Are you a World Cup Soccer Fan?
Quick update: Congrats to FRANCE, World Cup 2018 champions!
Two posts in two days! What is up with that? Well, actually I had a big “duh” moment this morning. I’ve been so caught up in packing and getting the house ready to list for sale that I’ve totally forgotten it’s World Cup Soccer time! What!!!! I used to be a rabid…er, I mean avid, soccer fan. At one time I coached three kids’ teams, played on an adult rec team and my TV was tuned to any channel with soccer games. Things do change, right?
I was such an avid fan that it was the World Cup soccer games that inspired my first books in the Vista Security Series. Originally, The Good Daughter: A Mafia Thriller and Nia, Be Mine was one huge book called Vendetta, and yes, it was The World Cup Soccer games that inspired that book.
If you’re a new subscriber to my mailing list, you’ll know this. Or if you’ve followed my blog for years, then you might know it too, but if not, here’s the story:
It was the World Cup Soccer games in 1994. Yes, decades ago. But that goes to show you that ideas can germinate for a long time. Sometimes the writer lacks time, resources, or confidence to tackle the project; who knows how many ideas never get written into great books?
The original story got put on hold through a bunch of life’s twists and turns, but finally, I came to a point where I thought I could do it some justice. Although, I never really thought it would manifest in the way it did.
When I first had the idea, it was a sweet little romance between an Italian soccer player and a female soccer star in the states. Something I told to myself as entertainment during days of juggling babies and toddlers. But then, at the end of the World Cup, the Italian star missed the final goal, sending the Italians home in defeat. What? *Gasp* How could he?
Totally messed up my story. I was depressed for weeks. (Ok, yeah, I’m only a fair-weather fangirl, I guess.)
However, then a friend suggested, for story purposes only, that the Mafia made him do it. But why???
And thus, Alessandro Crocetti, Nia Crocetti, Dave Armstrong and Marisa Peruzzo were born. And what a ride it was. It took me years of creating the story that went through several versions and several names and finally a major revision which cut out most of Nia and Sandro’s story, until at last, I was happy enough with it to publish it as The Good Daughter: A Mafia Thriller.
With over 500 reviews on Amazon, it has been generally well-received. The most astounding thing to me, though, was readers emailing me and asking me for more about Dave and Marisa. As a result, the Vista Security Series, which I’d planned to go in one direction, took off in a completely different direction.
And so it was only this past year that I felt the time was right to give Nia and Sandro back their story, and I was at last able to publish Nia, Be Mine, which is really a prequel to The Good Daughter and the inspiration for what has turned into a fun series to write.
If you’re watching the World Cup, let me know how it’s going! Which team is your favorite?
