Around the Fire In-depth Interview with Rosetta Diane Hoessli.

Welcome to Around the Fire. Can you all believe it’s November? The chill is definitely in the air here in Northern NJ. So, it’s a great day to light the fire. I have a few things going on this month, including an interview today that I’ll tell you about soon and a signing with a few NJRW authors at Whitespace Art & Event Gallery 47 Route 46 Suite 3, Hackettstown, NJ 07840 on November 18th. Then I’ll be at Christmas Village at the Shoppes On November 2nd from 10:00 am - 7:00 pm. For locals, it will be a great place to pick up holiday gifts. Now, onto today’s guest, who is new to the fire. Please welcome Rosetta Diane Hoessli, a fellow Wild Rose Press Author. Rosetta, thank you for joining us today. It’s a bit early. May I pour us cups of coffee while you introduce yourself to our other guests?
Only one because any more than that wires me so much that I can’t think straight. (I’d be waxing the ceiling instead of working on a book.) Otherwise, pure water is just fine.
 
Coffee is coming up, and I’ll grab some water, too, while you begin the chat with who you are other than your bio.
I’m a military brat, so I struggle with wanderlust to this day. I love to travel. I’m a history fanatic – mainly because my dad wrote world military history, so I cut my teeth on it. He was also an intelligence analyst for the Air Force and Security Service, so I always say that he taught me how to think…which, translated, means that he taught me how to plot logically.
My husband and I have rescued several wolf dogs in our nearly 50 years of marriage, but now we have only one dog – a Beauceron herding dog I rescued from a busy parking lot. We learned early on, through our first high-content wolf dog, that ‘wolf-speak’ is completely different from communicating with a dog, so I began researching wolves. From that research came an obsession with wolves and bison, then the Lakota Sioux Indians, and then the American plains – all of which led to my first book, WHISPERS THROUGH TIME.

This is so interesting. I’m pretty good with dog breeds, but I had to look Beauceron herding dogs up. From what I can see, they resemble Dobermans and Rottweilers in many ways. What else can you share about yourself?
I’m very patriotic and love American history – in particular, the American Revolution, the Texas Revolution, the Civil War, and Native American history (especially the Plains Indians).
My parents were very creative and musical, so I still play the piano (I began when I was 5), still listen to wonderful blues artists like Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald on old 78-rpm records I inherited from my parents, and still love to watch old musicals with folks like Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, and Leslie Caron. That’s how I stay grounded. On the other hand, listening to classical music or old-time rock’n’roll is how I unwind.
 
My DH and I love history, too. Our travels usually include historical sites or museums. What do you read, or hobbies do you engage in?
I love to frame original photography, especially my father’s. He passed on in 1985 and left us a treasure trove of landscape portraits from all over the world – which was a skill he picked up while reporting for the Stars and Stripes newspaper in Europe during WWII. I’m still framing his work and want to donate it to museums all over this country. I also love to analyze movies, especially those that I really enjoy and think are unique. My husband and I have a travel trailer that we enjoy camping in, and I love to plan our trips. To me, there’s nothing more relaxing than that.
 
I adore old photos. We don’t have a lot of old family pictures, but a good friend of mine has many, and I love looking at them and asking about the person in the photo. And yay! A fellow camper. I knew I liked you. You’re correct about finding it relaxing. Who is your support system or contributes to your writing career?
My husband would be at the top of that list. He’s not a reader – I used to laugh and say he only read the pictures in Playboy – and he can’t write his way out of a paper bag, but he’s one of the best plotters I’ve ever known. When I first started out years ago, he’d listen while I read stuff out loud (bless his heart) and really tear an action scene apart just because he watched so many action/adventure movies. (He’s practically a weapons specialist as well, which also helps.) He kept me loaded up with paper, ink ribbons, then software, computers – anything I needed. He was (and still is) such a blessing.
My mother was a constant cheerleader, and our loss of her back in 2018 still hurts. My best friend is a writer (she’s also been published by The Wild Rose Press) and we push each other like crazy. I have a few high school buddies who encourage me constantly (and read for me), and my agent, Susan Cohen of Pearlco Literary Agency in Memphis, Tennessee, is a fabulous editor. She goes over the work of her clients with a fine-tooth comb before she ever submits it. I adore that woman.
My daughter and granddaughter help me with my social media/marketing because I’m incredibly technologically challenged, but my daughter is ill right now and can’t help as much as she used to. I really miss her input, but I’m so blessed.
 
