The always busy Rosemarie Aquilina sat down with me to
discuss All Rise, the first book in her new cozy mystery series.
JM: What was the inspiration behind All Rise?
RA: Being pissed off. When I get upset, I don’t take it out on anybody alive. I take it out in my characters. Although it’s fiction, my characters have somewhere come across my path. I was really upset with the chief judge, who literally had been bullying me and another judge, and another judge who had retired earlier. We asked for help, couldn’t get any - the whole sort of thing about ‘we’re women but we still don’t matter even though we’re judges.’ I sort of have a sense of humor about it because not much phases me, so I sat down and started to write.
JM: When we meet Judge Kikkra, she is still active on the bench. Does the way that she runs her courtroom parallel at all to the way you run yours?
RA: Very similar, yes. In fact those cases that I open with are actual cases and conversations that I’ve had. I’ve had a lot of fun cases, or things that end up being sort of tongue in cheek, so I tried to put some of the fun ones in there.
RA: I did the cover reveal because it had been awhile since I had a novel released and this was a way for me to say “yes, it’s coming soon.” So many people were asking me for the second in the Triple Cross Killer series and I wanted to get this out before I work on that. And I think that those teasers help. We see them all the time and it was a fun reaction from people, and I had a sort of a bigger splash when it actually was released in terms of people saying “I’m ordering it now,” “I love the cover.” It made a bigger entrance. I have a good cover designer.
JM: This is your third crime novel, and it’s the first one in a new series. Did you know before you started writing that you wanted it to be a series?
RA: Yes. The first one that I have, Feel No Evil, people have asked me for a sequel to it, which I may or may not write. That one was never intended to be a series. But Triple Cross Killer was intended to be a series because I really like the characters and there’s so many places I can go with that, and the same with All Rise. I think that solving any kind of problem in a hair salon is something that can be done and so I think there are endless plots, endless stories, endless characters who can come into the salon. And it’s something I say in real life to my own hairdresser when she’s spraying my hair. I say “we need more hairspray because every day’s wedding hairspray day.” I’ve said that for 20 years or more and she always laughs. And I’ve always said “can’t everything be solved in a hair salon?” There’s very much my life, these characters, the things I enjoy in this book. It’s hard for me to spend time with my friends and my characters are my very good friends.
JM: Your other two novels Triple Cross Killer and Feel No Evil have a darker tone than All Rise. Does the tone of the story affect your mood at all while you’re writing it?
RA: I think it’s based on the story that I want to tell, but yes. I think writers are affected by everything around them. The first one, Feel No Evil, is pretty dark and it was kind of a dark time in my life for different reasons so my outlet was writing. And then Triple Cross Killer has a lot of things that were going on on the bench and has a darker tone because there were so many things that I was involved in and handling at the time. All Rise is a lot lighter because, at that point, even though I was being harassed and bullied and demeaned and all these things with the chief judge and with other people around me, I had this metamorphosis that said “this caterpillar’s a butterfly and I’m going to fly” and my attitude is a lot of how I’m going to be healed. It’s a lot more fun because I just thought “yeah, bring it on. I can handle anything. Bring it on.” What’s going on in my life, and I think it’s true for most writers, affects the writing. The cozy mystery is actually more of my favorite area to write because it’s got that sense of humor, sometimes lighter, sometimes darker, but I think that’s sort of more me, genuinely.
JM: What is your process for character creation and story development? Do you use people and places you know or are you just completely making them up?
RA: When I first started writing I had made up a city and done all of that and then I talked to an editor who said “yeah, we’re not going to do that. You need to pick something that you really know and you’ll like it better,” and I was hesitant about that. But when I did it, it did feel better so I write about places I know, people I know, situations I know, buildings I know, rooms that I know, and then I fictionalize them. Certainly, the chief judge was never murdered and he never had a gun pointed at me. It’s really an easy way for me to write. I do not plot out what I’m writing. A lot of writers put everything on notecards and then they reorganize the notecards and they go through this whole process much like what we learned in school. To me, that’s homework and not fun. I like to start writing with my idea, let it develop, let the characters develop and talk to each other and to me. I wake up in the middle of the night and write. For me, that’s a lot of fun. I may know where the book’s going but I have not plotted anything. I’m what they call a pantser - I write by the seat of my pants. When I’m finished I set it aside 4-6 weeks, work on something else and then come back to it. I edit a couple of times and then work with an editor when I’m pretty confident it’s solid.
JM: You recently launched a website and shared a blog post called “Date Your Computer and Finish Your Novel,” and you talk about how to fit writing into your life. What other advice do you have for aspiring writers?
