Literary/Historical Fiction
Date Published: 8/12/25
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group
Narrator: Scott Brick
Run Time: 8 hours and 35 minutes
Haunted by a shadow from the past, a young farmer attempts suicide beneath a rotting burial elm, unearthing a dark ancestral history. But deep beneath the diseased generational roots lies a powerful secret — one that could save both the man and the land.
What is the hardest part of writing your books?
The first
steps are always the hardest, in almost anything. Same for writing…those
initial words are the steepest hill to climb, even if I’ve already started
writing the book and I’m just sitting down to start work. But once I get going,
momentum takes over.
What are your most played songs?
“Reno” is
still my most listened to song…it’s a duet I wrote to sing with Sara Watkins
(from Nickel Creek). The video went to #1 on CMT back in the day.
Do you have critique partners or beta readers?
Kind of. I
tend to get my writing where I want it to be on my own before anyone else sees
it, to the point that I’m pretty resistant to change (for better or worse!). I
will, however, hand the final draft off to my wife and a couple close friends
to make sure there’s nothing glaringly askew or amiss, and make changes
accordingly.
What book are you reading now?
Just before
this interview, I finished ‘Freaks and Revelations.’ My daughter read it for
her 7th grade honors English class, and told me it was required reading.
She’s an avid reader, and it’s actually the first book that has spanned the age
gap into more mature subject matter. Great book, actually.
How did you start your writing career?
I was a
singer-songwriter for a long, long time…still am, but the writing career took
over about 15 years ago when I received a letter from a fan in Connecticut. She
told me my songs were pieces of myself that I was giving to the world, and she
wanted to give me a piece of herself in return…so she included a letter she’d
written to her soulmate, who’d been gone for several years. It was so moving
that I wrote a song about it with a friend and sent it to her as a thank you.
That one song about one letter evolved into a project featuring Grammy-winning,
platinum-selling artists called For The Sender that turned letters into songs.
I produced the album, and wrote a companion book with the lyrics and
backstories…which was my first foray into writing books. That book/album
package fell into Wayne Dyer’s hands, who shepherded it into my first book
deal.
Tell us about your next release.
Well, there are two releases happening at once. One is the release of the audiobook for ‘Ordinary Soil,’ narrated by the legendary Scott Brick. That book follows a family living on the same piece of land in the Oklahoma Panhandle for 150 years, and found an early supporter in Woody Harrelson who said “Ordinary Soil brings to haunting life the desperate realities of the American heartland but also offers a glimpse into a better future... a call to action for all of us.”
The other story is called ‘Analog
Sun,’ which is a sequel to ‘Ordinary Soil.’ The novella follows a lost traveler
who stumbles onto a hidden path, untouched by code or concrete,
in his search for redemption. It’s a modern fable about navigating between the
world we’ve built and the one that built us…essentially a small book with a big
message for anyone searching for life beyond the algorithm.
About the Author
Contact Link
Purchase Links
Posts
No comments: