What were some of your early influences of writing? What was influencing you to write? What books did you like to read? And, uh, how did you kind of know you had a knack for it?

Yeah, so that's a great question.

So, like I said, even growing up, I loved to read and I loved to write, even though I was a sports guy.

And my two big influences, I'd say, growing up were Patricia Cornwell, who now they just started a Kay Scarpetta Netflix show about her main character, and then also James Patterson.

So the book Descension has a little bit of that, both of them in there, because it's been compared a little bit to James Patterson, just from the fact that I have a lot of short chapters, you know, and he's known for writing short chapters that kind of keep that story going.

And you figure out a lot going on in dissension because of the fact that there's two cartels.

There's my main character and then the FBI.

okay

What has working with people taught you about trust, loyalty, and leadership that also appears in your writing?

Yeah, so that's a good question.

So, yeah, so I coached multiple sports over the years.

I coached football, you know, American football.

I coached boys and girls lacrosse.

And, you know, trust on a sports field is, is earned, but you also have to believe in the trust.

And what I mean by that is you have to trust that your teammate beside you is going to do their job, and you're going to do your job, and everybody else on your team is going to do their job.

All right, lastly, I would want to ask you, if readers finish the session and start questioning one thing about their own relationship or decision, what would you hope it is?

So when you're writing about crime and suspense, how do you manage to keep the story realistic while still keeping the reader interested and surprised?

Yeah.

So that's another [chuckles] really good question.

I, um, you know, feel like the more realistic that you could make it, um...

You know, so for example, I, and I'll use, you know, "Dissension" as an example.

When I first started writing it at 19, there weren't things like cell phones or fentanyl didn't exist or, you know, anything like that.

So those are all elements that I had to add into the book that weren't there when I first started to write the book, you know.

What were some challenges you had? What, what were some surprises, and, uh, in what ways did the new technological development assisted you in your writing journey coming again?

What really inspired you to return to the unfinished dream? And what did that experience teach you about patrons and purpose?

That's a great question.

So obviously, a very rare, rare opportunity, right? I started writing this book, like you'd said it when I was 19 years old, I started it out of boredom.

And I came home from college, worked at a furniture store.

And really, there was a lot of downtime waiting for people to come pick up furniture.

So I had the story in my head.

So I started writing it down on notebooks and these like, cards that they had overstock cards there.

Let's say, for example, just like the listeners out there, if someone listening today is carrying the weight of a broken truck, unresolved conflict, or a dream they have put on hold, what reminder would you leave with them?