1) Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into writing?
Growing up I was always inclined more towards science and engineering. In fact I almost failed my English classes a couple of times in high school. Even in college I studied Mechanical Engineering.
But I’ve always been a fan of telling stories and coming up with outlandish jokes to make my friends laugh. It was my love of telling stories that first drew me into trying to put some of them down on paper and flex my writing muscles.
2) What inspired you to write your book?
The inspiration for The Sweetness Run came from my fraternity brothers and our fantasy football group chat. We constantly fire jabs at each other and often joked about what would happen if anybody ever saw the things that were said on the group chat.
I really wanted to come up with something to showcase the silliness of our friend group and give an idea of how close we are after all these years. The book started out as a few jokes sent across on the group chat and quickly ballooned into a full story.
3) What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your book?
When people read The Sweetness Run I would like readers to first have a good laugh. Even if they get nothing else from the book, as long as they have a couple of laughs I’m happy.
I would also really like to give the reader a deep look into the stereotype of a post-college man-child and hope they relate to some of the mundane struggles Jason has to contend with everyday. The idea being that when these seemingly small catastrophes take place in our daily lives it’s not the end of the world. We can always persevere through them, especially if you have a few friends to call in for support.
Lastly I really want readers to get an idea of the way guys bond together and how life is always better when you have your boys around you. Jason’s day always gets better when he’s around his friends.
4) What drew you into this particular genre?
I’ve always been interested in comedy. Stand up specials, comedy fiction, movies, podcasts, etc. You name it I love it. Not only that, I feel that joking around is the glue for a good friendship or relationship in general. If you’re not laughing with each other then what is the point?
My love for comedy and laughter is what kept me going and kept the ideas flowing when I was writing The Sweetness Run.
5) If you could sit down with any character in your book, what would you ask them and why?
I really like this question ☺
I would love to sit down with The Wizard. Even though he has a small part in the book he is a big part of the glue that holds everyone together. I would love to ask him where he got a poster of Courage the Cowardly Dog. I’ve personally always wanted a poster like that. The Wizard seems to have some pretty weird stuff floating around his house so I’d also love to get an idea of who he uses as a decorator.
6) What social media site has been the most helpful in developing your readership?
Facebook and Instagram have been the most useful for me.
7) What advice would you give to aspiring or just starting authors out there?
My advice would be to always keep writing. It’s very important to write a little bit everyday even when you feel nothing of value is being written. What I found is that if you just keep writing a little bit every day that first draft will come up in no time. Then comes the fun of editing and refining your story.
8) What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books/projects on the horizon?
I have a few different projects I’m working on. The first is The Wendys Donuts Report, which is a blog aimed at giving readers funny articles and outlandish solutions to problems that are seemingly unimportant but in reality, they are vital.
After that I have a few short stories I would like to release followed by part two of The Sweetness Run. Let’s not forget that her Majesty The Sweetness has to be rescued at all costs ☺
