Frank Thomas Croisdale interview
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
A little introduction:
My name is Frank Thomas Croisdale. I live in world-famous Niagara Falls ( no not the water, but the city of the same name) with my wife Maureen and a menagerie of animals.
We have four grown children and remind all of them daily that we are ready to be grandparents.
When did your love of books begin?
I can’t remember not ever loving to read. As a child, my favorite place to go to was the local library where I would check out as many books as they would allow.
I was an avid comic book reader as a child and also loved the “Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators” mystery book series. I also began reading the sports section of the newspaper as a grade schooler, which quickly expanded to me devouring the other sections of the paper.
When did you start to have the wish to become an author?
I think that I always had a desire to be an author. I spent 13 years as a featured columnist for the Niagara Falls Reporter. It was while I was there that I wrote my first book, Buffalo Soul Lifters, which became one of the best selling books in Western New York history.
Just before Covid hit, I began working on my first novel, Niagara Falls Into Darkness, and I was very happy to have it so well received.
How have you found the process for becoming an author?
I cannot emphasize enough the great benefit that writing a weekly column for the newspaper had on my writing career. Having to have a deadline instilled a sense of discipline in my writing that has served me well as I have transitioned into writing books.
I think that if anyone gets the opportunity to write for a local newspaper he/she should jump on it without hesitation. It will pay dividends that will serve your writing career forever.
What would you say to those wanting to become an author?
Write. Write as much as you can and as often as you can. Be it poetry, prose, journaling - it really doesn’t matter, just write. Take any writing job you are offered, regardless of what the pay may or may not be. Don’t write for riches, write for enrichment.
We live in this wonderful world now where people can self publish their work through Amazon. If you go that route, do not become one of those writers who constantly lament the fact that their book is not selling to their expectations. If even one person purchases your book and gives you a review saying that they loved getting lost in characters and plots that you created, know that you have succeeded as a writer. And that is no small accomplishment.
Tell us about your book/books:
My first book, Buffalo Soul Lifters, was published in 2004 by Buffalo Books. I sort of describe it as Chicken Soup for the Soul – Western New York edition. It was inspired after my dog and I stumbled upon a helium balloon that had traveled over 2000 miles from Ogden Utah to Niagara Falls New York.
Writing this book changed my life in so many profound ways. I spent 18 months interviewing amazing people - all who had done extraordinary things to make their communities, and this world, a better place to live in.
It became one of the best selling books in the history of Western New York and I am so honored that the people in it trusted me to tell their stories to the world at large.
Niagara Falls into Darkness served as my first foray into novel writing. In it, my two protagonists – a newspaper editor and a police detective – attempt to apprehend a serial murderer before he strikes again.
My antagonist, a madman that calls himself “Law,” has embarked on a murderous rampage because he feels that people are disrespecting the timeless beauty of world famous Niagara Falls.
Many reviewers have said that Law struck in them a deep terror that they had difficulty shaking, but that they also empathized with the reasons behind his murderous spree. I take that as the highest compliment.
What do you love about the writing/reading community?
I feel that over the last few years the world has taken a decisive turn away from science and education and towards fanaticism. Writers are the candle who can keep us focused on the path toward enlightenment and readers are the docents that will follow that illuminated path.
I’m not sure if writers and readers have ever been more important in the history of the world than they seem to be right here and now.
If you could say anything to your readers what would it be?
I appreciate you. I’m not sure how other writers feel, but I can tell you with complete sincerity that during my 13 years as a newspaper writer, and in the ensuing years as a book writer, I greatly appreciate anyone who takes the time to read my work.
And if you are so inclined to take a moment to leave a review or drop a note, that is like nourishment for my soul. Your kindness will be embraced and reciprocated.
Where can people connect with you?
On Twitter - https://mobile.twitter.com/NFReporter
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