Caesar Rondina Turns Real Life Experience into Genre Spanning Books

Courtesy of Caesar Rondina

It seems appropriate that Caesar Rondina has two distinct chapters in his life — one as a businessman and one as a first responder. The fact that he turned those disparate career paths into the basis for books is more than fitting. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Rondina started his professional journey as the owner of an electronics business for 17 years. He managed to navigate through a very difficult economy and his company provided service work for various fire and volunteer services. Through those associations, he decided to join the West Haven Volunteer Fire Department. But Rondina had a vast knowledge of running a business so he was inspired to share that information in his first book — Management and Employee Relations. As he explained, "The work environment at the time was very volatile. Employers were treating employees unfairly because it was very difficult to find a job." Rondina drew from his own experiences as an entrepreneur to write the book. "I started my business in my basement at a time when I could not find a job and took a large risk in opening up a storefront," he noted. "I had to learn quickly how to motivate people that were working mostly unsupervised. I built my business to two locations with six services truck on the road with 24/7 emergency call service. That book was my best-seller and advised those in management how to understand the needs of the employee and incorporate those needs into the needs of their business model." Although the book is no longer in print, Rondina turned it into a video tutorial which sells on udemy.com. "Over 15 years later, it stills sells every month," he remarked. But with all of his success in business, Rondina realized he had a passion for the work he was doing with the volunteer fire department. "I found, once involved, I loved it," Rondina admitted. He decided to become a paramedic and started to work part-time as he continued his education as a firefighter. "I learned quickly that I loved the challenge and the adrenaline rush that came with helping others and making a clear difference in the lives of others," Rondina revealed. He also wanted to impart the knowledge he was gaining to others. He recounted, "As I gained my teaching credentials, I started to teach medical classes, developed over 200 written medical PowerPoint's and had articles published in different journals and magazines." He soon took a job with the fire department. Although he tried to maintain operations at his company at the same time, he ultimately decided to sell his business and become a full-time firefighter and paramedic. He also continued to work part-time for a commercial ambulance service. But the author in him also realized there were tales to tell that were inspired by his new career. "When you care for over 76,000 people, you have seen that many situations, and heard that many stories," he noted. "Keep in mind that you are never seeing these people at their best," Rondina said. "No one calls 911 because they want to have a cup of tea with you. Something is wrong. Many are scared, they might be dying, and they look to you for help. That help comes in different forms. On your first call you could have pronounced someone deceased and your next call you might be delivering a baby. You may have to care for a victim of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual or other forms of physical abuse. Each patient is different and requires your full attention, not the emotions from your last call. It is a difficult line to walk, which is why the suicide rates of first responders, police officers and firefighters are among the highest in the country. I have testified in child murder cases, and others. I, as well as others, have seen things that no person should ever see. All of these experiences combined, influence my writing, and validates my knowledge, along with my formal education." With 30 years of public service under his belt and his three children grown and no longer in need of his day-to-day attention, Rondina decided to start writing again. "Paramedics are unique individuals. We all keep track of something. I always kept track of the number of babies I delivered, which was 13, and the number of patients I cared for, which was 76,251. I never kept track of the number of people I had to pronounce deceased — a memory I choose not to keep track of. These experiences, some very tragic, inspired me to start writing self-help books on a number of topics." He chose to write about the things that really mattered to him. "One topic that is a passion of mine is female and child abuse. From there, I started writing murder mysteries and love stories. Due to my vast experience on crime scenes and court trials, I have the knowledge to tell a story and even though fiction, make the facts very realistic. A Woman's Fear is a book about my passionate subject. It tells true stories that women have experienced, along with some true stories of cases I was on, all revolving around the concept of prevention and awareness."

Courtesy of Caesar Rondina

Rondina went on to follow that up with a murder mystery trilogy called Life Through A Mirror. He's released the first two installments and the third and final offering will be released in June. A multi-genre writer, Rondina also has a love story called When Two Worlds Collide coming in September and the first in a private investigator series, From The Ax Diaries - Trapped in Revenge, which will be released in 2020. The author explained that, while he works in both fiction and non-fiction, his work follows some basic personal principals. "I believe one thing missing in writing is the third side of a triangle. The first side represents the connection between the writer and their book. The second side represents the connection between the book and the reader. One side that is often missing is the most important. I always try to connect this last side. That is the connection from the reader back to the author. Whether an author tries or not, there is a part of them in every one of their books. If they write it properly, that will make that final connection. That is my goal in every book... My goal when a reader reads my book, is that they feel as if I am in the room with them treading them the story. This is how I believe I achieve the connection to my readers that I want to have." And Rondina wants to make that connection on the deepest level. “My soul in the foundation of my writing. If a reader cannot see that, how can I expect them to enjoy my books?” To learn more about Caesar Rondina and his work visit his official website.