Mark Zvonkovic

Mark Zvonkovic is a writer who lives in Rosarito Beach, Baja California, Mexico, with his wife Nancy and their two dogs, Finn and Cooper. He has written three novels, A Lion in the Grass, The Narrows, and Belinda, and he also regularly writes book reviews and essays for various  publications. Before retiring to Mexico, Mark practiced law for 35 years at 3 multinational law firms in Houston, Texas and New York City. He attended college at Southern Methodist University and Boston University, and his law degree is from SMU School of Law. Mark grew up as an oil company brat and lived in Latin America, Texas and New York.

Facebook: @MarkZvonkovicAuthor 

Have you ever experienced Imposter Syndrome?

I’ve suffered from Impostor Syndrome all my life, although such term didn’t exist until I was a young man. When I was young, I knew it as performance anxiety. I was, and still am, somewhat shy and it can be an effort for me to insert myself into interactions with others. My first job after college was teaching 7th grade English. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, and I couldn’t help but feel like a phony when I stood in front of the class. Practicing law gave plenty of opportunities to feel incompetent. I often asked myself: who am I to be giving advice? And when I became a parent, it was always unsettling to think, correctly, that I had no idea what I was doing. Luckily, my three daughters have managed well despite me. But now I’ve come to find that suffering as an impostor isn’t bad preparation for being a writer. It provided a wealth of opportunities for self-examination, and what could be better for character development, the part of writing I love the most. In my novel Belinda, the character Lyn Larkin shows on the surface no sign of Impostor Syndrome. She is extremely competent, sure of herself, and seeks out new experiences without hesitation. Until she faces mandatory retirement, however. Then the ballgame changes.

Vacation druthers… City or Rural destination? Why?

I am very uncomfortable in free-wheeling social environments, which is what you find looking around big cities. If it wasn’t for my spouse, I would probably be living in a shack in Montana. I survived in New York City for thirty years, but it wasn’t bad in a funny way because with so many people in a place you live, you learn how to develop comfortable anonymity. The vacations I remember fondly all had controlled environments: bareboat sailing in the Caribbean; National Geographic cruises on their small ships; and fly-fishing raft trips. Put me on a tour bus and tell me to follow someone holding a big lollipop and I want to slit my throat.

What period of history do you wish you knew more about?

One can’t really know a historical period without having lived through it, and for recent periods I was too young and didn’t realize at the time what was happening. This is true for the French colonial period in Vietnam after World War II. I did quite a bit of research about the time while writing my novel A Lion In The Grass, which covers a time period from 1940 to the beginning of the 20th century. The social issues in Indochina during that period are intricate and, even though that novel was published a few years ago, I continue to look for more things to read about it. There are other periods like this that I continue to research: Cuba during the Hemingway years and the revolution brought by Castro; Chile during the time of Allende and Pinochet; and the Hungarian revolution in 1956. My very recent research has involved the Republic of Texas, it’s formation and then evolution into statehood. There is more cultural heritage in Texas, some of it outrageous, than in any other state, in my opinion.

Favorite non-reading activity?

There are two: gardening and cooking. Both of these activities provide very fast rewards, how a new dish tastes and how newly planted areas look. I always have a feeling of accomplishment, even if it is nothing more than I tried something that didn’t quite work out. Discovery and learning are rewarding to me, and these opportunities offer those every time I pick up a trowel or a pot. And the activities are a good counterpoint to my writing, where the sense of accomplishment can be delayed for long periods. It took me almost three years to write my last novel.

What piece of clothing tells the most interesting story about your life?

That would be a t-shirt that I never wear by itself, only under a shirt or a coat. It gives me comfort to have something close to me that others can’t see, something like a rabbit’s foot perhaps. This probably dates back to my childhood. I was an oil company brat and my family lived overseas and then in the United States. We moved every few years and often, particularly when the move involved a major cultural change (moving from CT to TX may have been the worst!), having a familiar piece of clothing close to me, and hidden, helped a great deal. Many childhood memories include the t-shirt I was wearing at the time. And nothing has really changed. Today I sometimes wear two t-shirts at the same time!