Wow, you have a fantastic circle. Prayers for your daughter and her health. Who or what books or authors are your inspiration?
The most inspiring book I’ve ever read was Exodus, by Leon Uris. It completely changed my life. He also wrote Mila 18, QB VII, and The Haj. One of the most beautiful writers I’ve ever read (prose-wise) is Pat Conroy, author of Prince of Tides, The Citadel, and The Great Santini, among others. I think a perfect example of incredible character-building is the classic Gone with the Wind. I hated Scarlett, but I’ve never forgotten her. That’s one great character. So was Rhett Butler, but I think I give Clark Gable more credit for that than Margaret Mitchell.
I love really good historical novels, so I have several favorite writers in that genre. I’ve read everything by Susan Howatch, who wrote Penmarric and Cashelmara, among many others. (She’s prolific and writes wonderful series). I love John Jakes who wrote the magnificent North and South series, Henry Wouk who wrote the fabulous Winds of War series, and, of course, James Michener. My favorite authors of purely gifted story-telling and atmosphere are Daphne DuMaurier, Victoria Holt, and Taylor Caldwell. I also read a lot of true crime, especially if it’s written by Ann Rule, and biographies, but I can’t read horror or science fiction.
If I just want to curl up and chill out, my guilty (and secret) pleasure is reading an unauthorized biography of some ridiculous Hollywood celebrity or movie star.
 
We have many of the same authors in our history. I will confess to not being a Michener fan. I could never finish one of his books. Do you have any fun or outrageous talent?
Unfortunately, no. I’m an only child, so I’m too shy and I don’t like to be the center of attention. Both my parents were entertainers – my mom was a wonderful blues singer and my dad was a self-taught instrumentalist (he could play anything and never had a lesson in his life) – so I was always very content to sit off by myself and let them do what they did. I play piano for myself, and my husband was a very good drummer, but neither of us like to entertain in that way.
 
I’m going to say that playing the piano is a fun talent. I can’t even read music. Talent doesn’t have to be on display. What is your neighborhood like? Are there any places you frequent? What makes them unique?
We still live in the house we purchased in 1979. There were only 9 houses in our subdivision back then, but there are more than 50 subdivisions in our area now! That’s because San Antonio is one of the fastest-growing cities (and medical centers) in the country – not to mention the sad fact that we have a wide-open border only 125 miles away. Consequently, what we like to do is head for either the Texas Hill Country (north) or the Big Bend region (west) to get away from all the crazy if possible. Of course, the Rio Grande River runs through the Big Bend area, so we don’t go there much anymore. I miss it more than I can say.
We have a favorite Chinese restaurant (doesn’t everybody?) that we visit often. I like it because I spent two years in Okinawa when I was young, and the food and atmosphere at ‘our place’ reminds me very much of that island. When we walk in and all those fragrances waft around us (Oolong Tea and fried rice, in particular), I feel the tension just ease out of me. The fact that they know us by name doesn’t hurt, either!
 
One day, I hope to visit the great state of Texas. I have friends there. Oh, and now I’m craving Chinese. Favorite childhood book? Or writing that inspired you to become an author.
My favorite childhood book, believe it or not, was The Diary of Anne Frank. I read it in 1958. That book was the one that showed me how much a person could be touched by words – the words of a 13-year-old girl, no less! I read all the time as a child, and I loved to write stories, but that book turned my world upside down. For the first time I realized that my pitiful little life and complaints were ridiculous and embarrassing because Anne Frank was fighting for her very existence every single day. She had a crush, she had girlfriends, she loved movie stars…she was normal – but look at how much power she had, even after she was dead.
And that’s when I decided I wanted to be a writer. I was about 9.
But when I was 17, in 1967, I selected Exodus to read for an accelerated English final term paper. It was our assignment to dissect our chosen novel and write about how it had been written. I read Exodus in one sitting – over 800 pages! – and my paper was 28-pages long. My instructor wrote this on my first page (I still have it – Lol): If this is your craft, it is superior work.
The truth is, the reason my paper was so good was because I felt passionately about the subject, the Holocaust (which I hadn’t known anything about until then), the characters, the locations, the history, the theme…the sheer power of Leon Uris’ writing.
And that taught me the most valuable lesson I ever learned about my work: If I don’t care about my subject, I can’t write about it.
 
I believe it’s an author’s job to touch people’s hearts and minds. What was your first job?
My first job was in an insurance company. I told the interviewer that I couldn’t do math, but they hired me anyway and it was a nightmare. I lasted one week. On my second day I had a terrible upset stomach and I upchucked on my boss’ brand-new alligator boots in a crowded elevator. I knew then it was time for me to go to college, so that’s what I did.
 
