Make pain your ally

When was the last time you pushed through the pain?

I'll go first. Most of 2016.

During the span of eight weeks, my grandmother died of congestive heart failure. My niece died in a car accident. And my brother-in-law died suddenly on the day we were burying my niece.

To say it was a dark time for my family would be an understatement. It sucked.

But we kept going because the world kept spinning and the sun kept shining.

I was reminded of 2016 during a live recording of Cruz through HTX with legendary screenwriter and author Terry Hayes. He lost his brother to cancer, his father to terminal illness, and his mother to a broken heart.

My heart breaks for him again as I type these words.

Yet despite this hardship, he kept going...kept writing.

In fact, he wrote so much, he churned out a million words. Impressive. But even more impressive is the fact that he had the discipline to edit out seven-hundred thousand words before turning in The Year of the Locust to his editor, who then edited another seventy-five thousand words.

He wrote and continues to write for his family. Those who shared his dream of being an author but can't celebrate him on this Earth, and his wife and kids.

We taped this interview before a crowd of his fans at the world famous Murder by the Book. He shares so much wisdom. Wisdom about the creative process, family, and life. And I can't wait for you to listen.