{"id":83,"date":"2022-08-19T19:08:37","date_gmt":"2022-08-19T19:08:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/?p=83"},"modified":"2024-03-05T15:49:00","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T15:49:00","slug":"wcsu-alumnus-author-returns-to-campus-to-speak-to-student-writers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/2022\/08\/19\/wcsu-alumnus-author-returns-to-campus-to-speak-to-student-writers\/","title":{"rendered":"WCSU alumnus, author returns to campus to speak to student writers"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"WCSU

WCSU alumnus Nicolas DiDomizio<\/p><\/div>\n

Western Connecticut State University\u00a0<\/a>welcomed alumnus and recently published author\u00a0Nicolas DiDomizio<\/a>\u00a0back to campus this week to speak with students in the WCSU\u00a0Writing Department<\/a>.<\/p>\n

DiDomizio attended WCSU from 2006 to 2010 and initially studied music with a focus on vocals and piano. After receiving his WCSU undergraduate degree, he went on to study music business at New York University\u2019s graduate school. Before publishing his novel, DiDomizio wrote for the web for several years while also working in corporate roles at Cond\u00e9 Nast, MTV and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cBurn it All Down<\/a>,\u201d DiDomizio\u2019s first novel, was published in May 2021, receiving rave reviews from critics and readers alike. \u201cAudacious, addictive, highly entertaining \u2014 \u00a0unforgettable!\u201d are author James Patterson\u2019s words of praise featured on the book\u2019s cover.<\/p>\n

Publishing company\u00a0Little, Brown and Company<\/a>\u00a0describes the book on its dedicated page:<\/p>\n

\u201cEighteen-year-old aspiring comic Joey Rossi just found out his boyfriend has been cheating on him for the past 10 months. But what did he expect? Joey was born with an addiction to toxic jerks, something he inherited from his lovably messy, wisecracking, Italian-American spitfire of a mom (and best friend): 34-year-old Gia Rossi. When Gia\u2019s latest non-relationship goes up in flames only a day later, the pair\u2019s Bayonne, New Jersey, apartment can barely contain their rage. In a misguided attempt at revenge, Joey and Gia inadvertently commit a series of crimes and flee the state, running to the only good man either of them has ever known \u2014 Gia\u2019s ex, Marco. As they hide out from the law at Marco\u2019s secluded lake house, Joey and Gia must confront all the bad habits and mistakes they\u2019ve made that have led them to this moment, and find a way to take responsibility for what they\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the weeks prior to his return to WCSU, DiDomizio said he was \u201cexcited to come back and share any tips and bits of wisdom that I can to the next generation.\u201d He focused on the journey to publication and urged student writers \u201cto always be writing something and not to get caught up in the short-term goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

WCSU Master of Fine Arts in Creative and Professional Writing<\/a>\u00a0Mentor and Professor of Writing John Roche invited DiDomizio to visit because instructors in the Writing Department \u201cwanted current Writing majors and other students to be able to hear directly from Nic about his writing life, including what it\u2019s like to have your first novel praised by bestselling author James Patterson and lots of other fellow writers, critics and readers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roche said, \u201cWhile Nic wasn\u2019t a Writing major while he was at WCSU, the Writing Department faculty thought it would be invaluable to have Nic speak with our students, including his decision to switch from a corporate career after several years to penning \u2018Burn It All Down\u2019 and hopefully many more great novels to come. There is nothing that hits home more for students than hearing from someone who sat where they are sitting now, so we\u2019re so glad that Nic visited his alma mater for a discussion this week.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about the Writing program at WCSU, go to\u00a0www.wcsu.edu\/writing\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Western Connecticut State University changes lives by providing all students with a high-quality education that fosters their growth as individuals, scholars, professionals and leaders in a global society. Our vision: To be widely recognized as a premier public university with outstanding teachers and scholars who prepare students to contribute to the world in a meaningful way.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Western Connecticut State University\u00a0welcomed alumnus and recently published author\u00a0Nicolas DiDomizio\u00a0back to campus this week to speak with students in the WCSU\u00a0Writing Department. DiDomizio attended WCSU from 2006 to 2010 and initially studied music with a focus on vocals and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":85,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-success-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}