My own life experience reminds me that the characters in my novels inhabit a world I know all too well—where superficiality meets authenticity, where shadow meets light. For example, I’ve written double-platinum, Dove Award nominated, number-one songs for the Christian music industry, then I began drowning my demons in alcohol and drugs (I’ve been sober now since 2006). I’ve worked as creative director for Variety Magazine in LA, where I art directed Donald Trump and became brief pen pals with him, then I opened an advertising agency in NYC, a city where I voted twice for Obama (and later Hilary Clinton). Most recently I’ve studied mental health diagnosis and counseling in a master’s degree program, then I wrote Naïve, a novel where the protagonist may or may not be a sociopath. Currently I am a freelance creative director residing in Nashville with my partner of 5 years, who used to love me unconditionally. Then he read Naïve. Now he sleeps with one eye open.