The Road Not Taken follows two former classmates that drifted apart and reconnected that decided to give love a chance. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?

I think nearly all of us can relate to the feelings of “what if…” One of the things I enjoy most about writing fiction is the ability to make the “what ifs” come true … at least for the fictional characters. As readers, we can vicariously enjoy revisiting the “road not taken” by the characters of the book while remembering our own crossroads in life. Most of us went to high school, had a boyfriend/girlfriend, and have similar memories of our childhood experiences, so the setting for my novel was one that almost anyone could recognize.

What was your inspiration for the characters and their relationship?

Readers tend to identify those who try to write outside of their own boundaries as frauds. The characters are compositions of people I have personally known, and the relationships are ones I have had or wish I had. I think most readers will also recognize many of the characters and relationships from their own lives. I wrestled in high school and college, and I was a pilot in the Navy … but I’m not Ty! I have never flown in combat. I’m familiar enough with the lingo and dynamics of flying to be able to write credibly about the adventures of military aviation. Because I have lived in many small towns, I’m able to write from experience about the nuances of it.

Are there any emotions or memories from your own life that you put into your character’s life?

Many. The impacts of mistakes made in youth as we live forward. The hypocrisy of religious people who do sacrilegious things. The brutality and inhumanity of war. The realization as we mature that “true love” is constructed of a lot of “like”.

What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?

The next book after The Road Not Taken was The Other Side Of Good (Gold Book Award from Literary Titan), which was released on January 18, 2022. This year, I’m working on a fourth novel, tentatively titled Pedaling West. It is a COVID-19 era novel about a young woman who “resets” her life during the pandemic by bicycling across the United States.

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