Who are some of your influences?

Wiley Cash, Joe R. Lansdale, Megan Abbott, Jesmyn Ward, Michael Farris Smith, and Ron Rash are certainly on the list.

What are you working on now?

I recently finished a book, The Less You Know, that is currently being submitted to publishers. In a nutshell, a former English teacher who’s trying to raise money for his wife’s fertility treatments takes a side job that gets him tied up with an outlaw motorcycle club. Think: Breaking Bad or Emily the Criminal by way of Wiley Cash.

My work-in-progress, All Your Yesterdays, is about a former MMA fighter-turned adjunct professor, Spencer “The Technician” Townes, who is teaching weekly writing courses at a local prison. Soon after one of his prison students, Lonnie Franklin, is released, he is found dead under mysterious circumstances. When Townes learns that Franklin was tied up in an underground MMA circuit, he enters the seedy world of illegal fighting, which leads him on a spiraling search for the truth. Think: Dangerous Minds meets Out of the Furnace.

What is your dream job?

I plan on being a career novelist and creative writing professor. Every bit of work I do is to further those goals.

Interesting fact about yourself?

I’m a ju-jitsu black belt who also spent time training in boxing and Muay Thai. This shows up, to some degree, in everything I write.

What was your coolest moment as an author?

I was teaching on the day of my debut release. During my lunch break, my wife sent a picture of my kids (one and two at the time) sitting next to a stack of my books in a bookstore.

Runner-up: One time I was pitching my book to a group of readers at a literary conference, and one of them opened and chugged a 2-liter Pepsi Zero while I was describing my novel. That’s when I knew I’d made it.

Any advice for young writers?

Find your voice. Whatever that voice is, find it and lean into it. Publishers aren’t looking for the next (insert famous author here); they are looking for the first YOU.

Querying advice?

Aspiring authors, keep your queries VERY targeted. Know which authors and which books each agent has represented. Also, keep your query letter concise and interesting. Tell the agent a little about yourself, give a brief synopsis of your novel (word count and comp titles included), and wrap things up. I wouldn’t suggest snail-mailing agents your query letter on a piece of parchment doused in cologne or perfume. That’s just creepy.