We spend a lot of time and energy on The Look Deeper Blog devoted to content about fulfilling your purpose and pursuing your dreams. After all, the whole purpose is to help you move from where you are to where you want to be.

That’s why I’m so excited to bring you something a little bit different today. An interview with my friend, Andy. On September 1st of this year, Andy released his first novel,  A Quarter ’til Life. Not only was I privileged to read an advanced copy of the book, but yours truly also makes an appearance as a character! How cool is that?

        I wanted you guys to get to know Andy because when Andy and I were at college together, writing novels was not on his radar screen. At all. In fact, I’m not convinced writing was on his agenda much, period.  Yet here we are, some 25 years later, and not only has Andy written a great story, but he’s published it as well.

There is great wisdom to be gathered learning from others who have walked a path before us. Someone who has had to figure out who they wanted to be when they grew up long after they were chronologically a grown up. Someone who struggled to figure out when to write since it wasn’t putting food on the table (and still isn’t, quite yet).

So if you’re pondering starting a new endeavor, or you need a little shot in the arm to re-energize your side hustle or dream chasing – grab a cup of something that makes you happy, and take a seat next to me on the couch while we talk to blogger, author, and my friend, M. Andrew Cockrell (or just plain Andy).

What made you want to become a writer? – I have enjoyed writing for most of my life, and had a desire for years to write in a more dedicated way.  Penning novels wasn’t anything close to what I had ever envisioned, though.  I saw myself writing non-fiction, either more “academic,” research-oriented pursuits or Bible study/devotional material.

What was the hardest part of getting started? – The hardest part was actually AFTER I’d gotten started and realized that my initial drafts of those early chapters were awful.  Writing fiction is an entirely different proposition from the years of academic papers that I had been churning out.  Added to that, I don’t read much fiction so my mindset and skill set were both lacking.  I made all of the beginner’s mistakes: I went overboard with vocabulary, employed way too many adjective and adverbs, and overly narrated every part of every chapter.  Once I learned to eliminate unnecessary words, to show rather than tell, and to allow dialogue to drive the story instead of narration, the quality of the content improved considerably.

What were some of the biggest challenges you had to overcome? – The single greatest frustration was – and is – a lack of capable and accessible mentors.  Life is busy for everyone, and creative people are usually investing their time in their own personal projects.  Nobody wants to help a “nobody;” if they can’t gain something from it then it’s not a second thought for them.  I found a few people who were willing to “consult” with me for a fee, but I couldn’t find even a single published author who would give some guidance as I tried to find my way.  I knew nothing about anything when it came to publishing, and I couldn’t find anyone willing to personally point me towards the best choices.

What did you do to overcome the lack of mentoring help available?  – When I could not find mentors: I did copious amounts of research.  That in itself brought on additional challenges.  There is plenty of advice to go around about every aspect of publishing.  Distinguishing the person who is genuinely trying to be helpful from the person attempting to validate his own path by luring new people down it can be a difficult task.  And, the more I learned, the more I realized there was to learn.  In time, I became more comfortable in identifying some people that I wanted to emulate and deferred to their guidance.  I adopted a “do what I can with what I have” mindset and then prioritized the steps that were critical (and that I could do something about).  As I developed a sense of peace, eventually a few folks with experience began to be sprinkled into my life, making the last couple of months before publishing the book a bit easier.

What are your strategies for dealing with your inner critic? – I channel the critic in me that wants to produce the best content that I can, and I flat out ignore the inner critic that discourages me from sharing my work.  My background is in vocational ministry, so I have relatively thick skin anyway and I am used to communicating publicly.  When I became conscious of the fact that I wasn’t writing to please or impress everybody, the self-imposed pressure subsided greatly.  Another important step is to resist the temptation to compare myself to others.  Finally, when discouragement does mount (which is inevitable) then I rely on my like-minded fellow writers for encouragement and support.

How did you decide to publish the book? – The basic elements of the story came to me in October of last year and wouldn’t go away. The more I pondered the story, the more it evolved.  I began to consider the possibility of turning it into a book, but it wasn’t complete.  I think I know a good story when I hear it or see it, and this wasn’t yet a good story.  Still, it wouldn’t leave me.  After five or six weeks, I realized the missing piece was a missing character and that the story’s focus/point of view needed to change.  When I reached that point, I felt strongly that I finally had a good story.  At that point, I couldn’t NOT write it.  And if I was going to write it then it was going to be published!

