I have run 28 marathons, coached high school wrestling for 20 years, despite never having wrestled a lick before that, and have been a high school teacher, and current guidance counselor, for 25 years. Yet, I found nothing more daunting, and exhilarating, than finishing my first novel.

 

I first started writing The Box fifteen years ago. I usually got about thirty pages in, before I would delete what I’d written, and start again. This never ending cycle continued until 2021 when I finally told myself that I was going to sit down and write, and not stop writing, until I’d churned out three hundred, double spaced, pages. Well, three hundred turned into four hundred, then five hundred, then…well, let’s just say the train kept-a-rolling.

 

Writing isn’t much different than the sport of wrestling (well except for the occasional cross-face) in that you have to learn to embrace the grind. It’s long, arduous, and sometimes physically and emotionally draining. But in the end, all of the hard work pays off and you're left with something you can hang your hat on. Something that you’re proud of.

 

The Box is my first novel. I like to think that its writing was a ‘beautiful grind.’ Arduous, and sometimes physically and emotionally draining. But like the marathons I ran, worth each, and every, step.

 

I live in Herriman, Utah with my wife, children, two cats, and my aging Great Dane, Dan.