Where were you born? How long have you been living in East Tennessee?
I was born in Knoxville, TN and I’ve lived there my whole life expect for brief stint in the Army.
At what age did you begin writing your first story?
I was thirty-four when I started writing my first story. It was a story of a father and daughter. The father would leave for work around 5 a.m. and the daughter had a bedroom that faced the street in front of the house. When the father would leave in the morning, the daughter would flash a flashlight out the window and the father would flash his headlights. It was just a little thing they did every morning. I called it The Flashlight Thing and wrote a story around that.
What is the great question you do not understand from your childhood until now?
Don’t have one.
What encouraged you to start writing faith-based novels of foster care and adoption?
I had a high school English teacher who told me I should think about being a writer, but I didn’t start pursuing that until I was in my late twenties. I spent several years figuring out what to write and then my wife and I became foster parents and that gave me the idea for novels of foster care and adoption.
What sparked the idea for your book, Ralley Point?
When I was in the Army, we would do training exercises and go on patrols through the woods. Before we left on the patrols, we would plan our route based on our objective and what our mission was. We would plan out rally points along the way as places to rest, check ourselves to make sure we were still going in the right direction, make sure we were keeping our time frame, eat and drink some water.
We also planned out rally points for after we reached our objective in case things went south and we got separated from each other. We would have a designated place to go so we could assess our situation, see who’s missing, who needs medical care, and plan what to do next.
I began to see foster homes as rally points. Designated safe places children could go to while their parents worked on what they needed to do to get them back. A foster home could be a place of love and stability from the chaotic mess of their birth family. A place where they could get the care and attention they need, and a plan could be made for what happens next.
How did you begin writing the Baskin Family Foster Journal Series?
It began in fits and starts and evolved over time. My first book was completely different than Ralley Point and I didn’t like it. So, I tossed the whole thing and started again with what eventually became Ralley Point. Out of that process, I decided I would need three books to tell the story I wanted to tell.
What fears did you have while publishing your first novel?
Let’s see, what fears didn’t I have? I feared I wasn’t good enough. Who was I to think I could be an author? No one will like what I wrote. I also feared if it did do well, I would have to interact more with people. I’m not a very social person so, that wasn’t something I was interested in. But I decided it would be good for me to get out of my comfort zone and learn how to do that.
What, in your opinion, are the most important elements of good writing?
A good story first and foremost.
Why did you choose to write in the Christian Fiction genre?
I’m a Christian so, I wanted to write things from that world view.
Where did you meet your spunky wife, Joelle, for the first time?
I met her in church. When I met her, I was recently divorced and wasn’t interested in a relationship. So, we were just friends for a while until I decided I was ready to date. I found out later, she was ready to date me when we first met but she knew I wasn’t ready for that so, she pined away until I finally figured out she was a good catch.
Do your daughters know you are an author?
Yes, they do. My daughter from my first marriage read Ralley Point before it was published to give me feedback on it.
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
Take more writing classes and don’t be in a hurry to publish. Take time to make sure it really is ready to be published.
What is the sweetest fan mail you have ever received?
A fan wrote me and told me Ralley Point was incredible and she enjoyed reading it. She left a nice review on Amazon.
What’s next for you? What are you working on now?
I’m working on the next book in the Baskin Family Foster Journal Series. I’ve titled it Family Tree: Place Of Redemption. I’ve finished the first draft and now I’m reading it and doing some self-editing. Then I’ll do some rewriting, more self-editing, more rewriting, then send it to my editor. My goal is to release it next year.
When were you first introduced to AllAuthor and how?
I’m a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. They have various email loops for promoting your books, for getting critiques of your writing, and other things. There was one writer whose books looked interesting so, I went to her website, and she had in the footer that she was on AllAuthor. So, I went to AllAuthor, liked what I saw, and the rest is history. I don’t remember who the author is now.
