Wednesday, December 19, 2012

ANSA: John Catennaci

WELCOME everyone to another meeting of ANSA!  John Catennaci is our newest member, keep reading to get to know him!


John Catennaci is an fiction author for adults.  He currently lives in Michigan with his Golden Retriever puppy and enjoying his retired life dedicated to Dianna's Way - his recently released novel.  Here's his official bio....

"All his life, John has felt fortunate to be doing work he felt passionate  about, supported by amazing family, friends, and coworkers.  While doing cement construction work at a tender age under his father’s watchful eye, he was tossed into a bundle of Italian immigrants and black laborers who shared their way of living with him—homemade wine, genuine Italian-bread-roasted-pepper sandwiches, fried chicken and drenched-in-oil-right-out-of-the-can sardines, garnished with a simple wisdom bathed in a luminosity that shaped his life.

Discovering molecules and atoms in high school, he was instantly drawn into chemical engineering. After twenty-five years of an immensely satisfying camaraderie only engineers can understand, the white collar/blue collar divide caught his attention, stimulating a curiosity about group dynamics, leading to a twenty-year, team-building career that took him across the US, Canada, Europe, and Saudi Arabia.

A common thread throughout has been a passion for writing, with a sprinkling of published short stories and articles in small magazines along the way, including a couple of Chicken Soup for the Soul stories. Dianna’s Way is his first book."

John began writing at a young age with journals and various publications.  It was just a hobby at first, but blossomed into a stunning novel about his wife years later.  His inspiration for Dianna's Way came from Dianna herself, "Everyone who knew her are in total agreement - she was a remarkable woman."  He was also inspired by other authors and the world around him.  "I write to understand myself and the world around me. I really don't know what I know until I write it down."   Authors that have inspired John are Ernest Hemingway and Khalil Gibran.

Read more about Dianna's Way on my recent post here.  Here is what John had to say about the book...

"While it certainly is a book about a woman dealing with cancer, there have been a ton of books written about this topic so if this was the message of the book, I would not have written it at all.  It is also a love story - Dianna's love of life - and our love for each other.  While we had our setbacks, as everyone does, we shared a lots of laughs along the way, maybe making it a fun read too.  But, again, not enough for me to write the book.
I told this story because Dianna was an ordinary human being who chose to live an extraordinary life.  She understood somehow she was a a spiritual being on a human journey, not the other way around, On a daily basis, she consistently practiced a remarkable mastery of life.  This is something I wanted to explore."

If you would like to nominate an author OR would like to be featured on ANSA, contact me.  Happy ANSA!

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