It's 9AM
What's stronger than your excuses
The air is currently pretending it’s not May in Arkansas,
which is a lie that’ll be exposed by noon when the humidity starts to wrap around your throat like a wet blanket
I was sitting here looking at my old running shoes.
The ones with the tread worn down to a smooth, memory-of-a-grip.
They’re a lot like some of the plans I’ve made over the years.
High hopes at the starting line, a lot of sweat in the middle, and sometimes, a DNF at the end.
I’m thinking about the wall.
Not the one in the backyard, but the one you hit at mile eighteen of a marathon.
Everything stops working.
Your brain starts telling you that you’re an idiot.
It starts listing all the reasons why stopping and sitting on the curb is the only logical, sane thing to do. It’s a master of persuasion.
When you’re staring at eighteen miles of sweat
and the voices get loud,
there’s only one way to shut them down.
Keep going.
One step.
Focus on the sun on your face or the next aid station.
Or maybe just the cold beer waiting seventeen miles away.
I’ve always been a fan of the “what-if” game.
What if the power goes out?
What if the laptop dies?
It keeps me prepared.
I’ve got beans in the cabinet and extra pens in the desk.
But lately, I’ve been thinking about the big world problems
the ones that feel like an ultra-marathon without a finish line
I wrote a letter to the Mayor again.
I told him about the curb appeal, or the lack thereof.
About how you can’t expect people to visit a place that looks like a turtle shell roadway pitted with axle-busting gullies.
I offered solutions. Simple stuff.
Mow the weeds.
Fix the blacktop.
Give people a reason to take pride in their neighborhood.
The response?
Silence.
Not even the usual “who’s going to pay for it?”
It’s easy to get frustrated when the leadership is absent.
When the people in charge are more interested in blaming the weather
or the budget
than rolling up their sleeves.
But that’s where the grit comes in
In the absence of leadership,
assume command.
You solve the problems you can touch.
You start with the little things.
You practice being better today than you were yesterday.
Maybe that means writing a little more.
Maybe it means being a little kinder in traffic
even when the guy smoking weed is trying to shave two minutes off his commute by risking everyone’s life.
Maybe it’s just making sure your own house is in order before you start shouting about the world.
I’m going to lace up those shoes.
Even if they’re worn.
Even if the road ahead looks like a torture device.
Because the only way to get smooth is to practice slow,
and the only way to get fast is to keep moving.
Don’t wait for a politician to fix your street.
Don’t wait for a “lucky” break to start that business.
The world is full of critics sitting on their couches being experts on why things won’t work.
Don’t be one of them.
Find your why.
Then find your grit.
And then?
GET AFTER IT.
SUNSET SUSPECTS
5 Books for $5 Boxset
The Gumbo Files: A Gulf Coast PI Mystery Collection
Retirement was supposed to be simple.
Sunshine. Fishing. Quiet mornings. Maybe a little golf.
Then Gumbo Malone found a dead body.
Then another.
And another.
Now the former corporate executive turned accidental PI can’t seem to walk into a bar, marina, condo meeting, or beachfront bingo hall without stumbling into a crime someone really doesn’t want solved.
On Florida’s Gulf Coast, the sun is hot… but the secrets are hotter.
And every smiling retiree has something to hide.
This Boxset Includes:
BONE DEEP
A case that starts with a missing contractor and ends with something buried far worse than money.
ABOVE BOARD
There’s no such thing as clean business on the coast—only cleaner lies.
PI PROBLEMS
Gumbo didn’t want the job. The job wanted him anyway.
DUMB AND FAMOUS
A washed-up influencer. A dead assistant. And a scandal that refuses to stay buried.
SWEET TROUBLE
A sugar-sweet small-town façade hiding something rotten underneath.
Welcome to Florida. Where the water is warm… and the alibis are weak.
Gumbo Malone is not a hero.
He’s not trained.
He’s not licensed.
He’s just stubborn enough to keep asking questions when everyone else wants him to stop.
And in the Gulf Coast retirement communities, beachfront condos, and fading tourist towns—asking the wrong question is how you end up in the water.
Readers who love these will devour SUNSET SUSPECTS:
Carl Hiaasen-style Florida chaos
PI mysteries with humor and bite
Retired-detective / accidental sleuth stories
Quirky small-town crime with sharp twists
Fast, bingeable mystery series with recurring characters
Why readers are hooked on The Gumbo Files:
Because every book starts the same way:
A normal day.
A bad decision.
And a case that won’t stay buried.
5 full novels. Endless trouble. One unbeatable price.
If you like your mysteries sun-drenched, sharp-tongued, and just a little unhinged…
Welcome to the Gulf Coast.
And whatever you do—
don’t retire too peacefully.