Why did you decide to self publish? – The more I learned about the traditional book publishing world, the more I loathed it.  Publishing is a business, first and foremost.  In today’s world, the size of an author’s following is more important than the quality of the new content he or she produces.   With that being the case, traditional publishing was not a realistic option for me.  Even if my book proposal had been accepted by a traditional publishing firm, that would have meant 18 months – two years before a finished book ever hit the shelves.  It would have also meant that I would relinquish ultimate creative control over the book.  I decided to turn the project into my personal learning lab.  I am also viewing it as an audition of sorts.  I hope to use  A Quarter ‘til Life as a tool to grow my platform and footprint for my future writing content.  I am proud of the final product, both the content and the presentation of that content.  I don’t claim that it’s perfect but – especially to be a completely self-published project from beginning to end – it’s a lot better than many books that are already sitting on shelves in stores.  Hopefully the story will gain traction with readers out there in the real world.  Even if it doesn’t, I published a book!

What did you set out to do in your professional life? – I have been in vocational ministry since graduating from college in 1993 (except for a brief period from 2005-2010, when I was a child protective services investigator).

What did you go to school for? – When I started college in the fall of 1989, my plans were to become a lawyer.  I felt God calling me toward ministry in 1991, but I fought that call for a year or more.  By the time I stopped running from that call, to change my major would have prolonged my undergraduate education.  I was not interested in that, so my undergraduate degree is in Government.  My Master’s Degree is in Pastoral Ministry.

What are some of the jobs you’ve held over the course of your career? – Pastor, Associate Pastor, Youth Pastor, and Child Protective Services Investigative Social Worker have been the primary jobs of my adult life.  Substitute teacher, minor league baseball stadium employee, construction worker, and delivery driver are some of the jobs I have held at various times to supplement income.

What was the inspiration for the story of A Quarter til Life? – The main elements of the story itself were given to me by God, there was no specific person or circumstance that was the basis.  As the story developed, I began to see how my friends could fit into certain roles.  I even began to create characters for the story that were based on friends from my real life.  I added a few “true to life” snippets in the plot that most of the world will never discern anyway, but the major pieces of the story are completely fictional and originate from my God-inspired imagination.

If you could go back to Andy at Campbell and give him one piece of advice, what would that advice be? – Andy at Campbell needed a lot of pieces of advice!  My communication over the years would have been much improved if I had been more concerned with loving people and less concerned about being right.  That advice isn’t directly relevant to publishing a book, but it’s relevant to me personally.

What’s the best piece of advice you can give the person reading this who is where you were a year ago – thinking about hitting a dream and making it happen, whatever that dream might be – but who isn’t sure they want to or what to do next? – If you aren’t passionate about it, then don’t do it.  For most of us, creativity isn’t going to be a winning lottery ticket to financial riches, so that can’t be the sole or primary motivation for undertaking any writing or art project.  But, if you are passionate about it then don’t let yourself be deterred.  We all want to be recognized, but our abilities and gifts don’t come from other people and our ideas aren’t given to us by other people.  Our creativity is a way that we can honor the God who gave us our gifts, and it’s a way that we can minister to other people.  I remind myself often that I am writing in an effort to be a blessing to people, but I am never writing to be validated by people.

What are you writing now? –    In February of this year, I launched a blog (www.searchingfordaffodils.com) aimed at helping people in their journeys of grief.  And, I am turning my attention to a second novel which is about half-written.  After I finished the first draft of A Quarter ‘til Life, I separated myself from that manuscript for a couple of months.  During that time, I started working on book #2.  Now that #1 has made it to the finish line, I want to jump back into working on #2.

“But, if you are passionate about it then don’t let yourself be deterred.” That may be the best piece of advice and it feels like the right place to end our interview. Thanks, Andy, for sharing your story and your advice. Looking forward to reading #2!

If you’re looking for a fun read, I strongly recommend you check out A Quarter ‘til Life. It is also available for the nook at Barnes and Noble: here