teaching history is accessing the past in a way that students can experience and can lead them to want to explore the world and become fascinated by it.

The biggest challenge of writing and then publishing my first book was the decision to reveal so much of my personal life to the general public. I had friends I'd known for years who didn't know about the time I spent in a Vatican seminary. Until that time, I didn't know how to reconcile the various parts of my life; the most comfortable thing seemed to keep them separate. But writing the book helped me embrace all the aspects of my life and let go of the shame surrounding being in the seminary, being gay, or just being the man I am. In other words, working on that book helped me to love myself and to allow others access to the real person that I am rather than the image I was trying to project.

My poetry book was the fruit of powerful yearnings to love, desire, and loss, which were too big to keep inside. As I've experienced the intensity of romantic love, the consolation of friendship, the overwhelming desire for happiness, and the depths of sadness stemming from the loss and death of someone I loved, I've tried to capture all of this in words. The result is my book of poetry. It is pretty intense.

In "The Dog on the Acropolis," Draco is based on a real dog that I met on the Acropolis. One evening, I was visiting Athens and walked up the Acropolis, towards the Parthenon, to see it at night. About halfway up, a black Labrador mix dog met me on the steps. I stopped and looked at him and he at me. Then he came to my side and accompanied me up the steps. Once we got to the top, he scampered away. The next evening I decided to climb those steps again, and I met the same black dog on the way. He trotted beside me as I made my way up to look at the shining city below. Once we arrived, I looked at the dog and me; I realized that he probably lived on this hill. I wished I had a snack to give him, but I didn't have anything on me. I reached down and scratched his head. Then, as I gazed at the city below, the dog disappeared.

As I made my way down the hill, the story of the dog on the Acropolis came to me.

The biggest marketing trap that new authors fall into is paying for reviews and other services. Many people are looking to feed off an aspiring author's dreams, and I would caution against spending money on reviews or expensive marketing packages. If someone wants to read my book, they will read it. If they don't want to, they will not. I don't think it is ethical to pay someone to read my book and review it. As far as marketing packages, I have not invested in them, but I have heard from other authors that they are a waste of money.

AllAuthor has been the smartest investment I've made. Their services target exactly what I need to market my books on social media, and the low cost fits into my budget.

Marketing has one's book has to stem from relationships: starting with people I know first, then bookstores in my area, libraries, and writing/reading groups. After this, reaching out on social media helps draw attention to the book. But I think relationships are key.

I don't get bored, but I've also had some funny experiences. For example, in the seminary, we were not allowed to talk after 10 pm; it was called the "Grande Silence." I was in the library in the afternoon one day, and I opened up a forgotten closet and found it full of stuffed animals, not fake animals, but real taxidermies! There was an armadillo, a hawk, a rabbit, and 3-4 other animals. So I came up with a plan for a practical joke.

I was friends with an Italian seminarian who appreciated a good laugh. Later in the day, when everyone went downstairs, I took all those animals out of the closet and put them in his room. I replaced his pillow with the armadillo and put some animals on the shelves and the floor. Then I went downstairs when we had chapel, followed by dinner.

We were outside chatting after our meal, and I was with this Italian fellow trying not to laugh. I looked at my watch and timed my question to the second. About 30 seconds before 10 pm. I asked him, "Do you like the zoo?" He looked at me and was about to answer when the bell rang. We all went to our rooms.

A few minutes later, I heard a commotion and giggling in the hallway; I knew that the zoo was open.

When I write the first draft, I don't edit, go back to read parts, or worry about grammar or spelling. Those things stall me. I try to capture in words what I see in my imagination. I am most satisfied with writing when I can "see" the images and scenes through the words.

When I create a story, the words do not come first, but rather the scene. Somehow I see a scene in a story play out in my imagination, and then I write it down as best I can. Even in rough form, if the images and scenes jump out of the words, I know it is a good writing piece.

Once I have completed the entire first draft of the whole book, I go back and edit, not before. Sometimes I omit scenes that don't fit or seem repetitive; other times, it is a matter of finding new phrases or words to convey the story. This stage is the most tedious part of writing for me, but it has to be done. But the rewarding part of this stage is that the end is in view.

When I was writing "I am John, I am Paul: A Story of Two Soldiers in Ancient Rome," scenes from their lives would come to me, out of order, unexpectedly. I would then write them down before I forgot them. Some time would pass, and then another scene would play across my imagination. This process happened over and over again until, one day, it stopped. Then I went back and put the scenes in order, which became the first draft of my book.

The harshest criticism I've received as an author was from a reviewer who hated my book on the two Roman soldiers. The story portrays an evolving relationship between two Roman soldiers against the backdrop of Christianity's dawning; this reviewer had a problem with the subject matter and context.

No matter what any author says, critical review hurts, but one must learn not to take it personally by looking at my reactions. There are some books that I have started to read that are considered classics, best sellers, or unusual stories, yet they did nothing for me. So it will be the same for my writings.

"Who am I to judge?"-Pope Francis

"A friend to all is a friend to none."-Aristotle

"In the end, we will be judged by how much we have loved."-John of the Cross

I plan to continue my career as an educator, and now I have moved into a new phase of mentoring new teachers coming into the profession. As far as writing, I will continue as long as stories keep coming to me; I can't force it. I am working on the rough draft of a new book; it will be called "Stories from Puglia" and will contain stories of the places, people, and history of that part of Italy where we hope to live someday, part of the year.

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