LOL! Let’s chat about writing. What are common traps for aspiring writers?
I don’t know about common ones, but I think that writers who just write for money are dooming themselves – not to failure, but to an internally unsatisfactory career. Through all the years I’ve written – as a co-author, ghostwriter, non-fiction article writer, and finally novelist – my greatest thrill had little to do with the size of a check, but whether or not I’d touched readers and maybe illuminated a subject they’d never really thought about. I also learned that if I don’t care about my subject, I can’t write about it. I think that’s true of most serious writers.
 
What is your writing Kryptonite?
That’s a super question! In my case, I think it’s probably that as much as I love to write and want to make a difference in the world by using my words and experiences, I need to live a more balanced life than that. When my family or friends need me, I’ve always tried to be there for them – even if it meant I had to work myself to death to meet a deadline. But I’ve never failed to meet one, and I’m proud of that. The writers that I admire so much and would love to emulate are writers who never put anything ahead of their writing – not their spouses, their children, their friends. Nothing was more important than their work, and I knew early on that I just couldn’t live like that.
 
How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?
I have completed two epic historical novels set in Texas after the Civil War, and one ‘fun’ romance set in contemporary Texas, but I’ve never tried to find homes for them. I also have a half-finished western. The two historical novels I want to re-work into one family saga, and the half-finished western I’d like to combine with the fun romance just because I think the story would be phenomenal.
But the truth is, I wrote all of these books when I was first starting out and my major goal was to actually finish a book, then to find an agent, then to find an audience, etc. I actually did all that, so those manuscripts certainly weren’t a waste of time.
 
What does literary success look like to you?
I really love this question because that’s different for every writer. I’d like to make enough money to pay a few bills or to travel, but I have no desire to be famous or wealthy. I just want to make readers think while they’re reading a terrific story, in the same way that Leon Uris made me think when I first read Exodus back in 1968.
That was my goal in WHISPERS THROUGH TIME, which deals with an empathic woman who, along with her former love, goes through the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890 South Dakota and solves a contemporary mystery through that experience. And it was definitely my goal in my soon-to-be released mystery/suspense novel TIP THE PIANO MAN, which deals with the sexual trafficking of young children by the very system that’s supposed to be helping them. I want people to have lightbulb moments as they read my books. I want them to learn and feel while reading a story they can’t put down. That would be literary success to me.
 
What was your hardest scene to write?
In WHISPERS THROUGH TIME, I used a lot of symbolism in Sierra’s visions and dreams. That was very difficult because the symbols had to make sense, and everything had to connect because there were subplots that were very important to the overall story. Sometimes the visions just came to me and I couldn’t write fast enough to keep up with them, but other times it was like pulling out teeth.
 
Rosetta, thank you for being such an amazing and interesting guest. Before you head out on your next camping trip, please tell us about your book and where we can learn more about it and you.​

WHISPERS THROUGH TIME
BY
Rosetta Diane Hoessli
Rated PG
Native American Literature 
Paranormal & Urban Fantasy

About
The only man Sierra Masters has ever loved appears with a proposition that could alter her future. She turns him down, but then after experiencing a foretelling dream, decides to take a risk in order to uncover the truth. Hunter Davenport realizes the evidence he's shared with Sierra could indeed destroy her—but it could free her as well. The decision is yanked from her hands when the past and present collide through a historical portal on sacred Native American land. Will she take the gift that is offered? And will Hunter do what he didn't do twelve years earlier—stand by her? Only time will give them their answers.
Grab a copy today!
https://www.amazon.com/Whispers-Through-Rosetta-Diane-Hoessli/dp/1509238158
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/whispers-through-time-rosetta-diane-hoessli/1139719243

More about the Author
Rosetta Diane Hoessli (called 'Ronni' by her friends) has been a resident of San Antonio, Texas since 1963. She's been married for 47 years to Kevin Hoessli, her high school sweetheart. They have one beautiful daughter, Michele, and two terrific grandchildren, Kevin and Briana.
Rosetta's father was a military historian and photographer for the Air Force, so she came by her love of reading and writing quite naturally. She's written and edited many articles, as well as acted as Managing Editor for three regional publications, each claiming a readership of 100,000 or more. She's also co-authored a book with socialite Jeanette Jaffe-Longoria (80+ years young!) entitled 'Aphrodite and Me: Discovering Romance and Sensuality at Any Age.

Follow the Author
https://www.facebook.com/RosettaDianeAuthor
https://www.instagram.com/thompd2011/
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58926515-whispers-through-time
https://twitter.com/DianeThomp3419
@DIANETHOMP3419
[email protected].