Why I Wrote

Bless This Hot Mess

If you've followed my work for a while, you might be surprised by this novel. My stories have usually lived in the worlds of romance, drama, or thrillers.

 

Bless This Hot Mess takes a very different path. It's a gay love story wrapped inside a big, joyful comedy, with the spirit of shows like Girls5Eva and Schitt's Creek. It's loud, heartfelt, a little outrageous, and proudly rooted in small-town Canada.

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Part of the reason I wanted to write this story comes from my own complicated relationship with faith. I grew up around Christianity while also coming to understand myself as a gay man. For a long time those two identities felt like they were in constant conversation, and sometimes conflict. Faith can be beautiful and comforting, but it can also carry expectations that make you feel like you don't belong.

 

Writing Bless This Hot Mess became an opportunity to explore those tensions with curiosity and humor. I didn't want to write something cynical about faith, and I didn't want to write something preachy either. Instead, I wanted to find the comedy in the collision between the reverent and the irreverent. What happens when big spiritual ideas meet messy human ambition, pop music dreams, and small-town gossip?

 

That's where Trinity comes in. Rebekkah, Japheth, and Ronald are three unlikely dreamers with enormous ambitions and even bigger personalities. They're chasing fame, meaning, and maybe a little divine inspiration, all while navigating whale-sized challenges in a very small Canadian town.

 

This story might feel a little unexpected, coming from me. But sometimes the most interesting creative journeys start when you step outside the lane people expect you to stay in.

 

I hope you'll come along for the ride. Give the book a try. Listen to the music. Meet Trinity. And join me for an adventure that's equal parts heart, faith, mischief, and laughter.

 

Until the next book, Go Steelers.