How CATERER TO THE MOB came to be

My fascination with organized crime started when my father rented a VHS tape of The Godfather in the early '90s. I was 15 or 16, maybe younger. I didn't watch it then. What I knew about The Godfather, I learned from my father through his impassioned storytelling. I was convinced that I could sit through the entire length of the movie without having my head explode in boredom. I watched the movie before I turned 18. I was glad I did. To this day, it sits on the sweet top spot of my all time best films list.  I read the book when I was old enough to understand difficult words, but I still had the dictionary on standby (a physical one; no smartphones back then). I was 21.

Then of course, there was the Godfather 2, 3, Goodfellas, Casino, Donnie Brasco, and The Sopranos.  At this point, it is clear that I am a mobster movie/story junkie. But I didn't think it would figure in my writing in a meaningful way. So when somebody asked me what my philosophy was in writing my book "Caterer to the Mob", I didn't know what to say. Should there be one, given that my book is within the Chick Lit genre, which is usually considered "light reading" or "light entertainment" (whatever that means!).

Then I remembered Mario Puzo's epigraph on the page before Chapter 1.

Behind every great fortune there is a crime - BALZAC

This summed up the mob and the lifestyle that go with it. I'm not certain if it would pass as philosophy in writing a book. Between this and "I'll give him an offer he can't refuse", I'd take the latter any day.

Truth be told, the very early draft of  Caterer to the Mob was  not even about a caterer, and certainly not about the mob. Strange things do happen when writing in a trance (or under the influence, tee-hee). So I really do not think or worry about what philosophy I should take while writing a book. To me, it's about amalgamating the things that interest me at the moment and hoping the result would be coherent (hah!). At this point, I write about what I would enjoy reading even if I'm up to my neck in office work. When I am finally comfortable with writing, I can perhaps start to think of writing books that would actually sell in droves [yes I'm talking about you, you vampire-dystopian-wizardry-erotica-romance genre].

Oh, you can follow my 140-word ramblings on Twitter @cjsumner8.