Some Thoughts for the Weekend Book-Related and Otherwise

• Race Relations in America are much better than the media depicts. Living in Florida, we are fortunate to belong to a great YMCA that takes up a big part of our free time. What is so great about this Y is that it is truly a melting pot of races and a real mix of black and white players, coaches, refs, etc. My kids who play basketball there have had a chance to see the real-world and develop what I hope is a color-blind perspective on life. Unlike the national media that likes to make everything a racial story, I have not seen even one incident where race has played any role or been a factor. It makes me very encouraged as I think about the next generations of Americans.
• A few people who have read Hallways in the Night have brought up some of the parallels between Remo Centrella and Richie Incognito's behavior, especially with regard to the fact that he attacked his Ferrari with a baseball bat. To be candid, before the Jonathan Martin situation, I had a very negative opinion of Incognito. I thought he was a complete ass who played dirty. Subsequent to the Martin situation, though, I have come to reconsider him as an intelligent, even likeable guy who obviously has a lot of personal demons and anger issues that might be exacerbated if he uses steroids or testosterone. And let's be honest, the fact the NFL doesn't test for Testosterone is, to use one of Adam Schein's favorite quotes "an Absolute Joke." I would bet close to 80% of NFL players use testosterone among other substances. The end result if players who are getting too big, too strong and too dangerous. As the "arms race" to bulk up in the NFL continues, the problem is they simply end up doing damage to each other. As far as Incognito, he is a young guy with a lot of life ahead of him, and I hope he gets the help he needs with his temper and anger issues. They are obviously deep-seated and it was good to read he is getting some professional help. I certainly pray the scenario in Hallways in the Night between Remo Centrella and Dave ever becomes a reality, although I do fear it someday might.
• I'm excited to report I'm close to striking a deal with a professional voice actor to bring Hallways in the Night to audible format. We will be going through Amazon's ACX platform and I think the book is going to translate very well. I really enjoyed (and spent a lot of very long hours working on) writing dialogue and I can't wait to eventually listen to the book.
• I have a blog post scheduled to run Tuesday on Twenty in Paris blog  that talks about some of the regrets I have in not studying abroad in college. The post was very honest and I think you will enjoy reading it.
• I'm running a big Goodreads Giveaway next week for the book. Some of you may remember I ran one back in December with three books offered. Unfortunately, the giveaway, thus far, resulted in no reviews. This time, based upon several articles I read, including a slideshare presentation on "What Makes a Book Go Viral" I'm going to up the number up to 20 books. If GR's averages hold true, that should result in 12 reviews of the book and hopefully some more buzz for it. I am trying to build buzz for the book each week and feel like I'm getting a foundation in place that can be leveraged into the future. 
• Lastly, I read a very interesting (and enjoyable) book by Tony Vanderwarker called Writing with the Master that is about his experience of writing a legal thriller while being mentored by John Grisham. I'm a big Grisham fan and that was the reason I was initially interested but by the end the story flows more into a great memoir than a writing book. Having written Hallways in the Night with my own process, I don't think I would want to be mentored by Grisham or anyone else. I'll post the review mid-week. Stay tuned!