When tales weave in and out of my mind, they often have a southern flavor to them and never without some sort of adventure. It comes honest, for my childhood was anything but ordinary. Oh, I played baseball, basketball, and some video games like most kids (Atari 2600!), but when I wasn't on the court or diamond, I was outdoors. Growing up in Memphis, Tennessee, the Mississippi River was my playground and our bass boat my clubhouse and I sat, "butt glued" to its bottom as waves from tugboat wakes crashed and misted my face in route to our fishing hole.It was like no other childhood, full of catching sharks, playing state championships, shooting geese, jumping four-wheelers, and acting as a fishing guide at Reelfoot Lake. Those events and many more adventures are what whispers to me every morning, filling my imagination as I write.I never planned on being a writer, or a teacher even. It just happened as I underwent the stress of ministry. For nearly 15 years, I served as a youth pastor and then a pastor in various churches in Tennessee and Texas. But contrary to what many people think, the life of a religious leader is often hard and frustrating. I found myself very unhappy (for often you see the real nasty side of people) and I wrote about my frustrations. After years of filling journals, I built up the courage to send a magazine one of my pieces... and they bought it! I couldn't believe that anyone would actually pay me for something I'd written. So I kept at it, sending stories here and articles there. Some publications rejected my material, but a surprising number accepted.I took some courses at The Institute of Children's Literature, learning from seasoned writers and at the same time, made plans to move from church ministry to the public school classroom. During that time I worked as a substitute teacher and a barista at Starbucks Coffee Company. All I knew was that I was put on this earth to do two things: teach and tell stories. One story, in particular, wouldn't leave my mind. When my Dad was little, his family was so poor that he and my grandfather would hike in the city sewers deep underneath the city of Memphis to hunt for change that had been washed down by rainwater. They'd take that change and polish it up and then buy their meat for the week. That image, of a boy venturing through the sewers gave rise to my first novel, GOLIATH CATFISH (July 2012).Presently, I teach English and coach at J.W. Williams Middle School (one of the greatest schools on the planet) and I'm writing my next adventure, a story of a boy from divorced parents and a girl who lost her mom and their entanglement with a modern night rider terror movement in Reelfoot Lake, Tennessee. As I said before, with most of my writings, there's a little southern flavor, like cracklins in cornbread.