RA: Whether it’s my purse, my car, my desk, the drawers in my desk, next to my bed, almost anywhere I am, I have a notepad. Some things flow through my head and I think “oh that’s really good, I’ll remember it,” and I don’t remember it. So I always have a notepad and I write things down. It’s one of the reasons I don’t believe in writer’s block because if you always have stimulus around you - little notes that you’ve taken, a word you really like, a phrase you heard that you want to turn into something else - you don’t have writer’s block. And I think that’s the biggest complaint of people is “I have writer’s block. I got so far and now I don’t know where to go.” When that happens to me, I set it aside and think about it while I work on something else. When I was in law school and taking an exam and I was trying to remember something, I would read it over and over and over before I went to bed, and in the morning I got it. I do that for ideas with my writing because if I’m stuck, I think about where am I in the book, what is the character doing, or not doing that they should be, what’s the next step, and somehow miraculously in the morning, I wake up and I know the answer. People have to give their inner writer a clue, and then they will solve it.
I also think that it’s really important, even if you only write one word, that you have time in your life to write every single day. Whether it’s before I go to bed or when I wake up in the morning or my lunch hours at work, I try to spend some time with my computer. I look at those characters, and even if I don’t write anything or I write one word or one sentence, I’m okay with that because my mind is working on it. When I get an idea and I can write, I will write pages because it has sort of simmered, like a good stew. You know a stew that’s better the second or third day you eat it? That’s sort of how my story gets - better as I think about it.
I think that there’s no right or wrong thing that you can do as a writer except not finish. If you really are a writer, you will finish. A lot of people talk about writing, but it’s a true writer who can sit down and write every day until the end and then rewrite and rework something. It’s okay if it takes you 9 months or 9 years to write something. You’re still a writer. You’re still good at what you do. It just takes you longer to simmer that pot. I think a lot of people get discouraged and they shouldn’t. There’s no time limit on writing unless you’re a paid writer and then you have a contract you’re working toward. But if you’re writing and you love what you do, it’s not a job and you should not put pressure on yourself. I think pressure causes bad feelings about writing, causes you to write something bad or not write. Pressure may very well cause writer’s block and I don’t put that kind of pressure on myself.
JM: What are you currently working on or what can we expect from you next?
RA:
I’m working on the next in the Triple Cross Killer series,
which is called Circumstantial Justice, and I’m within 10,000 words of finishing.
I just want to make sure I’ve got all the clues tied up. I’m working on a book
that, right now, has the name of Trade Secrets which is the second one
in the All Rise series, and I’m about a third of the way finished with that.
And I’m revisiting a book that I finished a few years ago that I’ve decided to
redo. It was a book that a woman brought to me about ten years ago and said “my
husband died and he left this manuscript. Can you finish it?” I thought what
greater education or challenge than to finish someone else’s story? So I tore
it apart and I found that much of it was not usable. It was overwritten, but I
understood where he was going. And I also understood that his writing was a
love letter to his wife. I didn’t know him alive but I’ve learned a lot about
him since he’s passed. He was a brilliant scientist and they actually have a
building named after him at Michigan State. He wanted to merge science and
fiction, which is fine if you’re writing science fiction or there’s a piece of
it in a story, but to educate through fiction is really difficult. I took out a
lot of what he had in there that I would not, as a reader, want to read, but I
left in what I thought were the interesting parts and tied it into the story. I
have finished it and his wife, who has turned into a friend of mine, really
likes it. But I don’t know that it’s saleable so I’m reworking it, and I want
to do that as a tribute to her and to him. I have some other stories that I’ve started
and I’m always playing around with something different.
Rosemarie is always moving and preparing to tackle the next task. But she was kind enough to sit with me a bit longer to answer some personal questions.
JM: You cook a lot and you share a lot of your recipes. Do you have a favorite one to cook or a favorite one to eat?
RA: Here’s the thing - it’s kind of like my books. Like, I think my readers want the second in the series, right? They don’t want me to be writing a different series because they want to finish this, they want to revisit those characters, and that’s a lot like my cooking. I make the same family recipes over and over. My favorite one is probably Minestra. It’s kinda like the American Minestrone, or maybe the Italian Minestrone, but Minestra for the Maltese is a meatless Minestrone but it’s not watery. It’s really a thick soup that when all the flavors meld together, it’s phenomenal. That’s probably my favorite meal which I could eat every day of the week and never get tired of it. But I cook every day for my family and I’m usually cooking for a large crowd and I’m always trying new recipes - always. But I’m always trying something new and that’s so I don’t get bored. I have a few childhood and cultural favorites, but my favorite thing is to cook something new and have it turn out. When I’m really bored and I need to do something creative, and I’m not painting or sewing or writing or whatever, I’m cooking. I find my favorite cheesecake, my favorite pound cake, and I have about a three month cook-off with myself where I’ve found the family’s favorite lemon and chocolate and strawberry and cream cheese pound cake. It relaxes me and I enjoy it. My family enjoys it.
