About Alan
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My most recent book is The New York Times best seller LIFE'S TOO SHORT, a memoir written with Darius Rucker (Dey Street Books, May 28, 2024). I've also written a crime novel, FLIPPING BOXCARS, with Cedric the Entertainer (Amistad/Harper Collins, September 12, 2023), FIERCE LOVE with Sonya Curry (HarperOne/Harper Collins, May 3, 2022), REDEEMING JUSTICE with Jarrett Adams (Convergent, Sept 14, 2021), BULLEIT PROOF with Tom Bulleit (Wiley, April 7, 2020), LOVE THY NEIGHBOR: A Muslim Doctor's Struggle for Home in Rural America with Ayaz Virji (Convergent Books, June 11, 2019), PLAYING GOD: The Evolution of a Modern Surgeon with Dr. Anthony Youn (Post Hill Press, September 17, 2019), HANG TIME: My Life in Basketball with NBA legend Elgin Baylor (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, April 10, 2018) and 13 DAYS IN FERGUSON with Captain Ron Johnson who was the head of security during the unrest in Ferguson (Tyndale, August 7, 2018).
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My other books are WARRIOR with former Marine platoon commander Theresa Larson (HarperOne/Harper Collins, 2016), THE HANDOFF with JT the Brick (Center Street/Hachette Book Group, 2013), I'M NOT GONNA LIE: And Other Lies You Tell When You Turn 50 with George Lopez (Celebra/Penguin, 2013), RAIDERS! The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made (Thomas Dunne/St. Martin's Press, 2012), IN STITCHES with Dr. Anthony Youn (Gallery Books, 2011), BARACK LIKE ME: The Chocolate Covered Truth with David Alan Grier (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, 2009), CANCER ON $5 A DAY* *chemo not included with Robert Schimmel (Da Capo Press, 2008), JUST A GUY: Notes from a Blue Collar Life with Bill Engvall (St. Martin's Press, 2007), THE KINDERGARTEN WARS: The Battle to Get into America's Best Private Schools (Warner Books, 2006), THE HOLY THIEF: A Con Man's Journey from Darkness to Light with Rabbi Mark Borovitz (Morrow, 2004), TEN ON SUNDAY: The Secret Life of Men (Atria Books, 2003), SPORTS TALK: A Journey Inside the World of Sports Talk Radio (Pocket, 2001), and INSIDE THE MEAT GRINDER (St. Martin's Press, 1999).
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I started writing in the second grade. After school the neighborhood kids would gather on the back stoop outside my house in Western Massachusetts and I would tell them stories I made up on the spot -- westerns, mysteries, crazy comedies, you name it. The kids must've liked the stories because they kept coming back, day after day, to hear more.
In the fifth grade, I wrote a novel, a Hardy Boys-type detective story set in outer space. I read it aloud to my mother over several afternoons while she baked pies. Being my mother, she loved every word and encouraged me to "write something more real." |
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In the seventh grade I wrote my first magazine article, a detailed account of my one and only, failed and humiliating ski lesson. Full of high hope, I submitted the story to Reader's Digest. Two weeks later the article was returned with a note from an editor urging me to "keep trying." That personal rejection slip fueled me through the writing of dozens of personal essays and short stories. By the time I finished college, I had accumulated enough rejection slips to wallpaper a house.
Finally, when I was in graduate school at the University of Michigan, I made my first sale, to Detroit Magazine. It was a spoof of an American Express ad touting "Detroit's Finest Restaurants." I had sent the piece off to Detroit along with a self-addressed stamped envelope but had never heard from them. One Sunday morning, while sipping coffee and leafing through the newspaper, I came upon my article, printed in the magazine, peppered with half-a-dozen hilarious drawings! What a rush! I instantly felt as if a warm electrical current was shooting through me. I read the article over and over. Everything I wrote was there, all of it, unedited and illustrated, and open to the public. |
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The feeling was magical; I didn't want it to end. My wife and I were about to begin studying for our doctorates at the University of Minnesota. We were supposed to go to Minneapolis over spring break to find an apartment. Instead, I came to Los Angeles to check out the screenwriting scene. I never left.
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Within a year, I began a non-stop, twenty-five year television run, writing sitcoms such as "Mork and Mindy," "Angie," "Family Matters," "Step by Step, "The Nanny," and "Married With Children." I wrote TV movies, several you may have seen, and feature films, which no one will ever see.
It was great, it was lucrative, but somewhere along the line I lost that rush. I desperately wanted it back. I had continued to write an occasional magazine article but it wasn't enough. I longed to return to my first love, writing prose, seeing my words in print, fulltime. In 1999, I took the plunge and I began writing books. I've never looked back. In fact, I savor every moment and every writing day is a new adventure. So scroll through my website, check out the books, read an excerpt, listen to my podcast interview, and contact me. I'd love to hear from you. |
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