by What inspires a writer? Is it a moment in life? A song they heard? Or in my case, a book they read? As mentioned for me, it was a book I read that inspired me to begin chasing my dream of becoming a published author, and eventually a professional sports writer. I’ve read over 500 books in my life, but none more impactful at the exact right times then these ones.
It was as early as September 2000 when I cracked open “Have A Nice Day” by Mick Foley, that day the first seed was planted. Reading his tale inspired me more than I could ever explain. Reading about how he struggled and took giant risks while sleeping cars, eating peanut butter sandwiches and working his way up the ranks of a brutal industry, helped me believe I could tackle some of those same challenges.
It was 8 plus years later before I had the chance to finally sit down, clear my head and begin to write my book “HERO”, that would come out eventually in October of 2012. The first word I typed was on February 9, 2009 and I never looked back from there.
Along the journey of writing HERO, editing it, re-writing it, and then the incredible hard search for a publisher, I wanted to quit so many times but never allowed myself to. During that process I read 5 extremely good books to keep me going, never allowing that doubt to creep in my mind too long. Those books were the following
Have A Nice Day by Mick Foley
The Bad Guys Won by Jeff Pearlman
Hitman by Bret Hart
A Lions tale by Chris Jericho
The Good Son by Mark Kriegel
The wild part is that those books inspired me to keep going and they were the reason I started in the first place. Allow me to explain, the first four came out years before I began writing HERO, but again, they inspired me greatly. Thus, as I was writing HERO, I would dip back into those four books as often as I could for inspiration.
I own every book Jeff Pearlman and Chris Jericho have ever written, I have read them all countless times and they never stop being excellent and leaving me with a feeling of “Wow!” They have a way with words that most people can’t begin to fathom even exists. They are poets, they are story tellers, they are visionaries of dreams people didn’t even know they had.
When I first read “The Bad Guys Won” I couldn’t put it down, and finished it in under a week. I never knew I could root for a group of “lecherous, adulterous, drug addict scum bags” as much as I did when I read that book. Pearlman took villains, and made them hero’s. He is that damn good!
I’m obsessed with Bret Hart and Chris Jericho. It is the nicest way I can put it. I have watched every televised match of their careers, read their books, own their action figures, t-shirts, posters, all of it. In fact, a Bret Hart speech in the summer of 1997 in Canada in which he said, “Thank you for still letting me be your Hero”, inspired me to title my first book HERO.
Chris Jericho, are you kidding me? Need inspiration? Any one of his books will take care of that, but his first book is by far his best and it doesn’t even touch on his WWE days until the very end. His struggle was real, and it will move you.
I met Bret Hart once, I waited outside of a minor league baseball stadium for 4 plus hours and paid $125 to be in the front of the line but August 1, 2015 is a day I will never forget. Not only did I meet Bret, but I also gave him a copy of HERO and he signed a copy of his book for me.
To make the surreal moment even crazier, I had to leave the event where over 300 people waited on me to enter a Dave & Busters for my own book signing for a book I wrote called, “Ohio Warriors”.
I don’t have the words to accurately describe the adrenaline going through my veins that entire night. In minutes I went from being a fan, back to being an author as I met fans of my own who had waited in a long line. That’s the type of thing you just can’t make up or pay for, it is real!
One key figure in my book Ohio Warriors is a fighter named Ray Boom Boom Mancinini. A Youngstown native that took the world by storm in the 80’s. I met with Ray several times as I wrote the book, but it was a book about him written years prior called, “The Good Son” by Mark Kriegel that inspired me to keep writing and reach out to him in the first place. A book I read while waiting for HERO to catch it’s big break and get published.
I never met Mark but I I got to meet Mick and Bret and get my books signed. I hope to meet Jeff Pearlman, but I fear I’d be that guy at the front of the line with 9 books, trying to get them all signed. And then there is Chris Jericho….
Let me say this about Jericho, he sticks to his character at all costs. If I met him as a face, I’m pretty sure he would have taken a moment to sign my book or say hello. Sadly, I met him when his heel heat was at the greatest peak, I have ever seen it.
It was September 7, 2008 and he was fresh off of wrestling twice in one night, and capturing the World Heavyweight Championship in Cleveland, Ohio. I bumped into him at a Denny’s after the show, but he was with his family and made it crystal clear to leave them alone.
He was a “bad guy”, he was with his family, and there was no chance in hell he was going to take even 30 seconds to talk to me. I knew it, I understood it and I didn’t blame him. However, later that night as he was walking to his car, I couldn’t help but scream across the parking lot, “Hey Chris, I loved your book!”
The bottom line in this now 1,000 word plus ramble, is that to be an author, you first must be a reader. God has blessed my career with 9 published books on it’s resume, as well as covering some of the biggest moments in recent Cleveland sports history. None of that doesn’t happen without those books I listed earlier.
Thank you Jeff, Bret, Mick, Chris and Mark!