And I really love that when I share my recipes, people also enjoy them. A few people have texted me, emailed me, done everything they can do to say "when’s the next one," "can you tell me what the next one is," "my family loves your recipes,” and I always feel happy about that too.
JM: You do a TON of things – mom,
grandmother, professor, writer, motivational speaker. Is there anything you’re
not doing that you would love to do?
RA: I’m not retiring yet, but as I look into my future, I would like to do less things and concentrate more on one or two things because it gets a little crazy to work all day, to go teach, to run home in between and prepare a meal, to prepare for the next day, to write, to do all the things that I do. Sometimes I feel like I need a day where I’m not bothered with anything. I don’t have a day to just watch TV if I want to watch Gilmore Girls all day long. I think that I’m at a place where I could change into a new career, but I’m not looking for it. If something were to move me into a new direction, it would have to be something where I could make a difference and have some fun. Have I found what that is yet? No. Will I continue to look? Probably.
JM: How many pairs of cowboy
boots do you own? How did you figure out that you loved cowboy boots so much?
RA: I haven’t counted, probably about 20. I’ve held some kind of job since I was 15. When I was about 17 or 18 I worked in a store called Town and Country and they had these blue cowboy boots. When they came in I said "I must own them," so I bought them and I took them to college with me. It was not a country western store. It was a local clothing store geared toward probably teens through 30 or 40 years old that we all loved, and they carried a wide variety. They had spurs that would go along with the cowboy boots. They had a couple of styles and I bought one of each style, and I always wore them on my left foot. Since then, when they broke I looked for replacements or made replacements. Now I can Google cowboy places in Tennessee or Texas or wherever and I can order them on the internet. But only one. If I have a pair, I’ll give my sister one, and I wear them on my left foot. They really are the most comfortable footwear ever and I will probably be buried in cowboy boots.
JM: You are not shy about encouraging people to use their voices and speak up. You show support for so many causes and individuals. What is something we can do to support you?
RA: Support everyone around you. What I would love to have in the world, and what I always tell my students who say the same thing - “we want to keep in touch with you, what can we do for you,” - you’ve already done it. Your question tells me you are thinking like me and I love having mini-me’s out there thinking like I do. Give a voice to people who don’t have a voice. What I’m about is really promoting our children and making a future better here in America. We immigrated here and I came over here stateless, and my grandparents always said ‘there’s no place like America,” and I want to maintain that truth but we need to work together to give people voice, to support each other. And that way when I die, I know that I will leave a better, stronger America for my children. And I think that’s what we all can do and I would just ask everyone to partner together, to stop the bullying, the shaming, to stop calling each other names based on sexual preference, or your status in life, or the color of your skin. If we can just have a meaningful discussion and partner together for meaningful change, camaraderie and support, what more could I ask? And that’s a really tall order, I know.
***
Rosemarie Aquilina is the mother of five children. Elected as a 30th Circuit Court Judge in Michigan she currently serves in the General Trial Division with a full criminal docket. Judge Aquilina became the first female JAG Officer in the history of the Michigan Army National Guard, retiring with twenty years Honorable Service. She enjoys writing fiction, teaching law, cooking, painting and public service.
To read more about her public service, view her recipes, and for contact info, visit http://www.rosemarieaquilina.com.
All Rise is available for purchase on Amazon in both paperback and eBook.
EVEN MURDER CAN GET A MAKEOVER IN A HAIR SALON...
Tired of being bullied and harassed by Chief Judge Warren Donnettelli, Judge Nicoletta Kikkra
walks away from being a Circuit Court Judge. She’d rather be a hairdresser. Nicoletta’s cowboy
boots, every day is wedding day hair spray day philosophy, and sense of humor, keeps everyone
around her in good spirits and her new business, Ratification Hair Salon and Café, flourishing.
But after the Chief Judge is murdered in his chambers and detectives discover twelve inexplicable
one-hundred-thousand-dollar bank accounts in her name, Nicoletta is arrested and charged with
murder.
Very quickly she loses control over her life when the three men who know her best, her former
court staff, and grateful rehabilitated felons transplant themselves into her life vowing to help her
solve the murder. Nicoletta’s investigation leads to chaos with a house full of unwanted guests,
multiple murders, high-speed car chases, flying bullets, snakes and too many suspects. Can
Nicoletta clear her name and find Chief Judge Donnettelli’s killer before she’s killed or silenced
behind prison bars forever?
**Cover design and interior layout by Melissa Williams Design.
***Author photograph by Josefina Hunter.
