What was your inspiration behind your most recent book?
Ironically for a book that’s meant to lift people up, the inspiration for my new novel Golden Boy came from a very painful moment in my life. I lost my golden retriever service dog of ten years very suddenly. It pretty much broke me.
I could barely get out of bed for weeks. All I could do was watch TV and read. But everything was so dark and cynical that it made me feel worse. I’m a writer by trade — screenplays mostly — so I just started writing. It wasn’t really a conscious decision. I just did it. And a couple of months later, out came Golden Boy.
Golden Boy isn’t a memoir. It’s a fictional story that captures the feeling that my dog awoke in me for all those years. There is, obviously, some heartbreak. But mostly it’s about joy and fun and unconditional love. When I look back on the experience today, I realize that I ended up writing the story that I needed to read myself.
So if I can offer your readers a bit of unsolicited advice… When you’re in a funk, if you’re sad or angry or feeling misunderstood, write. If you can turn that feeling into art, and share it with the world, so much the better. Write a story. Write a poem. Because if you’re feeling that way, there are plenty of others who feel that way, too, who could be helped by your story.
But even if you have no aspirations to write, just get those feelings out in a diary or whatever. Writing is amazing therapy. No one has to read it. It helps you clear your head. It heals.
