In Prodigal Song, readers follow you on your journey from your childhood in LA to your time spent as a struggling rock guitarist in Hollywood. Why was this an important book for you to write?

I started writing Prodigal Song shortly after completing a novel called Body: or, How Hope Confronts Her Shadow and Calls the Flutter Girl to Flight. Body is an inspirational romantic comedy exploring self-image and struggles with body image. I had many inspirations for the female protagonist’s issues, but my own story was the main source. I wrote Body with a female audience in mind, which greatly shaped how the characters related to their bodies and how that impacted their relationships and lives. I shared my own journey of identity, music, exercise, and obsessiveness with a friend who thought it would make a great book. I realized that by telling my own story, I could create a book that would explore themes of identity in a way that resonates more with men.

Also, I came of age in a time when everyone was in a band or wanted to be in one. I wanted to give Gen Xers an insider’s view of what it was like being in the Southern California music scene in the 1990s and 2000s, while letting them relish in the nostalgia of that time.

Ultimately, I want my books to be sources of insight and encouragement to readers. I know many people struggle with the themes in Prodigal Song—body image, identity, failure, anxiety, the need for adventure ,and meaning. I hope my story offers perspectives that help readers better understand and navigate their own journeys.

You are open and honest about your most difficult years, and I appreciate the candor with which you tell your story. What was the most difficult thing to write about?

I see Prodigal Song as my version of the first Rocky movie. Spoiler alert for a nearly 50-year-old film: Rocky doesn’t win the fight. He wins most of the fights in the sequels, but there is something sweet—and paradoxically victorious—in the failure explored in the iconic character’s debut. Sharing embarrassing stories wasn’t necessarily difficult, but I faced the challenge of writing a memoir about someone who didn’t succeed in the music business and making that compelling for readers. As Sylvester Stallone did, I had to show the victory in fighting regardless of the outcome.

What do you do when you try extremely hard to achieve a dream—for years—and the split decision doesn’t go your way? More people relate to this experience than to winning the championship belt. The hardest part was writing a book that offers fresh, meaningful insights into this well-worn path.

Is there anything you learned about yourself as you were putting Prodigal Song together?

The subtitle of Prodigal Song is A Gen X Memoir of Excess and Obsession in Pursuit of the Rock ’n’ Roll Dream. I brought the excess and obsession to my story—it was my friends who helped me channel those tendencies into a way forward, one with balance, accomplishments, and joy, even in the face of setbacks and failures.

In the book, I quote a lyric one of my friends wrote:

I don’t know where I’m going

But I know that where I am is not what I’d planned

I don’t know the way out

But I know that when a door is there

I will have a hand.

— Aaron Baker from his song “Someday”

Putting a book like this together, you really see all the unlikely events of your life that had to come together to bring you to the present—and I’m very thankful for my present. I’ve always been aware of how important my friends were along the way, but writing this book emphasized even more that my adventures in music and exercise were really adventures in friendship. At every step of my journey, I found a “door” to enter, and at every door was the helping and guiding “hand” of one of my friends, as Aaron’s lyric captures.

What is one thing you hope readers take away from the experiences you share in this book?

I hope this book can reinforce for readers the power of relationships—that our journeys gain meaning primarily through the connections we create with friends, family, and God. And in that communion, we can live in gratitude, regardless of whether our pursuit of goals and dreams leads to triumph, failure, or some wild, messy combination of the two.

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